Missed them both

Only the other day, Pam and I said that we should revisit the Carnival in Torrevieja. The first time we went was at night which started at about 10pm and lasted nearly four hours. By the finish we were really cold and needed a cup of chocolate from Valor to warm us up before setting off back home. Then we tried the afternoon parade which starts at 4pm which was much better but is still a long time to be standing. It is worth it though when you see the inventiveness of the people who take part, not just in the costumes but in the dance routines. Yesterday, over 1,600 from 37 different troupes took part and five of the groups were foreigners. The parade started at the Plaza Maria Asuncion and made its way along Calle Ramon Galud and Patricio Perez.

We also missed the procession and celebration in honour of the Blessed Friar Leopoldo of Alpandeire that took place in Bigastro yesterday morning. The first we knew that something special was going on was when we heard the fireworks. I can only thank whoever it was that took the photos for providing me with a picture of this event.

In case, like me, you were wondering who this blessed friar was, here is a brief explanation.

He was born Francisco Tomás de San Juan Bautista Márquez y Sánchez on 24 June 1864, in Alpandeire, Spain, a small village in the province of Málaga. At the age of 35 he decided to embrace religious life.

Leopoldo became a Spanish Capuchin friar whose devotion is very popular among people in southern Spain. His life was not distinguished for any spectacular work but rather for its simplicity, his kindness and generosity (especially towards the most deprived persons). He spent the majority of his life in Granada, city where its people still remember and celebrate him as a testimony of Christian life.

Quite why his statue was brought to Bigastro, I cannot say.