Everybody's Working for the Weekend

Ponche Segoviano

This past weekend was filled with all sorts of wonderful things. On Saturday morning, I got up around 12 to wander through the shops of Segovia. After some successful shopping, two of the other students and I stopped at Limón y Menta, a little bakery by the Plaza Mayor. There we had Ponche Segoviano, the signature dessert of Segovia. From what I've learned, it is a layer cake that has been soaked in syrup, with an sweet egg cream in the center. This is then covered with a thin layer of marzipan (a dough made of almond paste) and dusted with powdered sugar. Then, an hot iron rod is used to caramelize the sugars on the top in a criss-cross pattern. It was amazing, but almost painfully sweet.

Drumline

 

As we walked back towards our houses, we stumbled upon a drumline from the UK that was doing a performance in the middle of one the squares. I'm not sure exactly what the occasion was, but it was absolutely fantastic.

Two of the other students and I had earlier made plans to go see Alejandro Sanz in concert in Ávila, a small town, about the size of Segovia, which was an hour away. We had purchased our tickets and booked our hotel for the night, and it was time to finally make our journey. That afternoon we took the bus from Segovia to Ávila. Unfortunately, I felt a little ill on the bus ride, but I recovered as soon as I disembarked.

Our hotel was not quite on the map that we had of Ávila; at the top of the map there was an arrow pointing in the direction that we would find our hotel. Not wanting to waste money on a cab, and thinking it couldn't be more than a 15 minute walk, we began our journey towards that mysterious arrow at the top of the map. After about 30 minutes, we were well past where the map ended and could only hope that we would eventually reach our hotel. We did stop and ask to make sure we were at least on the right road, and we were told to just keep going and going and it would be on the left. By the time we got to the hotel, we were totally pooped, so we just got some food at the McDonalds next door and got dressed for the concert.

The concert itself, was amazing. I wish I had known more of Alejandro Sanz's music before the concert; I was yearning to join in the passionate singing along that was taking place all around us. Most of the audience seemed to be middle aged women, though we did have the company of some people our age. Alejandro was absolutely adorable in the way he would chat with the audience in between songs. We also learned a new phrase at the concert. Because it was a bit chilly in the open air stadium, Alejandro was wearing a jacket. This was apparently not what the audience wanted because several times during the concert, they took to shouting "¡Quitate la chupa!" which means "Take off your jacket!" It was a marvelous experience.

This morning, we returned to Segovia. In the afternoon, my host brother told me he would be in a parade in the Plaza Mayor (he is in the military), so I moseyed my way over there. It was a pretty cool sight to see, and I was able to see my host brother! (He's the one in the middle right behind the gentleman in the front). There were at least 50 people in military uniforms, maybe half with instruments, that marched through the town to La Catedral, with music and drums blaring, where they waited outside the church while (I assume) a service was being held. A procession then came out of the church and proceeded through the street, accompanied by the military. I can't say that I know what exactly the significance of the parade was, but it seemed to me to be a celebration of a holiday or event. I will have to ask my host brother the next time I see him!

All in all, a pretty darned successful weekend!

'Ta Luego!