Gernika and Carnaval

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Friday morning we had our third group excursion, and this time we took a short bus ride to the pueblo of Gernika, the historical capital of Pais Vasco. Gernika is renowned in Spain because it was bombed by Hitler in the 1930s, who was working in cahoots with Franco at the time during the Spanish Civil War. There is a famous painting by Picasso called "Guernica" that now sits in the Reina Sofia museum in Madrid that many Basque people would like to see brought to a Guernika or Bilbao art museum, but because of its size and weight, many don't think it should be moved - it's a big controversy in Spain!. While in Gernika, we visited the Casa de Juntas, or the government house, and saw the famous Arbol de Gernika, the oak tree that simbolizes the strength and liberty of the Basque people. Then, we visited the Museo de la Paz, an entire museum dedicated to the bombing in 1937 and ways that peace had triumphed and failed throughout history - it was a pretty interesting concept. After lunch, we got back on the bus and took a gorgeous drive through the biosphere reserve, Urdaibai. We stopped at San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, which is a high altitude peninsula attached to the Basque coastline, and there is the church of San Juan that sits atop this little mountain. It was very, very pretty. It was a gorgeous day out, so of course, we all decided to hike down the coast to cross the bridge to hike up the peninsula, saw the church and took in the incredible view, then climbed back down to the bridge and all the way up the ginormous hill...it was more of a workout than we were expecting that day, but so worth it! We paused near Mundaka on the way back to Bilbao, which is a tiny little town that is known worldwide for its surfing, and it was amazing to see people surfing on these HUGE waves as the sun set behind them.

Yesterday, Saturday, was the "official" start of Carnaval here in Spain, and Bilbao was the craziest I've ever seen it. Carnaval is pretty much like New Orleans' equivalent of Mardi Gras, and it lasts for about a week. Everyone dresses up in costumes and goes out partying. It was beautiful yesterday morning, but by early afternoon, the sky had turned gray and it was so windy and so stormy that the freezing rain was shooting across the city sideways. And yet we still all decided to go out Saturday night and take in the full experience of Carnaval. We got dressed up in our costumes here in the dorms, then headed over to the city center to meet up with the rest of the kids from our program. It was absolutely insane. There were people of all ages, decked out in store-bought and homemade costumes and makeup, yelling and singing in the metro and in the streets in the pouring rain. The two clubs we went into were absolutely packed - it felt more like a mosh pit at times than anything else, and everyone was soaking wet from the rain. But, it was very cool to be out and participate in such a big festival in Spain. We all had a good time - even if we're all pretty tired today!

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