Snow or no snow?

One of my students, Elisa, and her family invited me to go to the snow with them to toboggan this past Friday, March 19th. Paula, another student of mine, also came along with us. The plan was to go to the mountains near Palencia, where there has been a lot of snow this winter. Unfortunately, all Thursday night and all day Friday it rained and there wasn't as much snow as anticipated, so our snow day ended up being washed out.

Instead, we visited two villages (Alguilar del campo & Barruelo) around Palencia (we did end up driving up the mountains to see how much snow there was, but there was not enough for tobogganing), then we had lunch in Barruelo, and visited a mine (well a reproduction of a mine) which was actually very interesting to visit. In this particular area of Palencia there are a lot of carbon mines.

The trip was really nice and at the end of the day we got a break from the non-stop rain and saw a little bit of sunshine. All in all it was fun.

When I arrived back to the piso that evening, I was greeted by a very adorable and welcoming beagle! Edita & Julio's daughter and her family went to Santander for the weekend so E & J offered to keep Coco (the beagle who's 1 yrs old) here at the piso for the weekend. I was so excited to have a dog in the piso. :)

Me, Paula and Elisa in front of an old mining cart.
As we left Barruelo, we passed a lot of trees with storks and stork nests in them. Apparently, there is a large population of storks in Castilla-Leon.
This is the little bit of snow that has been left over from winter.
The village of Barruleo, which is a mining town. In 2005 the town suspended all mining. One day they might open the mines again, but for now they remain closed.
One of the closed mines and its factory.
Maguil (Elisa's father), Lola (Elisa's mother), myself and Elisa.
The Visitor's Mine
The mine museum....not as boring as it sounds, I promise!
Old mining homes, these were built specifically for the miners and their families.
Elisa and Toby in front of the Visitor's mine.
The village of Aguilar del Campo and the man standing in this picture was our "guide" to the small church we visited. He is 85yrs old, but looks so much younger. I loved his outfit because it is very typical attire for older people of Castilla-Leon. Also, his shoes are specific for the mountainous parts of Palencia.
This is the painted ceiling of the little church
This is the altar inside of the church. It is an extremely small church that maybe holds 50 people at most. It is absolutely beautiful and humbling to see.
This is the entrance to the small church we visited. The sculptor sculpted the last dinner with Jesus as well as two other saints in this sculpture.
Coco the hunter....he truly is a beagle!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!
Love, Celeste

Real Madrid #1 in the Spanish League!!!

On Sunday night, March 14th, after my visit around the villages of Valladolid, I came back to the piso to get ready to leave at 8pm, with the two Wisconsin girls that are living with us, to go watch the Real Madrid vs. Real Valladolid football game. We actually had decent seats. We bought the cheapest tickets because they were really expensive and we somehow got the 4th row which was great, but behind one of the goal posts (not directly behind it, more like between the goal and the corner of the field). Still, we saw the players up close and the game was so much fun.

Can you guess who won? REAL MADRID!!!!! 4-1 which keeps them in the number 1 spot in the Spanish League. Take that Barcelona! Enjoy the pictures and I'm sorry that they are a little blurry, but it is hard to take pictures when the players are moving around so much. :D

Van der Vaart getting ready for his corner kick. Yes, we were really this close to them!
Xavi Alonso #22 (former player for Liverpool) and Cristiano Ronaldo #9
Guti #14
Ronaldo making a spectacular kick. No, I'm NOT a fan of his, but I won't deny he's a great player.
Madrid celebrating the first goal made by Ronaldo.
Ronaldo after being kicked in the shin...the bottom of the cleat broke through the shin guard and cut his leg.
Me and Katie during the break.
Casillas' ritual every time he enters his goal box. He kisses his fingers and then taps the top of the goal.
Raul #7, he's my favorite all time Spanish player. He is what every sport player should be like: charismatic, keeps his cool, team player, and a great leader/captain. I don't think he has many years left playing, but he'll always be the best to me.
Sergio Ramos #4 has a special place with me. He started in 2005 when I started becoming a fan of Madrid and my first time in Spain. Great player and gets better every year!
Let me introduce you to my future husband....Iker Casillas.
Katie, Emily and me in the entryway of the piso, before the game.
This is during the second half.
Me with the stadium and football pitch behind me.
Playing Spain's national anthem before the game. Valladolid is in the purple/white stripes and Madrid in blue.

