
<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/32424640086_8633cf2711_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Nora and Ian's first snow">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/32424640086_078f3af69a_t.jpg" alt="Nora and Ian's first snow"/>
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In the twelve years I have lived in this town, it has snowed _once_ such that it stuck for a few hours. It very rarely gets down to zero degrees Celsius here at sea level. Unlike their cousin, Xander, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, who needs a snow shovel to even leave his house for 5 months of the year, our kids have never really experienced snow.

In past years, we have seen photos of Nora's classmates playing in the snow. Because we live right next to the mountains, it's possible to drive a bit into the mountains and find snow, but we never have. Mainly because the kids never had any appropriate clothing for rolling around in frozen water. This year, we were determined to do it, so we bought the kids snow clothes. This weekend was the first weekend after a week of cold precipitation (rain here, snow in the mountains), so we decided to do it. Unfortunately we still didn't have appropriate shoes, so on Saturday we went to the mall to buy the remaining shoes and gloves, and on Sunday morning we left for the hills. Upon consulting some more knowledgeable friends and highly weighting plans that involved mostly motorway driving (the kids get car sick), we chose a place called Alto Campoo, near Reinosa. There is a ski resort there, but we stopped before we got there.

On the whole drive there, we didn't see any snow, even when we got to Reinosa, which often gets snowfall. We were starting to convince the kids (and ourselves) that we might not actually see any snow today. The mood in the car was very gloomy. But then we came around a bend, and there, before us, lay a mountain covered in snow. It was a glorious sight.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/5249997164_35bb43268c_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Snowing">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/5249997164_ba68e7648a_m.jpg" alt="Snowing"/>
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Eventually we came to a little car park full of cars next to a little field full of kids and sleds and things (we thought our lack of sled was going to be a downer, but it turned out not to be); we parked and suited up, and soon it was time for the kids to touch snow for the first time.

Technically Nora has [witnessed snow_fall_ back in 2010](https://erikras.com/2010/12/10/holy-cow-snow-noras-first-snow/), but she was less than two years old – see photo to the right.

Unfortunately, the snow was pretty bad for playing in. It had fallen days earlier, and a thick cap of ice had formed on top. Sometimes you could walk along top of the ice cap without crashing through, and other times you fell almost a foot deep (no pun intended). It was too powdery to make snowballs. I managed to make a few snowballs with my gloves off, so that my hands could melt the snow a bit, but I could only make one or two like that before I was out of hand warmth, and with gloves on, the snow could not be formed into clumps. There were a few snowmen that looked like they had been made at least a day earlier, because they were covered in the same thick ice coat, such that we couldn't even jam the stick arms back in; the snow was just too hard.

But the important thing is that we had a wonderful time, created great memories, and got some great photos and video. I suppose you would like to see those since you've read this far. I shall oblige...

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/31653025513_f00206a153_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora and Ian's first snow">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/31653025513_26c1020c46.jpg" alt="Nora and Ian's first snow"/>
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She hated this, but I got a photo of her before she ever touched the stuff.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/32343231411_c692886115_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora and Ian's first snow">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/32343231411_2dd1fa2a60_z.jpg" alt="Nora and Ian's first snow"/>
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Ian, all bundled up.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/31653114843_c971716fa4_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora and Ian's first snow">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/31653114843_95b0cb8fde.jpg" alt="Nora and Ian's first snow"/>
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We found an old stone structure, about which, upon entering through the doorless doorway, it became clear that it was mainly used for the local livestock to take refuge and poo in.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/32464660185_5e4001f7ae_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora and Ian's first snow">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/32464660185_2301404c6d.jpg" alt="Nora and Ian's first snow"/>
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I did capture this shot from inside, which was cow-dung worth it!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/31621324684_06aca3bb11_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora and Ian's first snow">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/31621324684_49d9768b0d_z.jpg" alt="Nora and Ian's first snow"/>
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Letting the iPhone 7Plus "portrait mode" shine some more, even with animated brother behind.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/31621349064_bb1b10929b_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora and Ian's first snow">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/31621349064_27eb2e99c7.jpg" alt="Nora and Ian's first snow"/>
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Snow Princess rules her kingdom.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/32464770505_6a52318e2f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora and Ian's first snow">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/32464770505_dba92a5c21.jpg" alt="Nora and Ian's first snow"/>
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Digging. Oh, the digging. Nora called the snow, "the winter beach".

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/31621323704_74390087de_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora and Ian's first snow">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/31621323704_cfa7c1135e.jpg" alt="Nora and Ian's first snow"/>
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Posing with Daddy, who only had rain pants on over jeans, not actual snow gear. Cold bottom!

[![Snow Angels (GIF)](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/32088995780_8b702b5312_o.gif "Snow Angels (GIF)")](https://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/32088995780 "View 'Snow Angels (GIF)' on Flickr.com")

Obligatory GIF.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/32424640086_8633cf2711_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora and Ian's first snow">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/32424640086_078f3af69a.jpg" alt="Nora and Ian's first snow"/>
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The four of us. Ian _never_ poses without silliness.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/32343229061_7ee04443c5_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora and Ian's first snow">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/32343229061_ba33500af5.jpg" alt="Nora and Ian's first snow"/>
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Mother and daughter. Again, how 'bout that "portrait mode"!?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/31653080983_ed8fa0f1b6_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora and Ian's first snow">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/31653080983_7e0bfe8c58.jpg" alt="Nora and Ian's first snow"/>
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Snowfie selfie with the wifie.

