Volunteers on a hike

Հրատարակվել է: 06.05.2018

It's Saturday, May 5, 2018, and my last weekend at my Workaway placement in Quesada is coming to an end. After two weeks, I'm quite happy to move on and have more experiences here in Spain before heading to South America 🇵🇪. My plan is to return to Granada for two days and then make my way to Murcia. However, before going to Murcia, I will drive to Almería and have my first Couchsurfing experience there. I thought it would be nice to spend two days by the sea, since Murcia is not directly on the coast. Yes, and if you have the chance to go to the sea, why not?! 🙃🌊

The first real excursion with the other volunteers (me, Lisa from Germany and Jorge from Portugal) will take place today, on this Saturday. The plan is to participate in a Catholic procession. Processions are common here in Spain and therefore absolutely part of Spanish culture for me. Even though I don't have much to do with religion, I am interested in watching or experiencing a procession. I think it's really important to go through life with a certain openness and tolerance. Every person can believe what makes sense to them, and that should be accepted by everyone as well werden (of course, no one should suffer while doing it)

We set off towards the "city" (Quesada is a village with about 4000 inhabitants) at around 10 o'clock.

We knew that there are buses to the monastery and that we can ride for free. The buses took the locals and us to the monastery, from where the procession started. The monastery is located in the mountains of the Sierra Carzorla National Park. From there, you also have a fantastic view of the valley.

The bus arrived half an hour before the start of the procession, and we had time to visit a waterfall that was only 10 minutes away on foot from the monastery. The "entrance" to this waterfall was through a small and narrow tunnel.

After the "little detour," we made our way back to the monastery. The mass had already started, and all the seats in the small church were taken. Therefore, we stayed at the entrance and observed the events from there.

At around 12:15 p.m., the procession started, and everyone gathered in front of the church entrance, eagerly waiting for the sculpture of the Holy Mary. As about 8-10 men carried the table with the statue outside, people moved closer, and some took out their phones to capture the "scene" (especially me 😁).

And we set off towards Quesada (about 15 km). We followed the Holy Mary.

After a while, it started to rain lightly, but the thought of canceling was not considered for a long time, and people just kept going, albeit at a faster pace. Luckily for the procession, the weather improved after a short time, and the sun reappeared.

We followed the group for about 1-2 hours and then decided to leave the group as they took a longer break. So we continued along the road. By that time, we had only covered about 5 kilometers, so we still had 10 kilometers ahead of us.

In the evening, we had actually planned to return to the town to participate in the subsequent celebration of the procession (with live music), but then decided to stay at home.

Yes.... what an exciting day!

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