A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood...

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Another day in Spain. Not missing home, yet… Each day, we’re introduced to something new and wonderful. Today, it was San Sebastian, or Donastia to the Basque folk.

But first, I realize that I left you with the fact that we were going to head to Polanco. Polanco is a small town of 5500 people and it is utterly charming. We arrived after a slightly harrowing drive with a gentleman named Iñaki at the wheel. Nice feller, but a little heavy-footed around curves. The Tolosa Festival provides transport to the different venues, which works out because our ACFEA-hired driver needs to take a break. When we arrived in Polanco, it was beautiful, with the sun setting behind lush hills. I forgot my camera, so I took some shots with my phone. I’ll try to get those moved over to my computer.

We had a small warm-up in the church in Polanco, which apparently still has a baptismal font dating from Roman times, then we headed over to the City Hall, where they made a small presentation for the choir. They gave us some history of Polanco, gave Daniel a book (written by a guy born in Polanco), and gave each of the people in our group a pin with the crest of Polanco on it. We had a little break in the church’s library. Jacques found a book titled “Vampiratas” – that’s right, it was a book about Vampire Pirates. Both in one book! Who knew it was possible? After the break, we headed to the church for the concert, which went very well. We had a couple of speed bumps, but the choir made its way over those with grace and the audience really appreciated it. In the middle of the concert, the officials of the town had another presentation where they gave the choir a bust of a guy very important to the town… Jose Maria de Pereda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mar%C3%ADa_de_Pereda). Daniel expressed that while we were unable to match such a beautiful gift, The Choral Project wanted to give the town a gift, so he gave them three CDs. All of this was facilitated with the help of Timir.

After the concert, we headed to dinner, which was a stand-up affair in a small room. Unfortunately, I had developed a migraine that evening and I needed to eat then go outside. Trystan (sp?) gave me a heavy-duty Naproxen, for which I was very grateful. There was a little playground across from the restaurant, which some people took advantage of before taking off back to Zarautz. I made Annie fly. ☺

So, this morning, I woke-up rather refreshed and without the nasty headache (YAY!), had breakfast, then we headed to San Sebastian. I’m sure I felt extra-rested because we set our clocks back last night. You guys in the US will do it next week while Daniel and I are wandering the countryside sans choir.

San Sebastian is a beautiful seaside city that is completely worth checking out. I didn’t take my swim trunks with me, or I might have gone in the water, it was such a beautiful day. Daniel and I DID wander the streets in the company of James Ou, who is a very charming man and we were blessed to have him along. James has one of the best speaking voices and his singing is awesome. Really deep bass. The day was perfect for walking around. It was sunny and warm without being too warm. We did a little souvenir shopping and grabbed a bite to eat.
We got back to the bus and headed for Aoiz, where the concert of the evening was. It was about a 1.5 hour drive to Aoiz, which is another smallish town, but this one is near Pamplona (no, we didn’t see any running bulls). We got to the Casa de Cultura, where there was a statue of a naked man in front. Many pictures were taken of the naked man. He was a popular guy. The concert was in a theater which had some acoustical challenges, but the choir pushed through beautifully. The audience was very pleased with the performance and we were pleased to give it to them.

The highlight of the day (and one of the high points of the trip) was after dinner this evening. Our courier had to miss the concert this evening, so he requested that we sing Shenandoah to him. A small group had just sat down and after we were done singing, they asked if they could sing for us. We were thrilled, so they (a group from Holland) sang a Basque folk song and the four-part harmony they gave us was clean and beautiful. After a brief chat with them, we headed out, but we noticed a youth choir in the other dining room and we asked if we could exchange some music with them. So, we sang Let Me Fly, which they went wild over and they sang a cute little song about boarding the gospel train, with choralography and everything! They were really cute kids (from the Philippines). We bid them adieu (I said a couple of words in Tagalog, which they giggled at) and we got on the bus to return back to the Hotel Alameda.

As I type this, it’s getting close to 2am, so I’ll wrap it up. Tomorrow (today, really) is when we come to the culmination of our trip – the competition. We will be competing in two rounds – 1) Polyphony and 2) Folk. Send us good juju!! ☺

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Photos

Beach
The beach at San Sebastian.

Crab
James found a new friend...

View
One of the lovely views.

Naked
Pablo and the naked statue...

Comments

[Matt]

Juju sent! I'm sure the group will perform magnificently.

[BlueKnote]

Thanks!
I wish I could say that we utilized your juju in the best way possible, but we didn't quite place... :-(