Barcelona, Zaragoza, and back to Pamplona!

My parents just came to Spain for the first time this past weekend! My Dad had a meeting in Barcelona that just happened to fall on my 21st birthday!! So I went to visit them there and it was a beautiful city and we had a great time, although it was short. My Mom and I had time to go to mass in the Cathedral before they closed it for the day at 1:00 o´clock, then we ran to the Park Guell and see the whole city from the top of the trail of the Three Crosses and the awesome Guadi art. And then we went to see Sagrada Familia, but only from the outside. It was pretty fantastic and I took pictures of the different scenes of the life of Christ depectied all over the facade very intricately. It´s still in construction, since 1908! We celebrated my birthday at a very nice cena organized for the doctors in Las Damas, a very fine restaurant that served us about 8 courses, including sea urchins!!

Then we drove back through Cataluyna, Aragon, and Navarra to Pamplona. It took 6 hours across the Spanish countryside and it was a lot of fun. Stopping in Lleidre for lunch, we then past the Greenwhich Meridian, among many other things.

We also stopped in Zaragoza to see our Lady of Pilar, the patroness of Spain! She is tiny and so beautiful! I´m sorry that I can´t think of any other English adverbs to describe things right now. But we arrived in the Basilica of Our Lady just at the time that the

sister of the King of Spain was giving her flowers so there was a big celebration going on. There were bagpipes and music and dancing outside in the Plaza as they processed out. Zaragoza is the only city in Spain that has two big churches, and they are right next to each other! The Plaza of the Basilica and the Cathedral is trmendous. I have wonderful (new adjective: you like?) pictures that I will post asap!

In Pamplona we had a lot of fun too. I took them to places that the girls at the Colegio recommended me, like the Mirador by the Cathedral, where I had never been before. We could see the whole city.

I also showed them around the campus of the Universidad de Navarra and we had the comida with Lili and Crispin!

They came over to Goiemendi for the comida one day and my Dad gave a tertulia cultural in English and Spanish about the health care system in California and social security. The thing is that many of the girls thought that it´s very hard to get health care in the States but he set them straight. And then he told them about some interesting cases he has seen as a obstetrician, which the baby is in danger of dying but the mothers choose life and give testimony to the doctors in training about the value of life.




After that tertulia on the last day before they left, we went to a big Castle nearby where the King of Navarra used to live in the 1400s called Olite. It was a cool castle that they have restored a lot. Because it was raining, we were basically the only ones there! I have some good pictures from there too.

Yesterday, I played hooky and went with my friend Daniela to the Bardenas Reales because it was her last day here and she wanted to see them before she left. We actually weren´t able to walk all the way to the Bardenas Bardenas but we saw some similar hills on the way. The Bardenas are kind of like the Grand Canyon of Navarra, only they are mountains that have been formed by the dry weather, torrential rains, and strong winds into weird crinckled shapes. The picture is of a house in the nearby city because I forgot to put pictures of the mountains on my flash drive right now. But I´ll add them soon. There was also a theme park in almost in the middle of them called SENDAVIVA that I really wanted to go to but it´s not open until tomorrow! So I´ll have to head back there next time I have a visitor who´d like to go with me....

So we made it as far as the Hermita of Our Lady of Yugo and we said hello to her and had the comida there. Thank goodness there was a little bar there because we were out in the middle of now where and we had forgetton to ask for lunch of bocadillos from the administration!

We I visited the Our Lady of Pilar and Our Lady of Yugo you can be sure that I prayed for each and every one of you who is reading this blog! I´ll post pictures soon!

Mas Fotos

Crispin dijo...
SEE, THAT´S WHY YOU WERE SICK! Making snow angels, crazy girl! Humf!
March 30, 2007 2:11 AM

LIZ DIJO: What ees dis "sickness" of which you espeak? Yo no sé nada of sickness, perdón, I duna aspeak dis tongue mucho...
March 30, 2007 2:23 AM

I have noticed from the comments section of my blog that I tend to receive more visitors, or more vocal visitors to my blog when I publish pictures. And for this fact, I will add a few more here. I´ve been taking lots and some people get tired of all the pictures I take but I tell them, "I have to put them on my blog and show them when I get home" so that they understand the necessity of stopping every few minutes when we go for a walk....hehe!




Here´s the one of Our Father (St. Josemaria) that I wrote about on St. Joseph´s day. Do you like his hat?