Here's the video. Full screen it if you can. We found a preexisting snowman and tried to revive it. My wife even tried to use some frozen horse poop (did I mention there were cow and horse droppings _everywhere_?) for the eyes, as one does, but it was deemed _imposible_.

If you stay for the end, there is a pretty great timelapse video that I managed by leaving my phone sitting in the snow for twenty minutes (while the kids dug holes).

<iframe width="505" height="284" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FD8a-eqm4h0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Not bad for entirely created and edited on a phone, huh?

### Nacimiento del Río Ebro

After a few tapas for lunch, which took 90 minutes due to high demand, we decided to visit the nearby "Birth of the Ebro River". I don't even know the term in English, but I love that the Spanish refer to the place that a river starts as its "birth". Because isn't Life just a river that ends in the ocean? I knew that the _Río Ebro_ was one of the more important rivers in Spain, but I had no idea that it started in Cantabria, so close to the Atlantic coast, and made its way _all the way in the the Mediterranean Sea!!_ Crazy.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/32343315221_0a7ddae46f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora and Ian's first snow">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/32343315221_8485b88194.jpg" alt="Nora and Ian's first snow"/>
</a>

So anyway, here's what the "birth" looks like. It's a river that just sort of starts in this one spot, with water pouring out of the ground.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/31624488634_d290e96ffd_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nacimiento del Rió Ebro">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/31624488634_252a2970f5.jpg" alt="Nacimiento del Rió Ebro"/>
</a>

It was definitely a "Well, we've seen this, so we can check it off our list." sort of tourist destination. That said, however, the surrounding area does look like it would be nice to visit during the summer.

Overall, we had a wonderful day. The snow was delightful.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/32086554180_a451e8f2e4_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora and Ian's first snow">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-22-nora-and-ians-first-time-in-the-snow/32086554180_942dd7f2d7.jpg" alt="Nora and Ian's first snow"/>
</a>


Nora and Ian's first time in the snow


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-20-inauguration-emotions/31581537214_5081cd478f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="2017 Donald Trump Inauguration">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-20-inauguration-emotions/31581537214_f5c81d7da9_t.jpg" alt="2017 Donald Trump Inauguration"/>
</a>

Well, it's been eight years. Eight years of holding my head high as an American expat, proud of my nation and its great (but never flawless) government. During the George W. Bush years, I shut down so many "Why on earth would your country do X?" conversations with, "I don't know, man, I apologize..." Under Obama that happened – hold on, let me count – _never_. The Spaniards in my town with whom I am in regular contact did nothing but praise the US leadership.  Shortly after Trump was elected – via the electoral college, not the popular vote – in November 2016, a man whose face I am familiar with, but have never spoken to, yelled at me from across the street. I stopped, and he crossed the street to talk to me. He said something along the lines of, "Look, I don't know anything about your politics, but you should be _ashamed_ by whom your nation has elected." I assured him that I was and resisted a retort about the utter knuckleheads (that's _los knuckleheads_ in Spanish) that Spain regularly elects.

Back in 2009, [I blogged a photo of myself](https://erikras.com/2009/01/20/congratulations-mr-president/) watching the historic inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama. Today I do the same.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-20-inauguration-emotions/3213578816_572a09c2e7_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Congratulations, Mr. President!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-20-inauguration-emotions/3213578816_da8bb8bb5c.jpg" alt="Congratulations, Mr. President!"/>
</a>

2009

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-20-inauguration-emotions/31581537214_5081cd478f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="2017 Donald Trump Inauguration">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-20-inauguration-emotions/31581537214_f5c81d7da9.jpg" alt="2017 Donald Trump Inauguration"/>
</a>

2017

Good luck America, and good luck Earth. You're gonna need it.


Inauguration Emotions


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-08-la-vijanera-cantabrias-pagan-nature-festival/31381081683_7e381faafd_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="La Vijanera - Silió">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-08-la-vijanera-cantabrias-pagan-nature-festival/31381081683_197f55c1c5_t.jpg" alt="La Vijanera - Silió"/>
</a>

Several years ago, I became aware of this truly bizarre festival celebrated in Cantabria, my region of Spain, on the first Sunday of every year. Since learning of its existence, we have always been busy doing some other family thing winding down Christmas when it is held, but this year we finally made it! The festival is called _La Vijanera_, and it is the most pagan thing I've seen since I took down our Christmas tree yesterday.  <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-08-la-vijanera-cantabrias-pagan-nature-festival/31381081683_7e381faafd_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="La Vijanera - Silió">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-08-la-vijanera-cantabrias-pagan-nature-festival/31381081683_197f55c1c5.jpg" alt="La Vijanera - Silió"/>
</a>