Love and Kisses, Celeste <3

Tour de las Tierras de Campo

This past Sunday, the 14th, three of the Ferrari teachers, myself, and the female dutch teacher took a tour of the western part of the province of Valladolid. The Ferrari teachers wanted the Dutch teacher to see more of Spain and experience what rural life is like and to see typical Castilla castles. They invited me along because they know that I want to see more of Castilla. (Side note: Last Thursday we had a lunch with all the Ferrari teachers and the two Dutch teachers at Alicia's house. We ate "cocido" which is a typical Spanish dish. It was a lot of fun to just hang out and learn about some of the Dutch customs. Plus, I now know how to pronounce the name of the city in Holland where we will be staying. The city is called: Vlaardingen. Hehe....I know!)

So we made a circuit around " Las Tierras de Campo" which means "land of the fields". That is exactly what it looked like, hundreds and hundreds of fields. Since spring is near, some of the fields had a little green and yellow, but still everything was dormant and not growing. We visited 5 different villages, which were very beautiful. I will write a little about every village with the pictures I share with all of you. Enjoy!

Montealegre

El Castillo de Montealegre, which translates to the happy mountain. Valladolid is the only province in Castilla y Leon that doesn't have a mountain so it is funny that the village is called happy mountain, when really the castle is on a high hill. The castle was built during medieval times. Because of where the castle is located, it was extremely windy on the hill; we felt like we were going to be blown off of it!
Miryam, Teresa, Alicia and the Dutch teacher Jeanette sitting in front of the view from the castle.
View from the castle of the landscape around Montealegre and if you notice there is a chimney poking out from the hillside; that's a bodega (wine cellar)...I love that Spaniards still have the tradition of using the old style bodegas.
This is part of the village; it is on the hillside, which is wonderful because they have a beautiful view of the plains and I'm sure they get to see some great sunsets. You know I love my sunsets!

Villalba

In Villalba we didn't actually see the village, but we went to visit the ruins of the old castle. There is very little left as you will see, but the beautiful yellow, tan and brown colors of the stones can still be seen. I'm not sure I've shared this with you before, but I was told by Elisa's father (the father, of one of my students, who took me to see other pueblos of Valladolid) that when the castles were built they were used to protect the citizens of the village if any "intruders" arrived, but after several hundred years they didn't have any use for the castles, so people started taking stones from the castles to build homes, building and churches. That is why there are ruins now in some villages....kind of interesting, huh?
Ruins of the old castle of Villalba.
....more ruins.
Horse stables near the ruins. There is a monastery next to the ruins.
A palomera, which is a home where pigeons (palomas) are raised. These structures were used centuries ago to raise pigeons when there wasn't much food around.
Donkeys....These donkeys were really sweet and let me touch them!!!

Valoria de Alcor-Eco Museum

In the village of Valoria de Alcor there is a very interactive Eco Museum where schools come and have students practice using the farming equipment. They also talk about how to keep our environment clean and take care of it. It is a pretty cool thing they have there. The owners are Teresa's friends and so they let us in to see everything.
View of the Eco Museum.
Some of the horses that are used to work in the fields.
Bee hives...they make their own honey and they show the students how honey is made.
Miryam & Alicia acting as the donkeys...
An old watermill.
Teresa collecting water from the pond.
Even the rabbit was cold!!!

Ampudia

Castle in the town of Ampudia. This castle is a typical Castilla castle with medieval influence.
Ampudia's castle and some bodegas. If you look closely, you can see the entrance to the bodegas are in the hillside.
One of the main squares in Ampudia with a beautiful gazebo in the center.
One of the preserved medieval streets.
La colegiata in Ampudia.
A preserved sign from Franco's time; these were supporters of Franco. It is actually very odd that this is still up on the wall.
View of Ampudia from the castle.

Medina de Rioseco

This sign reads "the street of the bones"...hmmm, I didn't see any bones, but who knows.
This is the "street of the bones".
This is the Flour Making Museum next to the Castilla canal.
This is one of the machines that used to separate the grains by size before making it into flour.
This machine mixes the water and grain to make the flour.
The Castilla canal which runs from Cantabria (northern Spain, the province where I lived in Santander) to the end of the province of Castilla-Leon.
Plaza Mayor in the village Medina de Rioseco.
These are typical candy/pasteries for Semana Santa. If you notice, the brightly colored candies are typical Semana Santa outfits.
This is the old entrance to the village of Medina de Rioseco.
The three Spanish teachers looking at the map of the city.

I hope you enjoyed my pucela adventures.
Lots of Love to all!
Celeste <3