Cuenca and Spanish Halloween

You know life in Spain is good when it's November 1st and 73 degrees outside.


Aside from that, life in Spain is good because you go on interesting class excursions that are free and because America has successfully infiltrated European holidays and given the Spanish the joy of Halloween. So thanks for the weather, Spain. And you're welcome for the holiday.


This Friday I went on a trip with my art class to the city of Cuenca, which is a quaint old city on a mountain, surrounded by a river. I'm told Toledo has this same setup. Anyway, it's a really pretty place to see. First we went to the Abstract Art Museum, which was... interesting. I guess I should preface this by saying I just don't get abstract art. Some of it can be cool, but when you have a painting comprised entirely of two splotches of color that look like you threw up on the canvas, I just wonder what I'm supposed to do with that. Plus our tour guide really liked the sound of her own voice, so I may or may not have zoned out a few times. Here's an example of the kinds of things we saw in the museum:



After the museum, we had some free time to walk around, and then we went to the cathedral of Cuenca. It's always cool to see old buildings that you've studied in class in real life. This cathedral has a unique look and is from the early Gothic period. I could bore you with all the particulars of the architecture (thanks, Art History!) but I think I'll just let you enjoy the view.




The next day was my favorite holiday. Luckily, as I mentioned before, American traditions are sort of becoming a fad in Spain right now. My host mother told me that three years ago, nobody was celebrating Halloween. But this year I saw on the news video from the Halloween parties around Spain (one girl in costume actually shouted "Viva Halloween!" at the camera), and I was delighted to go out and see all the kids in costume! In the evening there was a free outdoor play which is a yearly tradition, in a plaza with walls that made it look like you were in a castle. It was interesting but we left halfway through because we couldn't follow what was going on. Later we went out to the bars and found that many of them were decorated for the holiday, and one even gave us free skeleton masks and witch hats. Here's a picture of Media Pinta, the Irish pub we went to.

Even though I missed the pumpkin carving and the fall actually looking like fall (all the trees here are still green...), I ended up having a great Halloween in Spain! VIVA HALLOWEEN! I hope everyone back in the U.S. had a good holiday too. Next weekend I have a Friday trip to see some castles, and... hmm, there's something else... oh, that's right. MY FAMILY WILL BE HERE! Can't wait to see you guys!