Holliday's

Holidays are funny at Isla Bonita. We're all from somewhere different. Most of the Holidays that my family celebrates  being from United States, they don't celebrate here in Europe of course. Halloween is one of them. They just started celebrating Halloween in some cities in Spain as early as 2 years ago. Most countries it's forbidden to celebrate for they see it as a devil's holiday. At Isla Bonita we all dressed up in whatever silly outfit we could find in our thrift store. We put on a scary movie and ate tons of candy.
The second weekend in December, Seth and I sold our crafts at the Christmas Market. It took place in Plaza de Espanya and lasted 3 days. They had the homemade sweets guy, performer's, poinsettia lady, homemade soaps, and the rest was jewelry made in China. Funny Christmas Market selection.
Christmas was celebrated at Isla Bonita by a huge chicken Paella that we made. A couple named Dick and Mirah from Scotland, donated us a giant bag of chicken for the holiday. I surprised everyone with elephant gifts. It was quite here, since most of our long time members left and went home to celebrate Christmas with their families. Melly from Germany, Mattie and Simon from England, and Leo and Roxanne from Poland all left. A fun surprise was a guy named Sebastian from Poland returned back here. He's been here 3 or 4 times now. We celebrated Christmas the usual date of the 25th. Some places here do December 5 for St. Nicholas and others January 6th for the Three kings Day since they came with gifts. Funny cause I took our Charlie Brown Christmas tree down a day or two after Christmas. Then I found out Christmas hasn't even begun yet here in Spain.

Performance

We had a guy named Gabriel from Holland, stay with us at Isla Bonita who specializes in performance. He has walked from Holland and is headed into deep Africa, doing performances along  the way. Gabriel surprised us all in a cutting performance one night. He carved into his chest some words while music was played. It was pretty extreme I thought. Definitely got a reaction out of all of us. Gabriel spent weeks working on his next performance which included a hand built cross. The cross represented a boat that he assembled with wood, mesh, and gold tacks. Then he placed it on wheels, attached a rope so he could haul it downtown, and filled it with crates of color coordinated clothes. The whole piece represented a refuge boat and the clothes of those who didn't make it. Gabriel hauled the whole thing, which weighs a ton, all the way down the boardwalk and made it to the main plaza. Then he was still acting and did a show on the footsteps of the church. People were staring and amazed at what they saw. The police tried to stop him but in the end Gabriel got to do the whole performance. The spectators all around applauded him.

Madrid and Segovia

After Toledo I spent time with my friend Paz. We went to Madrid which is the capital of Spain. Just like all the big cities here, lots to see. We toured around and checked out the art museums and parks. The parks were my favorite. They had lakes with paddle boat rentals, art galleries, cafés, and beautiful scenery. We had only one day there but I was glad to leave. Not used to the big city feel anymore.
Next we spent a week in Segovia at her friends house. Segovia is out of a ferry tale. The town sits within the mountains and forests. It has a castle and a huge cathedral that rests on top of a hill along with the small town. A river with a park surrounds the town below. A breath taking tower is built within. It's made out of large stones balanced on top of each other that was carried by men. It's truly an amazing sight. Just outside of Segovia is Cabanas. Cabanas is a artists town. They have the potter, wood worker, glass maker, painter, ect. They offered me a art studio there for 60 euros a month. Unbelievable. I was shocked. The only problem is Cubanas has only 30 residents. I think I would go stir crazy. I turned it down but good to know the offer is there.