I making a snow angel! Don´t worry, it wasn´t that cold and, contrary to how it may look, I went really quickly!
Look at what an angel I am! haha

¡Let it Snow on St. Joe´s!

ESTEY SAYS:

Wow--sounds impressive and beautiful (even if the snow is a little soggy).

I hope this "blog" allows me to leave this "comment", as I don't have a Google account and don't want to sign up for something else! You look great (I perused the photos) and was so IMPRESSED by your 19.3 mile (50 km) walk!!! Sounds like a great experience.

Praying for you--

Love,

Estey

Estey, you have a google account in my book! haha! Thanks for doing the conversion from Km to miles for the Javierada. I was hoping that it might be more like 25 miles but, you keep it real, my friend! Love you!! Liz

I wrote this blog yesterday but for some reason it didn´t get posted. It started snowing yesterday morning in Pamplona! It was freezing and it just snowed a little, but enough to halt our day of sports and outdoor activity we had planned to celebrate St. Joseph´s day. It was a big holiday and we didn´t have any school!

It snowed a little more in the afternoon but I had to head out to run some errands. I felt like that little girl in that kids´book about a mother who is a seamstress and she sews a dress for the princess´ball. She just barely finishes on the day that the ball is going to take place and she worked so hard that she falls ill and the little girl (I think her name is Wendy) has to carry the dress in a box through the snow to the princess´place. On the cover of the book, there is an illustration of this little girl plowing diligently through the snowstorm holding the dress box, with her umbrella perpendicular to the ground blocking the force of the wind and snow. At one point in my stroll down Pio XII (pronounced "do-se"), I identified with the little girl so strongly as my umbrella nearly blew out of my mittened hands. I ran my errands without many other eventful occuraces.

Today though, it is snowing buckets! It has been snowing since I woke up and it´s still snowing now: 4 hours later! I say that it is snowing buckets because the snow is practically the consistency of rain. When it hits the ground, and we walk on it, it is like snow cone ice shavings. Instead of hearing the deft and crisp crunch of walking in the snow, a rather unromantic sploshing noise prevails on campus today. Luckily, Lucia waterproofed my boots before I left, but I think they will need a new coat after today. I took a picture when I opened my window this morning to see what the weather was like and I will put it up as soon as I can. I also took another picture of the statue of St. Josemaría in the middle of the central building because it looks like he is wearing a little white chapela, the little black berets that the Basques wear.

¿Navarre becomes part of Pais-Vaisco?

My friends, I have a somewhat shocking announcement to let you in on about the political state of Spain right now. It´s really not looking good: Zapatero is succumbing to ETA, to the demands of these terrorists. The rumors are that ETA helped him to win the election right after the 3-11 bombings in Madrid and that, now, they are threatening to reveal this piece of information if Zapatero doesn´t do what they want. In the first place, he has released de Juana Chaos from prison "for humnanitarian" reasons because he was on a hunger strike and near death. He is a member of ETA, in other words, a terrorist who has killed over 25 people. Now he is back at home in San Sebastian gaining weight.

But the next thing that they want is the the Autonomous Community of Navarre become part of Pais-Vaisco. There is a clause in their Foral (Navarre is a special type of region in Spain) constitution from 1976 that says if the people of Navarra vote to have a referendum put on their ballot, then they can chose to become a part of Pais-Vaisco. In reality, the people of Navarra don´t want this but, ETA is playing with the parliamentary vote by coalition here. They are even sending people from Pais-Vaisco to register in Navarra so that they can vote. It´s and important issue because it involves terrorism, which is ultimately a global phenomenon.

There is a manifestation on Saturday that I plan on attending in Pamplona. It should be a hoot! I´ll be sure to take some photos.


The Navigator dijo...
dD2939064Liz-Please take care of yourself at these "manifestations." As you are beginning to learn, this is very sereous business and many people have been killed or injured over the years by ETA.Glad to hear your lip is healing. We love you and miss you.Dad
March 14, 2007 8:59 PM
Mary dijo...
Listen to the Navigator. . . and do not get mixed up in this "sereous business" or you may have more than just lip stiches.Sister
March 15, 2007 7:55 AM

Ok, Ok, so I didn´t go to the manifestation after all. It turns out that I got a cold, fell asleep, and didn´t wake up until after they had already left for the 17:00 manifestation. So much for my Navarra patriotism...hehe. Now, I prayed for them this morning. It´s true that it was going to be a little rough because ETA planned a counter-manifestation in a nearby part of town at 17:30. I guess I´ll be reading about it tomorrow in the papers that same as you! Well, a lot of people from the Colegio Mayor went so I will get a first-hand account from them I guess... Thanks for the advice!

