A quick post script to our night in Cirauqui, it turns out that the night we were there was their annual festival. Now this is a very small town - about 500 people. When we came into the city, we could hear music blaring. There was a live band playing very wonderful Spanish music in a small pavillion but we weren´t sure what the occassion was. Just before dinner, the person running the alburgue sent us down to the town square to watch the Basque Strongman competition. The town had set up a mini-arena in the center of town and had manned two teams to compete in various feats of strength. It started out with a best 2 out of 3 tug-of-war and ended with a localized relay race. The contestents ran around the perimeter of the arena with 20 pounds of rice, followed by other team members sawing a log with a two-man saw and ending with a speed race based upon running to pick up blocks of wood and tossing them into a basket. They did three rounds, each time wearing down the contestants pretty substantially. The crowd was wild with cheering. The whole town was in the square and the sangria was flowing. Two ladies dragged me into the arena and told me to pick up a rice bag so I could see how heavy it was. It was an unbelievable experience and those of us who were guests felt very lucky to be part of the crowd! After the races, we went to dinner and then to bed. The rest of the town stayed in the town square for more live music and dancing. It went until 4:00 AM. As you can imagine, those of us who were desparate for sleep were pretty miserable as the music was so loud. But we managed to catch a couple of hours of solid sleep in the early morning hours.
Now, Eric Harrison, if you´re out there, we had dinner that evening with Gerard Brosnan from your London office. I´m not sure if you know him, but he sure knows you! Not to worry - I didn´t tell him any stories that he can use in future discussions to negotiate an unmerited career advancement. He was very nice and we enjoyed talking to him. We decided that he´s a Type A Private Equity Pilgrim . . . a Pilgrim with a Blackberry!
We walked 19 miles today - it was beautiful but we´re beat. We´ll catch up soon!
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2 comments:
It's the Best when you run into those unexpected experiences. Don't envy you the rice bag or lack of sleep but I'm sure you'll catch up (except there may be another festival)...after all it is Autumn!
Mark & Joanna - we are cheering you on as we sit drinking wine in Boulder. Can't wait to see pix. Mark - gospel songs????? LOL Donna and Rich
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