Murcia

Eli's sister Marijose and her husband Leandro now are living in Murcia so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to go see them there especially since they live so close to the Mediterranean. It was evening before we actually made it to the beach "Los Narejos" and the sun was setting. The "plan" was to walk on the beach and maybe roll the pants up and walk a little bit in the water so we didn't even think about bringing swimming suits and towels. I guess the kids had other ideas which the quickly made known. The water here is very warm and it took the kids literally under a minute to get in, clothes and all. I even ended up having to sacrifice my RSL shirt for kids to use to dry off.

The next day Alejandro and I went to the store for sun block because we were headed right back to the beach and we came across a park on the way.

Jaen

Eli's family is from Jaen and naturally we set up home base there. It is one of the lesser known of eight provinces that make up Andalusia which translates into fewer tourists and a more authentic travel experience; it also means that the historic monuments and tourist attractions, although plentiful, are smaller in scale compared to others in the region. One thing it is known for, which you might have guessed by looking at the picture above, is that it is the olive oil producing capital of the world.

Some of the places we made it to this time are the Moorish Baths, the fair, Jaen's first university, the Castle Santa Catalina and the Children's City.

Jaen's Moorish Baths, some of the largest and best preserved in all of Europe, are found in basement of the Palace of Count Villardompardo. The baths were originally constructed around the 11th century but sometime during the middle of the 13th century, the Christians conquered the city and built the palace on top. After conquering, the Christians would build their cathedrals, churches and other buildings on top of other cultures' temples, mosques and other holy buildings. Maybe they believed that by building their cathedrals and churches on top of other buildings they considered unholy they would somehow purify them. I was not able to take pictures inside because it wasn't allowed but I was able to smuggle out some dirt from one of the baths in the hot water room.

La Feria de la Virgen de la Capilla de Jaén, the smaller of the two fairs during the summer in Jaen takes place some time between the 2nd and 3rd weeks of June. It is a Catholic event complete with a procession but also includes bullfighting and rides and food of course.

Here are some pictures of Jaen's first university. I don't really know much about this place, we ended up here by accident. It is a cool building though.



El Castillo de Santa Catalina sits atop a mountain overlooking the city of Jaen. It was built by the Christians sometime after they conquered the Muslims in the 13th century AD and was a major staging point for conflicts between the Christians and the moors in Granada. We always manage to make it to the castle on our trips maybe because it is cooler there than in the city or maybe it's for the night views of Jaen which are so cool.

La Cuidad de los Niños was an area between two and three acres filled with theme based play equipment.
We ended up visiting this park often because the kids really had fun.

La Boda

I have been having technical difficulties with uploading pictures but it seems to be resolved. The first week in Spain was basically getting ready for Eli's sister Marijose and Leandro's wedding. Normal Catholic weddings in Spain are a large enough production in and of themselves but LDS (Mormon) weddings are marathon like.

Friday morning we all got up and got ready for the official civil ceremony which took place at "El Ayuntamiento de Jaen" which is like the city building (top left picture). Natalia was chosen to be the ring bearer along with Aaron, the groom's nephew and the two of them really hit it off. After the ceremony, everyone went down to lay in wait for the bride and groom (los novios) to come to the street where they would be covered with fistful after fistful of rice. This part is especially fun for everyone but the novios. I'm not sure what the meaning is behind this tradition but I assume it has to do with wishing a life of bounty for the newly weds. I don't think anyone really cares what it means; it's just plain fun tossing hand fulls of rice.


After the initial ceremony and a quick lunch, the bride and groom separate with their own close family where the photographer comes for pictures. Soon after, we all went to the LDS church building where the family of the bride and groom could attend a type of ceremony since most of them are Catholic and not able to attend real ceremony in the Madrid temple.

From there we were off to La Juleca where a full on reception awaited us. The first part of the reception took place in a garden like area complete with a small pond and waterfall. We were served every kind of appetizer you can imagine including jamon serrano, roasted almonds, cheeze and grapes, croquetas and many other things I don't even know the names of. Natalia especially loved this part because she was able to run around with Aaron and eat all the jamon serrano she could. When the novios' arrival neared we were ushered to the banquet hall where everyone was seated and the real celebrating began. The dinner consisted of multiple courses and I actually lost track but there must have been at least seven. This is generally possible because everyone who attends is expected to give the novios a monetary gift which at least covers the cost of the plate. The reveling continued for us until 2 a.m. when we finally were forced to leave due to injury.

Natalia had been running around and had fallen down hard on her arm. We were afraid she may have fractured her arm so we went to the emergency room. After x-rays and such it was determined that she was fine so we finally made it home at 3 a.m.

The next day, Saturday afternoon we had to make the four hour trip to the Madrid Temple for the sealing ceremony. All the previous events the day before were a lot of fun but the sealing ceremony was perfect. I think we finally made it back to Jaen safe and sound at 2 a.m. thanks to lively conversation and three or four Red Bull energy drinks I pounded just in case (I tend to get

a little drowsy driving sometimes).

Yuuuuuummm!!!

Some things about our Spain trips are always awesome.  The food for example is always sooooo good.  Here we have a little seafood\fish sampler.  Bocarones, merlusa and calamares.  Mmmmmmmm good.

We are still alive....

Sorry for the lack of posting. It has been difficult, well more difficult than I thought, to post consistently. We have been very busy with.....well, I will fill you all in on the details pronto. Here are a few of the places we've been.