Javierada: Part II

Monica dijo...

The peektures make everything better. :) So I'm interested- did Uxue sewing your shoe and being in the picture with you mean that she was in Spain with you or was that from LA?

March 12, 2007 3:05 PM

susupop dijo...

hey liz! i love the pics. now i can live vicariously thru you...hehe. life is good here, altho finals are coming up very soon for me (wednesday)! hope to hear from you soon.

March 12, 2007 10:41 PM

susupop dijo...

btw, it's suyin. :)

March 12, 2007 10:42 PM

Mary dijo...

Your blog is awesome. I love to pop in and read what is going on!

March 15, 2007 7:52 AM

Lizzy G dijo...

In reply to the comments:

I tell you Uxue is accompanying my here only in spirit, not in physical reality. She sewed my shoe earlier for me when I was hiking with her in Joshua tree. The point is, that her sewing job has held 50 km and more!

Su Yin, and all you Bruins, I hope that finals went well! I was praying for you then. Well, today is the last day of finals so I´ll continue praying today...

Mary, I´m thinking this is my cousin, and I´m glad that you pop in! It´s a pleasure to have you here in my cyber little place of being! hehe

March 23, 2007 3:16 AM

(the Pamplona native, Uxue, who sewed my shoe for me)

(Me cerca de el r'io Agarrete (or something like this)) (I walked all the way in a shoe sew up by Uxue when we went hiking in Joshua tree)

(20,000 people went to Javier)

The 50 KM (that's right: fifty) was awesome! We walked almost continuously from 6:30 in the morning until 4:15 in the afternoon.

(6:30 in the morning)

It was a great walk! There were a few girls with us, I met Carolina Bayo who is a Californian, but mainly I was with three numeraries who marched us on staunchly! They said that if we stop then I our legs would start to hurt, so we basically only paused to use the bathroom. They even handed out a ton of food to the pilgrims but we mostly ate on the run. They had some nice bocadillos (sandwiches) that I probably shouldn't have eaten with my lip in the state that it was (all sewn up) but now the thread is all dissolved and gone and I went back to the doctor today and he said it looks great (even though he expected the thread to stay for at least a week!).

We talked, said the rosary, prayed, sang, listen to my iPod shuffle, consumed calories and water and didn't stop to think about how far we'd gone! When we arrived, Maria Fernanda was a little fried (literally) but, luckily, I had put some of the sun screen that Janet offered us. We said hello to our Lord in the big buetiful basilica and then waited outside on the rocks for mass to begin. We got a good spot on the rocks amongst the old people right next to the altar. There we could sit down, do our prayer, and massage our calves...hehe.

Javierada

(I'm sorry/ I'm having some trouble adding the pictures to my blog. The one on the left is of Estey and I when we were in Westfield being really cool. And the one one on the right is of the big parish church in Estella *Lizarra* called San Pedro.)

It´s 10:15 and I just got back from a 50 km Javierada (pilgrimage to a Castillo called Javier) that was crazy! We left at 6:00 in the morning and got there at 4:15. Mass was at 5:00. Last year was the 500 year celebration of the birth of San Francisco Javier (Francis Xavier) and there were tons of Jesuits at this Castillo that´s now a seminary, I think. It was very impressive and thousands of people make this pilgrimage each year in Navarre for two different weekends near his feast day. I´ll write more about this later because now I´m going to go to bed!

"Javierada"
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The Navigator dijo...
The whole family is in a debate now about whether this can mean you walked the 50K? It soudns like a great experience. Look forward to reading more about it.Dad
March 11, 2007 4:33 PM

YES! 50 KM!! It was great! I'm going to write about it more. And hopefully get some good pictures up soon! I'm just on my way to see the doctor for a checkup on my lip that's looking good (a little fat but what else is new...).

The Navigator dijo...
Liz, I am sorry that I haven't been commenting on your blog. I thoroughly enjoy reading of your exploits, and I have no idea how you accomplish so much every single day...I am happy your surgery went well. I cannot believe you walked 50 k . You are amazing! Lots of Love,Mom

Thanks, Mom! Love you and I'll write more.

