Barrio en festas (3rd May)

Five of us volunteers are living in street named Rua de San Pedro. We are lucky because place where 3 of us are working is only two minutes far away from our apartment and when it is raining (what is not so unusual in Santiago) we don’t need to walk so far away and only our foot are wet J But even better thing about our street is that twice a year there are celebrations – One is in May and another not much later, at the end of June. Last week we had an opportunity to enjoy one of them. 3th of May it was Spring Fair, in Spanish called Feria de Primavera.

For a long time our street was full of workers who were making reconstructions of street and that day it was so strange not to be awakened by the sound of machines, but by the voices of many people and children who were from the early morning at the street.  Through the open window were coming inside the smell of barbecue and sound of typical Galician music. It was the sign that it is time to go out and check what all offers Spring fair in Rua de San Pedro.

When we opened the door we didn’t expect that we are situated in the center of happening.  On our left and right side were spreading stands where people where selling their handicrafts. You could find almost anything you can imagine, from the handmade clothes, accessories, pictures and other decoration for the houses to homemade vine and other drinks, cookies and pastry. Normally you need 10 minutes from the beginning till the end of the street, but that day, we needed more than 35 minutes to finish the road. You have to stand and check every stand, and between that to stop to drink something to refresh yourself because it was a really hot day. For refreshing there were many options, because every bar in our street (and there are plenty of them) put their tables outside, on the street, but it was a bit difficult to find a free table. It seemed like all the people from Santiago flocked to this street. Some of the bars had the music band that was playing typical Galician music, with the famous Galician instrument – bagpipes. It was the perfect opportunity to feel real Galician spirit at one place – to listen raditional music, eat typical food and drink drinks from Galicia.

There were also some activities in different part of the street, like concerts and other type of performances that people were watching gladly. In every place where were a lot of people grouped in one place, you knew that some event is happening there.  

 In every turn you could hear “Hola” and see a familiar faces of people you know. At the beginning we were only two persons, and at the end of the day we were more than 10. People were just coming and going and in one day we saw so many friends like we didn’t in one week. We had a chance with the weather too; it was such a worm and sunny day in Santiago! But like every story has a beginning and the end, this day has to be finished too. Around midnight all events on the street stopped, music was turned off and people started to split up slowly, even if they didn’t want to. But the party doesn’t stop then, river of the people from Rua de San Pedro was moving to the old part of Santiago to bars and pubs where the night’s just begun and party from Rua de San Pedro was continued.

This was the first time that we saw our street from another point of view and we liked it a lot, so now we can’t wait for the end of June for another celebration, and even the better part is that it will last for three days… J

Tamara