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Along the Natchez Trace

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Semana Santa - Day 7 - More Street Scenes

No rain today...  at least not until late evening...  but in the last week Bill & I have seen 3 parades, watched the staging for a couple of others that were called due to rain, and so today we're content just to wander around the city watching the street scenes.

On display at the shopping mall was this headgear....
The men carrying the pasos (floats) wear these turban-like head gear.  According to Wikapedia, the men are underneath the paso and not seen by the public, they carry the paso on their shoulders and necks with their  heads bowed down, and the paso rests on that padded roll that is across their shoulders.  
A paso weighs more than a metric ton, and depending on the size, it can take anywhere from 24 to 54 men to carry it through the streets.

Festivities are still going strong!
Those aren't real ice-cream cones, but some kind of confection.  When this vendor saw my camera, he happily held out his wares for me to see. 

The neighborhood bars were packed...
Even along streets as narrow as ours, there are cafes and bars where the clientele stay mostly outside.  Some have tables and chairs, some have bar stools, and some have just a ledge on the outside of the building to set your drink and tapa while chatting with your friends.
Everyone moves aside if a car drives through.   

Looking along the riverfront from the bridge...
 the sidewalk cafes are filled to overflowing.  Saturday is near the end of Semana Santa...  everyone wants to enjoy the week-long holiday to the fullest!

I love the huge sycamore trees that line the streets...
The trees I've seen the most are the orange trees, the palm trees and these huge sycamores.  Some look quite ancient, but were probably placed here in 1929 during that year's World's Fair.

We were looking for a geocache and found this instead...
I don't know how long he'd be if he hadn't have lost his tail...  he is about 4" - 5"  now.  We haven't seen many lizards and such, but are still cautious when hunting geocaches in knotholes and such.


Here's a Nazarene...  heading to a procession
We could tell which brotherhood that he belongs to by the color combination of his tunic and hat. 

And another group of the same brotherhood...
After a while they cease to look spooky to me...  but then, I've only seen them in the dark once, and everything looks more ominous in the night.

Here's Bill...  in one of the city plazas...
Beautifully landscaped...  even the pigeons (at the left) enjoy that green, green grass! 

These young men were enjoying a smoke...
First time I've ever seen a Hookah in use.  I'm assuming they were smoking something legal... but then, for all I know, anything's legal here.  Didn't look like anything I'd want to try.

Yet another order of brotherhood tunic...
On his way to his church's procession. 

As we were walking home, we saw this group heading towards town.  Too many parades for us to see them all!
 They are outside of the Triana Market...  my favorite city market.  Reminds me of the Farmer's Markets back home.

As we were crossing a bridge, I looked down and saw these..
Don't know what species of flower...  obviously in the daisy family, but to me..  just beautiful!

And also, along our walk...
These 2 cats (feral) were munching morsels of food that a couple who were picnicking nearby were tossing them.  They look pretty healthy for street cats! 

And, of course, my favorite views of the buildings...
This, and several other nearby buildings, were built for the 1929 World's Fair.  Many were pavilions of countries like Peru, Cuba, Argentina, Mexico and the like.  Now they are used as museums, libraries, theaters, and other public use buildings. 

And, one last photo...
 The orange trees have more blooms each day, but the rains and wind have blown off many of the petals.  Still...  the fragrance of the orange blossoms is in the air..  sometimes you turn a corner and the aroma is all around you.  Beautiful!

Sunday is the last day of Semana Santa.  There is one final procession scheduled.  Spain goes on daylight savings time early Sunday morning, so nothing will be on a "normal" schedule.  
Then, come Monday, the week-long holiday will be over and the city will go back to everyday life.

That's All For Today!

7 comments:

  1. Please don't let that non native lizard hitch a ride with you...we have enough of those non native species over here!!!

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  2. A lovely city with lovely pageantry. Did I say this before? Doesn't matter, still fits, if I did.

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  3. It's so beautiful there, and so many things to see and partake of! However will you be able to leave it all!!

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  4. How are you celebrating Easter today? That lizard is very exotic looking and I can see why you wouldn't want to stick your finger in a hole occupied by one!

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  5. I am still curious about the outfits these people wear . There must be some symbolism connected to the costumes and you probably wrote about it before but I forgot. I was going to say when do these people ever have fun and then you showed enjoying food in the sun and a street lined with bars.

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  6. Gorgeous! I'm running out of adjectives...

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  7. Usually the hookah pipe is used to smoke legal flavored types of tobacco, usually flavored with things like apple and different fruits. Happy Easter

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