Peqeña Operación

Chris dijo...

Welcome to an elite club, that makes two of us that have had salivary glands removed! Actually you are the only other person I know besides myself that has had one removed. Lets just hope that none of your nerves heal backwards :)

March 14, 2007 12:53 AM

Lizzy G dijo...

What a coincidence! Do I know you? (haha)

March 19, 2007 11:39 AM

If you double click on the pictures, you can see what is going on with my lip. If you want...haha.

I had a little bump on my lip that turned out to be a mucocele, a swollen salivary gland. I went to the doctor at the best hospital in the world, the Clínica of the University of Navarra, and Dr. Sanchez Carpintero operated on me a week later. It´s been two days since the surgery and there is no more thread left from the 8 stiches and it is healing wonderfully. Everyone assures me that it is definetely less swollen than yesterday!

And the surgery went well! I had to wait about 2 1-2 hours for it to start but then it only took about 40 minutes. The put me under so many sterile sheets and covers and alcohol swab that I hope that my immune system has already kicked back into action so that I don´t catch a cold! Luckily Dr. Sanchez Carpintero speaks English pretty well and kept the operating room lively. They only used local anesthesia but they even put a sterile mask over my entire face except my nose and mouth. It was sticky so now I don´t have to pay to get a facial waxing.... hehe. It was funniest when he would ask my questions like, "Does it hurt now?" ("Me: Yes.")¨"OK, mooooore anesthesia!" But it went fine, I´ve now got 8 stiches inside my mouth. I got some photos post-op with a nurse in the my room.

My lip fortunately has not adopted the appearance of an African bushwoman, in fact, it has definetely gotten smaller since the mucosele is gone! The nurses were asking me after if I had ibuprofen and I was trying to explain to them that I had advil, which they had never heard of but I told them that I thought it was like ibuprofen. Then they asked if it was like "aspirina" and I said "I think" and they told me I defintely not to take. And then that one nurse left the room and another came in and we started a similar round of questions. Finally, she asked me again: "Tienes aspirina?" and I said "Imaginamos que no yo tengo nada para quitar el dolor (Let´s just imagine that I don´t have any pain killer")," to make things more simple.... Then I came home and had lunch, and Crispin and Lili came to visit. They brought cute little flowers that were wrapped in purple paper. The funniest was that Crispin had written a little note on the side "Get well soon, Angelina" accompanied with a little dibujo (drawing) of a little face of a woman with huge lips. Ever since she found out that I despise Angelina Joli, she calls me that all the time. It made me laugh so hard that my lip started bleeding! hehe.

Estella (in Vasco: LIZarra)

We took an excursion to Estella on Sunday and it was great and I´m going to buy a pen flash drive now so that I can upload the pictures from a computer here or at school since I have so much trouble with my laptop connecting to the internet. The reason that we (collectively) decided to go there was because, in Vasco, my name appears in the name of the town! How could we not go there? hehe! (Lili and Crispin are great travel buddies...) It was tiny but there were many beautiful churches going back as far as the 12th century (maybe you already know that)!

San Pedro, the main parish had a huge set of stares leading up to it and an enclosed convent in the back. St. Domingo has been converted into a retirement home but it is still an astounding stone building from the outside. And San Miguel I think is the oldest church where there were tons of people for mass with the choir loft that looked like it was precariously perched over the congregation. It too is high up, like San Pedro, and so after we descended the stairs to the street we were pretty far from the church. Suddenly a ping pong ball flew out of the sky and we saw all of the youth of San Miguel leaning over the edge of the courtyard yelling for their ball. They used it for that game called foosball that they were all engrossed in. I went halfway up the stairs and threw it back to them: it barely made it to them but 3 of the boys reached their arms out and somehow they got it back to return to the game. I hope that they weren´t supposed to be in mass right then!

The río Ega was nice, I went wading in it even though my friends ditched me...hehe. And it was a wonderful day- I was hot and sweating! We ate the pilgrim´s menu at the Roma Cafe for 7 euros and shared a bottle of wine from Irache monesterium! Estella is on the route for the Camino de Santiago so the tourist office had a lot of good information for us and it there were many pilgrim "outfitters" around town. Only a few restaurants were open though because it was Sunday. After lunch we went to a Cafetería and Lili and Crispin studied for some time, while I climbed to the top of the pueblo and took some more pictures of the colorful rooftops. What a paseo!