In the Dark

Today (12th October) is a national holiday in Spain, Hispanic Day (Día de la Hispanidad) or National Day (Fiesta Nacional de España). The date commemorates when Christopher Columbus first set foot in the Americas in 1492, and its colonial overtones make it a bit controversial. I only found out about this holiday yesterday so I had to do a quick dash to the shops last night because the vast majority are closed today (as they are every Sunday, incidentally).

The Department being closed today, I pottered around the apartment this morning. Late on in the morning I heard an unusual amount of beeping of car horns from the street and, when I looked out, there was quite a bit of traffic congestion going. The Gran Via de les Cortes Catalanes is a busy main road but usually the traffic keeps moving. Looking more closely I noticed that there was no traffic at all going along the Gran Via and all the congestion was in the orthogonal direction. I surmised that some diversion was in place.

I went out for a walk and established that I was correct. A very large parade was heading towards Plaça de Catalunya a few blocks down and the Gran Via was closed there to allow it to pass. The congestion was caused by cars trying to find alternative routes.

Anyway, I walked down towards Plaça de Catalunya and found the parade. I only caught a small part of it, but it was fun. Lots of different groups from different Latin American countries dressed in colourful traditional costumes were dancing their way through the city. My favourites, from Bolivia, are featured in the last two pictures. They had brought their own brass band along, which made a change from the recorded music accompanying most of the other sections of the parade, and made it feel much more authentic.

Anyway, it is another warm day (27° C) so after walking around for a couple of hours, I beat a retreat to my flat to cool off and have a short siesta. Bona tarda!