A week away from goodbye...

Monday

                It wasn’t a bad Monday, and it was strange to think that it was already my last Monday with a full week of work ahead of me. I met with Carlos and we had a nice visit in a large plaza called the Alameda de Hercules. Then I used the internet, like always on Mondays. Work was really boring because all three check-ins that happened while I was there happened within fifteen minutes and the rest of the time neither Jaime nor I had much of anything to do. It was so slow at the hotel that Jaime told me I could leave at 7:30 if I wanted since there wasn’t any reason for me to stay any longer. It wasn’t exactly fun being bored out of my mind at work; however it was worth it to be able to leave early.

Tuesday

                I did some more plaza visiting again on Tuesday; this time to Plaza Nueva, which I frequent on a regular basis for the internet, and Plaza de la Encarnación. Plaza de la Encarnación is the plaza that has the setas that I visited on Sunday; however, while I was there I forgot to take a picture of the entire structure from down below, so I decided to return in order to get some pictures that better reveal the mushroom shape.

Aside from working at the hotel reception desk on Tuesday, I spent over an hour working in the administration office doing random things that needed to be done as well as a little bit of helping out Javier in the apartments. I didn’t mind a little variety at work since it helped to pass the time and it made things a little more interesting.

Wednesday

                I met with Carlos again and we ended up going to Triana which is a large neighborhood of Sevilla that is across the river from where I live in the center. We went to a church that I had visited on my first weekend in Sevilla when I went to a concert that Concepción was in, and this time the pasos for Semana Santa were on display. One of the pasos has the statue of Mary called Esperanza de Triana, which is very similar to the Macarena statue of Mary, and according to Carlos there is a little bit of rivalry between the two churches because of their similar Mary statues. We walked to a couple of different churches in order to potentially see other pasos out in preparation for the upcoming week’s events; however of the three churches we tried, two weren’t open at all, and the last one charged a three euro fee to enter so we decided against going in. It was neat though seeing the pasos for la Esperanza de Triana, especially because that is one of the most significant processions and takes place on Good Friday. The pasos for this procession leave the church at 2:10am and arrive at the Cathedral at 6:15am and finally return at 1:30 in the afternoon, the whole time each is carried by forty to fifty men that switch out every twenty minutes. It will be super crazy and there will be people everywhere, either watching or participating in a procession, because there are usually at least three to six going on at a time. I’m super excited to see as many processions as possible and I hope it doesn’t rain because rain in the forecast means no processions which would be a bummer, especially if it rained on the most important day of processions, Good Friday.

Thursday

                I decided to go visit the Basilica de la Macarena again because although I’ve been there twice before I always forget my camera. This time I went prepared and I was excited to see that both of the pasos were on display so it was a perfect time to get some photos. The two pasos for the Macarena are of the condemned Jesus and the Virgin. I wish I had time to visit all the churches before Semana Santa in order to see up close all of the pasos, because the ones I’ve seen so far are super ornate and beautiful, but alas, there just isn’t enough time so I’ll have to be content with seeing them from a distance during the processions.

Friday

                I only have three days of work left after today. It’s hard to believe how time flies. I felt like the internship would take forever and now I’m practically done. Once the processions start taking place next week it will make getting to work a little trickier since the hotel is on the opposite side of the main street that all the processions take. Carlos showed me a way to get across to the other side that seems achievable so I’ll give it a try on Monday. The worst that can happen is that I’ll be rather late to work.