So we made plans to go to the central plaza at 6:00pm to take part in the celebration!
While on the computer, I also confirmed some onward planning. We arrive in Bergamo, Italy (just outside of Milan) on March 9th. I booked us a four night AirBnb for €22 ($31 CAD, $24 USD) per night, and the host also takes you to and from the airport included in the fee. Nice!
And, I confirmed a two week car rental from March 13-27 for only €48 ($67 CAD, $54 USD) per week, all in. What a deal!
After lunch, we needed to get out and get some exercise. We had seen a trail on the other side of the highway and so we set off in that direction.
But first, we had to look at some goats along the way!
Mom and little one.
Lots of goats!
Spring wild flowers in bloom.
Tony, about to do a swan dive off the old bridge.
Not far off the highway, we came to a recreation area. It would be a great spot to overnight with an RV!
GPS 37.051554, -5.158691
Any size RV would be able to make their way here.
Scenery along the way.
Freshly planted olive trees!
Check out the floppy ears on the left!
Along the way, we came across some farm dogs. The two big ones pretty much ignored us, but floppy ears and one other dog started to follow us. We've learned not to pet them even if they're friendly because they won't leave you alone and they're likely to follow you all the way home if you do!
A couple of hundred meters on, we came across another dog...a big puppy, who we think might have been the offspring of the two big dogs above.
Can I come for a walk with you?
What a sweet guy. He followed us for a little ways, but then remained behind. We carried on up the hill trying to get a view of the griffon vultures that were starting to circle overhead.
Kind of ugly birds when they're sitting there, but beautiful when they're flying!
Uphill.
Villanueva de San Juan, the town where we're staying.
Lots of vultures!
At one point, there must have been more than 50 of them!
Beautiful in flight.
Heading back to town.
And, we had to stop and see the goats once again.
These two were very new!
Made it back home just after 5:00pm and had done 7.6 kms (4.7 miles). Not bad. Had time for a quick refreshment before heading to the plaza to see the parade. Interesting how much community spirit this little town has. Reminds us of our favorite little town in Mexico, Valle de Juarez.
Carnaval in Villanueva de San Juan.
So, we weren't sure what to expect. It turns out that everybody gets dressed up like it's Halloween! But what a lot of thought and work went into some of the costumes! Wow. Then, they have a parade around the streets of the town. We took a few photos of them getting ready, and then a video of the parade itself.
Waiting for the parade to start.
Everybody in the spirit.
The three doctors. Yes, gynecologists!
Here comes the band!
Too funny.
An Arab at the bank machine.
Here's the money he was handing out!
There was a guy dressed as a big game hunter...and these were his trophies!
The Flintstones! Even Pebbles and Bam Bam.
A spool of thread.
Here's the parade video..it's two and a half minutes long...turn up your volume!
After the parade, we stopped in at one of the bars in the "downtown" area. Just a local bar, and Tony and I each had a beer, and the girls each had a glass of wine. We were thinking about having dinner there, but decided to just head home. Total cost of the four drinks? €6 ($9 CAD, $6.60 USD).
Another great day in Spain!
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Sounds like a great day out. So happy to see you guys are headed to Italy! We are going to take one of the kids to Italy 2018 so just starting to plan right now. Likely won't get as far as Milan but you never know.
ReplyDeleteWe are looking forward to Italy. We wouldn't be covering a huge amount of area there but rather concentrating on a smaller area and just enjoying the scenery and relaxing. We are getting "citied" out!
DeleteGood fun and some very creative costumes. And a great deal in Italy!
ReplyDeleteThey did a great job on the costumes, most were all homemade!
DeleteI wonder why there are so many vultures? Nice parade.
ReplyDeleteRita, I wondered the same thing! When I was a young sprout and we would be traveling and would see a lot of vultures flying in a circle over one area, my Dad would say that something must be dead. Sometimes it just turned out to be a public garbage dump or trash dump.
DeleteI was reading up on the reasons for circling overhead and the info I found was that they actually soar on the thermals so that they conserve energy while searching out food with they extremely good sense of smell. They actually smell the gases that are put out from a dead rotting animal, that could be a mile away, so they soar the sky trying to find their food not just circling over a dead animal.
DeleteThe vultures we saw were definitely trying to locate food because we had seen them a large distance away before they headed our way and after staying in our area for a while they again moved on again.
Love the video, love, love Italy. Driving around in Italy is so much fun.
ReplyDeleteWe had a great time watching the locals and the parade. Lots of community spirit here.
DeleteWe are looking forward to our visit in Italy. We have heard that the drivers in Italy are crazy, so driving there should be interesting.
Great parade video looked like fun! Enjoy your day!
ReplyDeleteIt was fun!
DeleteWe liked the band music and parade. Nice to see the townspeople having a good time. When we see turkey vultures in our area, where we live, it usually means they found a dead animal. They are good at cleaning up roadkill. I know - yuck!!
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the video. You can definitely tell that the locals were having a great time.
DeleteI did some reading on the reasons for vultures circling like that and generally it is because they are searching for food. They use their keen sense of smell to sniff out the gases put off by a rotting corpse and if they can't smell any then they will move over to another area and try again. So in this instance, I believe they were actually trying to search out food bcause we had seen them first a long distance off before they came our way and stuck around for awhile before moving on again.
I love the goats and pups, especially the floppy eared one. It would be hard to resist petting them if they were friendly!
ReplyDeleteThe floppy eared one and the puppy were totally irresistible! We really had a hard time not wanting to make a fuss of them and wanting to take them "home" with us.
DeleteYou gotta love a parade. It really tells you a lot about the area and what is important to the people of the area. I always get a little worried when the vultures start to circle overhead. Do they know something I don't? Thanks for sharing your adventures and keep on traveling.
ReplyDeleteThe locals had a great time and on Tuesday, they will be having another celebration as it is a special holiday to celebrate the region of Andalusia in which they live. Unfortunately we have to leave that day so we wouldn't see the celebration here but we may seen it where we end up as we will still be in the region.
DeleteWe were beginning to wonder if they knew something as well, lol!
Enjoying reading about your latest adventure. Have you partaken in any of the tapas which are so much a part of Spanish culture?
ReplyDeleteGlad you are enjoying our adventures over here in Europe. We are really loving our time here, especially being able to do it in a motorhome.
DeleteYes, we have gone out and had tapas a couple of times but to be totally honest we really love our own cooking so we haven't eaten out very much.