Crazy Santa Motorcade

18 December 2021

I was hearing lots of motorbike noises and honking of horns, when I received a message on WhatsApp from one of the teachers at my school, telling me that there is a Santa Claus parade outside. So I hopped out onto the balcony (I can see just a peek of the main street), and sure enough, there were hundreds of motorcycles and scooters all being ridden by folks dressed up as Santa! 

Apparently this has been going on for the past 8 years or so, and has grown quite huge, as I watched from my balcony for about 20 minutes and when there was no sign of it ending, I went downstairs and walked down to the main street. This has to be seen to be believed, so here is a video recording.

The sidewalks were full of people, and the motorbikes just kept on coming! Some of them were throwing sweets to the children as if it were Mardi Gras. You can see the children picking up the candy in the first few seconds of the video.

At the end of the video you can see that they still had to stop  for the traffic signals, so the parade was going by in spurts. Noisy, but all very orderly. I was stunned at how many there were, I think it must have taken about half an hour for the whole motorcade to pass by this block.

This was definitely an unforgettable experience I wouldn't have had anywhere else!

Goodbye Madrid, hello Galicia

 22 September, 2021

Starting a new chapter in Spain, I am moving from Madrid to the northwestern corner of Spain, the province of Galicia. I have never visited Galicia, but it is said to be cool, rainy, green, and share Celtic ancestry with Great Britain. After two years in the heat of Madrid I am more than ready for this change. 

On the train at last. Buh-bye Madrid!

Leaving from Chamartin Station I got a superb view of the iconic "Four Towers" of Madrid.

My first glimpses of Galicia were in the mountains, lushly forested and beautiful, but there were so many tunnels that every time I'd get my camera ready we would suddenly be in darkness, so I gave up taking pictures and just looked out the window.

Here we are nearly to my destination: Vigo, Spain. There are many big rivers emptying to the sea in this region, making for a really pretty outlying area. 

 

I arrived safely in Vigo and found my way to my AirBnB. Then I headed out to a cafe to meet my new head teacher, we chatted for about an hour. She seems very nice, it's amazing to me that she has taken the time to come all the way here just to meet me (she lives in a different town and is extremely busy with work).

As we were sitting in the cafe, it became overcast. On the way back to the AirBnB, which is just a couple of blocks, suddenly it started absolutely pouring rain! I didn't have an umbrella with me, so I took refuge in another cafe nearby. I was sitting near the door and the rain and wind were so strong that I was actually being misted with rain while sitting INSIDE. Talk about a sudden weather change!

15 minutes later the rain had died down and I hurried back to the AirBnB lest I get caught in another downpour.

Hawaiian Paradise Park

 17 August 2021

First day in Hawaii, just south of Hilo in a residential area, visiting a dear friend. This was the view from my room at dawn - not a great "view" per se, because it's largely obscured by bushes, but the birdsong and the incredible lush foliage and flowers were so beautiful in my eyes in the moment.

There are sadly no sand beaches nearby, just rocky lava shelves from which I would be afraid to try and swim, but the ocean is absolutely incredible and I walked along the shore for hours.

The lava created so many different shapes and textures here. This reminds me of an elephant's skin.

A little spin around so you can see what was behind me and in front of me.

Testing the panorama feature. What do you think?

The ocean always has some love to give!

The scenery behind, the contrast between lava and lush is so striking.

By this time I had been in the sun for 2-3 hours, so I stepped into the forest to get some shade. At the edge of the lava it was alternating mangrove and pine forests.

Is this a baby coconut? So cute!

That part of the forest got too difficult to navigate, so I went back to the lava.

Tried again to find a shortcut through the forest. It dead ended on someone's private property, but along the way I saw this magnificent tree.

The mangrove forests were muddy and hard to navigate... as someone found out.

Backtracking the way I came, and I was tired but still couldn't stop taking pictures. Look at the pattern showing how the lava flowed.

And a closeup of the little flowering plants in the cracks.

Finally, I can see the place where I started from (the shady area at the top). Nice little 4 hour walk...

I also took far too many videos of the waves crashing against the rocks, but unfortunately, I hadn't figured out how to block the wind from blowing on the camera's microphone, so they look beautiful but sound dreadful.

Here are two videos which have a bit less wind noise.

Complutum Roman City Archaeological Site, Alcalá de Henares

 01 July 2021

Today I went on a day trip with a friend and colleague to see a Roman archaeological site just outside of Alcalá de Henares, where I went to university last year. It was once a prosperous city called Complutum and is now partially covered by the modern city; fortunately, the part on the outskirts of town was excavated and preserved.

It was free to visit and provided quite good signage explaining the various parts of the city. Some of the signage was designed for kids and looked like it accompanied a special tour for schoolchildren on field trips.

Arriving back in town after a rather long walk, this is the Puerta de Alcala or old city gate.

I was surprised and tickled to see Mike from "Monsters, Inc" on a balcony.

Wall mural in homage to "Don Quixote" by author Miguel Cervantes, a local celebrity after his death.

We had lunch at Las Huellas vegan restaurant, one of my favorites. We ordered burgers but they offer many different things on the menu. Sadly, there was no lemonade today.

On the way back to the train station, I noticed this window with its original wooden blinds.

I do like Alcalá de Henares. It was nice to visit my old haunt again.