Spring Brings...

Madrid comes to life again in Spring. The people here are addicted to socializing for hours with friends. They'll move from one bar to another and have a few tapas along the way. While catching up and thoroughly covering all sorts of topics they nurse their small glasses of draft beer, cañas. I'm sometimes challenged to sit and talk for so long, but this is one aspect of Spanish culture that I really do appreciate. They tend to take time to enjoy each other's company and relax. They don't drink heavy beers to get drunk. They drink slowly and with food and with lots of conversation.

Spring also means the gardens throughout the city are in full color. Here are some pics I took in the community garden near our house.

There are also more concerts and music festivals. Here is my dear friend Gerard performing with a group he recently joined. He's the one in the back with the cello, under the creepy-faced doll.

In May there was also a big manifestación in Sol plaza where people were protesting the cuts the government has made to education and other social programs. They were also denouncing the money given to bail out banks.
My friend Carlota, who I met at Valdefuentes, was here that weekend and we hung out in Sol for a while to check out the protest. She was a substitute teacher at my school and when her position ended to moved away to work as a teacher in a small pueblo far from Madrid. I have missed her!!

Here is Carlota and her friend, Carlos.

 A group of public school teachers played music. 

Also this weekend was the Festia de San Isidro. Not sure what the origins of this festival are, but lots of elderly people dress in traditional clothing and dance and sing. Most of the festivities happen in a park in La Latino, a neighborhood of Madrid.
I politely asked some people to pose for me and they were so pleased to be asked!

 A group of teenagers hanging out. 

A terrace in La Latina looking out to the Catedral Almudena.