Three Kings, Úbeda, y San Anton

Winter break in the States generally ends on January 2 of the New Year. People back home are given a day to recover from excessive consumption of “beverages”, staying up just a “little too late” and having just a “wee bit more fun than they had planned on”. One day to recover here in Spain? Como se dice "insufficient" en español?
That is correct. Jeanna and I had one more holiday to celebrate before heading back to work. January 06th es el Dia de Los Reyes Magos (The Three Kings Day). This holiday is actually as big if not bigger than Christmas here in Spain. Christmas involves church and family dinners and is generally celebrated on Christmas eve (La Noche Buena). The Reyes Magos bring the presents here in Spain! Much like Santa Clause, the Three Kings spend the entire evening of the 5th bringing presents to all of the good boys and girls. Yes, they even bring coal to the “bad children”! They also managed to make an appearance at the parade along with the other floats, where massive amounts of candy were thrown out to the spectators. This year the Reyes Magos brought Jeanna safely back home to Spain. They also gave us a few more days without work to spend together!
Unfortunately, all good things must end. Our winter break ended on the seventh and we were forced to go back to work for two entire days! It was difficult, and at times, we did not know if we would make it, but we helped one another pull through. We decided to make the most of our three-day weekend and bought a bus ticket to Úbeda. Úbeda is on everybody’s “must see before you leave list”. It is a quaint 16th century pueblo. Walking through the streets is much like stepping back in time. Very little has changed in the past FIVE centuries. The streets are very narrow and almost all made of cobbles! We had great time spending the day together and taking photos of many of the historic buildings. We hope that you enjoy the photos. It was a beautiful day although it was fairly “cold” (just above freezing).
One more week of work brings us to last night, January 16th, 2009. Yes, another fiesta here in Espana! This time the fiesta came in the form of a running race, La Carrera Urbana Internacional Noche De San Anton. Jeanna and I had heard that this was a very popular race but neither of us realized exactly what that meant. San Anton is a 10k race that starts at eight o’clock at night. The streets were literally lined sometimes two and three deep for the entire 10 K, many spectators holding torches. That means six miles of people cheering. There were also more than 5000 participants. All this made the race incredibly beautiful and memorable. Simply watching the race and cheering would be too boring for a Spaniard. Bonfires are built all around the city to make things more entertaining for everyone. It is typical to eat popcorn and drink “beverages” while watching the race. Keep in mind that this is Spain and this is simply the pre-party. After the race is over you meet up with all of your friends and head to the bonfire of your choice (normally the one closest to your home). You can buy little sandwiches and beverages at the bonfire and spend the rest of your evening singing and dancing around the fire!
Miss Jeanna did awesome. She chose to run with one of the teachers from my school (Manolo) rather than to shoot for a personal record time. This made the race more memorable for her. Manolo is an x-professional futbol player from Jaen and the whole town knows him. She spent the entire six miles having people shout and cheer for “them”! Manolo was known as “Leyes” as a professional. For many the name stuck and Jeanna’s run was highlighted with people shouting, “Leyes, Leyes, Anda,” but also with some “guapa, guapetona, rubia (blond)” and I am certain a few others she neglected to tell me (other than vamos and venga)! People here in Jaen love Leyes and everyone loves la Rubia! It was her night to feel like a super star! She finished very strong in her first 10K, almost killing poor Leyes! We all headed up to one of the bonfires after the race. We had one of the famous bocadillos de patata and una cervecita! The cold forced us to call it an early night (midnight)… A truly unforgettable experience for both of us.