"Si luchas, puedes perder. Si no luchas, estás perdido." Huelga General! And Segovia! And more!

This past Wednesday was the Huelga General (General Strike!) of Spain:

(flyer)

This was pretty exciting for us because it meant that we got the day off from school. Our hour-long commute would be too difficult because the trains were running on minimum service (the train workers were on strike), so classes were pretty much optional, meaning the Spanish students considered it an excuse for a day off. I still do not completely understand the concept of a huelga general because it would not happen in the US. Basically, Spain is pissed off because of the economic crisis (pronounced like "creesees" in Spanish) and is mostly blaming the president, Zapatero, who belongs to the liberal party (PSOE- Partida Socialista Obrero Español, or the Spanish Socialist Workers Party). Anyone who wanted to could strike for better wages and working conditions. It seemed like it was organized by the Spanish Communist Party, which is much less taboo here than in the US, but I also heard that some faction of the government helped organize it, which I really don't understand. The strikers were all people who are more liberal than Zapatero's party, and surprisingly represented all ages of the population. The people who are more conservative than Zapatero (i.e. my host family) are very against the strike. My host mom kept referring to it as the embarassment of Spain, and my host sister went to work as usual and said that everyone was in her office and the strike was not a big deal. I was very interested by the whole thing, and of course went downtown to check it out.

marchers on the Paseo del Prado



There were THOUSANDS of people there and it was like a giant parade with lots of chanting and angry political signs. The marchers gathered on the Paseo del Prado around 6 and started marching to Sol, a plaza in the center of Madrid. My friend Hannah joined me to watch by the Prado, and we took the subway to Sol to see what was going on. There was a big stage set up and people were singing, but we had to leave to be home for dinner (strict señoras) so we missed speeches, although we most likely would not have been able to understand them anyway. In Madrid everything was very peaceful, but a lot of violence went down in other cities, like Barcelona, where the protesters started fires for some reason. Not so good. I was really glad I went though because it was very cool to see and a lot of fun.

There was a huelga band:

Many communist flags:

And even a guy dressed up as a mailbox:

(The significance of this was completely lost on me.)

All in all, the strike does not seem to have accomplished anything. Zapatero (and most of the Spanish population) seems to have ignored it. All it left behind was a LOT of litter. All over the city.

Before the demonstration, Hilary and I went to lunch at a vegetarian restaurant with our muy guay monitor/amigo Helios and a bunch of our other friends. It was delicious and we were very relieved to finally get some vegetables. They also had amazing desserts.

This past Friday, Hilary, our friend Felicia, and I went on a day trip to Segovia. It was BEAUTIFUL. Segovia is famous for three things:

1. Roman Aqueducts:

2. Cathedral:

3. Castle:



All three were incredible, but the castle was definitely my favorite. We went on a self-guided tour of it. Amazing. Each room was gorgeous, and even the ceilings were ridiculously ornate. Here is an example:



For 2 euros more, we got to climb the castle tower! Of course we could not pass this up, considering all the practice we had climbing towers in Santiago. To get to this tower, we went up a spiral staircase with 152 steps. 



 views from the top

Next weekend, we're heading to Paris to visit Greg! So exciting!

Hasta la vista,

Raquel

P.S. IZZY Argentina came to visit Madrid! There is a big trade expo set up in the Plaza Mayor (by our favorite superhero Fat Spiderman):