dimarts, 5 d’octubre del 2010

Bassegoda Fair 2010

Usually, this blog is written in Catalan, because when I decided to start writing it my aim was to keep family and friends aware of our Oregonian adventure. Now that we’ve made several American friends, I feel the need to write something in English to keep them posted about our life in Catalonia. And I couldn’t think of a better subject than the Bassegoda Fair.
Sant Martí del Bassegoda is a village lost in the wild mountains between two Catalan counties (Alt Empordà and La Garrotxa). The village was abandoned several years ago, but the Centre Excursionista Empordanès, a mountaineering club from the area has been celebrating its annual fair every year since then (34th edition, this year). The celebration gathers around 500 people of all ages, most of them come on Sunday morning for a guided walk before lunch, but some people (mainly from the organization committee) come on Saturday night to have a good dinner, a big camp fire and lately a “cremat” contest. By the way, the cremat (burned, literally) is a drink made by rum, coffee beans, lemon, sugar and cinnamon, basically you put fire to the whole mix and let most of the alcohol burn, hence its name.
On Sunday the lunch is a traditional “paella” for everyone, usually made in two or three big pans, bread and an apple for 5€. After lunch a dance with live music is held to help the digestion, and after that a rope pulling contest with many categories (boys vs girls and married people vs singles).
I've been attending to this event since I was a kid (skipping only a few years) and it's always been very special to me, but this year has been even more special. We've been away for several months, away from family and friends, and away from this landscape we love so much. Being there again and meeting everyone has been one of the big emotions of this visit to our homeland. And we've meet plenty of “new” kids: Eloi, Marta, Martí, Rita... See you all soon!
The "cremat"

The Bassegoda Peak and the old school of Sant Martí del Bassegoda (now a cabin managed by the CEE)



Early stage of the "paella"
Almost ready to eat.

4 comentaris:

  1. David, thanks for sharing your Catalan adventures. The Bassegoda Fair sounds like great fun. The cremat and paella images made me hungry.

    Michael

    ResponElimina
  2. We need to add cremat to Loop Tour!

    It will be good to soon ride with you again in Oregon.

    Dan

    ResponElimina
  3. yeah! thank you to let us known a little more about Catalonia... hehehe, escrit en anglès tot fa més patxoca, eh? petons!!

    ResponElimina
  4. ei ja sé que vaig tard però només dir-vos que m'ha encantat veure l'explicació de la festa en anglès! Com diu la Marina fa més patxoca, la veritat és que m'he quedat impressionada de lo bé que escrius!! Quin nivell sí senyor!
    Escolteu família de Corvalis,... nosaltres estem mirant bitllets per fer-vos una visita a mitjants del mes de gener!!! Com ho veieu?? De totes maneres podem fer un skype i parlar-ne o bé acabem de concretar-ho tot per nadal,... perquè vindreu oi??
    molts petons i fins aviat

    ResponElimina