So yesterday was a holiday, which as in true Spanish tradition, celebrates some saint or virgin. Every town has a patron saint and once a year a celebration is held to honor the town's saint. Back in September, Jonathan and I celebrated Raxo's patron saint, Saint Saleta (you can check out some pics on Jonathan's blog). Yesterday in Portonovo, which is two towns over, there was a celebration for their patron saint, Saint Catalina. Portonovo, as all towns in Galicia, is a fishing town, though a more notable fishing town that some others because of its larger port. So during mass yesterday (which we didn't have the pleasure of attending, darn!) they honored Saint Catalina (the saint of the sea) and then began a procession to the port. They carried the monument of Saint Catalina along with other important monuments (i.e. the Virgin Carmen, who is the saint of fisherman). They then arrived at the port, where Jonathan and I were waiting for them. They placed each monument at the front of a boat and continued the procession out to sea! Jonathan and I rode on Gonzalito's brother in law's boat, along with about 20 other people. We had Saint Lucia, the saint of vision, on the front of our boat.
We then followed along with about 25 other boats in a procession out of the port and then about 1/2 way to the Isla de Ons (about a 20 minute boat ride). There were huge crowds standing along the port watching the procession. The procession dropped a large bouquet into the sea for good luck.
Here's Saint Catalina's boat, which came with a bagpipe band!
Jonathan and I really enjoyed our boat ride. We got to fully indulge in way to many references to these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avaSdC0QOUM and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTTUKejngiw&feature=related. Here is a picture of us and Martin, one of Gonzalito's sons.
Here are some more pictures from the procession.
We then returned to the port and the monuments finished their procession back to the church with a marching band in tow.
We then all met up with Rosa, Jorge, and Gonzalito's other son Angel and went to a cafe for a drink before returning to Gonzalito's house to eat. Gonzalito and his wife had 25 people over to eat! Here's a classic Grandma Lundberg style table shot:
I sat next to Gonzalito's father in law, Luis, who had brought some lovely Riojas. Much of the wine I have been drinking here, including what we drink in our home here, is house wine - wine made privately here in Galicia by farmers. Many people make their own wine and a bit extra to sell to neighbors and friends of friends. I love the idea of drinking this wine, how the grapes are grown, picked, and juiced by one single person. I also love it's grapey and foxy flavors. But I do definitely miss a big strong wine; It's impossible to find wine produced outside of Spain here (Bordeaux has become something of a distant memory). So naturally I asked Luis if I could "try some" of his Rioja and we officially became best friends. He poured me a glass (not a standard serving of wine mind you, he filled it to the rim of my wine glass). This continued throughout the entire meal, him pouring me. Dietitians speak about the psychology of eating, how one has been trained to "finish their plate"...this is exactly what I fell victim to during this dinner. I had to finish my glass of wine! Except I just couldn't seem to finish it as he kept pouring me. When we were seated the table was full of crab and a crab dip, made of bits of crab and crab brain (it was served in the crab shell, very cool). While we ate the crab Luis proceeded to tell me about how Galicia has the best seafood in the world. Despite being an old Gallego, who are normally harder for me to understand because of their thick regional accents, I was able to understand Luis (this probably had to do with the fact that he repeated the same things over and over). So then we were served Callo, which has quickly become one of my favorite things in Galicia. It is a soup made from chorizo, garbanzo beans, and different beef and pig parts (stomach, bones, fat hunks, etc). I usually give my stomach hunks to the closest Gallego sitting next to me and just eat the beans and a few small pieces of chorizo. The soup has this wonderful smokey flavor. We then began eating beef pot roast which was served with potatoes and some mixed veggies. I was really enjoying my meat and excited that it even came with vegetables, something they don't really put a premium on here. Somewhere in between my 4th glass of wine and my second helping of beef Gonzalito turns to me from the other end of the table and asked how I was enjoying my "caballo". I smiled, not quite understanding what Caballo was, assuming it was some sort of recipe, and said "mmm que rico" in a drunken slur. He then laughed and asked me if I knew what it was and I answered "the beef, right?". The entire room went into laughter and Jonathan leaned over and explained that caballo is horse meat. I quickly panicked and covered my mouth in horror. Then I thought about how delicious it was, figured when in Rome, and finished my plate. Luis then served me anise liquor and I proceeded to tell Marianeves she makes the best dessert in all the world. Horse meat is probably not something that I will seek out again but oh baby it sure was delicious.
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