The festival is thought to date back to Roman times, and involves loudly scaring away the evil spirits as we change from one calendar year to the next. To quote / blatantly plagiarize [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Vijanera):

> Originally, La Vijanera was celebrated in the valleys of Iguña, Toranzo, Trasmiera, Campoo and Polaciones but now the only place in the region where it is just Silió. The first carnival of the year in Europe is a colorful masquerade involving approximately 60 characters (all male), la madama, el mancebo, los trapajones, el oso and su dueño, el pasiego, el caballero, la Pepa or Pepona, el médico, el domador, el húngaro, el viejo and la vieja, all dressed in a colorful and own function and symbolism.
> 
> But the real stars of the festival are los zarramacos because of the importance of their role. These are people dressed in sheepskins and weevils hats in addition to carrying the face painted black that will ward off the evil spirits during the year that jingling bells that are tied to the body. Its mission is to expel these spirits of the town coming up to the limits, tradition that points to much more ancient probably from the Roman times.
> 
> The second part of the celebration is to review the year end. The Vijaneros waiters gather at the town square and read some verses that, in popular language and tones ranging from jocularity to the cruelty, analyze what happened in the past year from local to international.
> 
> The fiesta ends with two acts, first produced "la Preñá", ie the calve or birth of the new year. After that, La Vijanera concludes with the death of the Bear, which symbolizes the victory of good over evil and the desire of good intentions for the new year.
> 
> As can be seen in this fiesta represents the desire to banish the last year and pave the way to the next year to begin with enthusiasm and good wishes. Perhaps because of this that the Roman god Janus is responsible for chairing La Vijanera. In fact, Janus in Latin derives from Jauna, ie gate, so it may want to mean "gate between two years" if it consider the prefix vi-(bi-, two).

## The Experience

With some effort we managed to rouse the troops, my wife and kids, my in-laws, and my sister-in-law, and leave home by 10:30. _Silió_, the town where the festival takes place, is an hour away, and the festivities were supposed to start at 11:30. Luckily, it was motorway pretty much the entire trip, but even so we had to stop 65% of the way there for a kid puke break, and we burned a half hour in a shopping center parking lot.

As we approached the town, we got to _Molledo_, the next town over, and immediately saw that everyone was parking their cars up on the sidewalk for as far as the eye could see. My Google Maps app told me that we were still 2.5 kilometers away, but it looked like parking sooner rather than later was the right thing to do. This was the first in a long series of ovine-minded "everyone else is doing this, so I guess we should as well" decisions that we made.

My phone had told me that, although it was 1°C when we left home, it would be 9°C by noon in _Molledo_. When we parked the car at noon, the temperature was -0.5°C. Forecast fail.

Luckily we had a 2.5 km walk to warm us up, and we had a steady stream of people to follow, so between all of us, it sort of seemed like we knew what we were doing. Eventually we left _Molledo_ and got to the turn towards _Silió_, our destination, where there were two policemen, blocking the way, along with a hand-drawn sign saying something about how only cars whose registration ended in X could pass that point. Later we saw another hand-drawn sign next to a cow pasture stating that only cows with tags ending in X could pass, so I cannot be sure if they were actually letting in some cars or if they were poking fun at new congestion measures that they have implemented in Madrid recently. As we continued to walk the icy streets, some cars did pass us, but very few, so we cannot be certain. Also, _all_ available parking anywhere near _Silió_ was occupied, so maybe the cops just started blocking people when they knew it was full.

About a half kilometer before we got to the town, we got to a line drawn in the road. We had seen this line in videos from previous years, so we knew it was significant. More strangely, a crowd seemed to be gathering near the line. Something was clearly about to go down. So we copied the others once again, and took up camp near the line, leaning against a freezing guard rail and waited. And waited. And waited.

30-40 minutes later, the action began. Video below. A parade of very strangely dressed characters came dancing down the road, very loudly. They stopped at the line, and it's my understanding that some good guys symbolically defeated some bad guys, and they turned around and headed back into town. We, and the other 2,000 or so people followed.

At a very slow pace, we eventually arrived to the little town of _Silió_, realized that there was nothing to do there (the festivities do continue, but they don't involve food), and it was 2:00 PM, the time of day when Spaniards take seriously the question of "Where are we going to eat lunch?", and we decided to turn back. It was a long walk back to the car, and it was decided that the old and young were holding back the pace, so a party of drivers split off and walked faster to the cars, and came back for the stragglers.

We chose a nearby (and on the way back home) town of _Puente Viesgo_ for lunch. The main tourist attraction there is some caves with cave paintings, but we ended up not having time for that. We had a great lunch, walked around the town for a bit, and hopped in the car to come up, arriving just after dark.

## The Photos

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-08-la-vijanera-cantabrias-pagan-nature-festival/31816298480_6efeb3ae04_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="La Vijanera - Silió">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-08-la-vijanera-cantabrias-pagan-nature-festival/31816298480_831658a9dc_z.jpg" alt="La Vijanera - Silió"/>
</a>

The line that was "defended".

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-08-la-vijanera-cantabrias-pagan-nature-festival/31381074583_b625bc5159_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="La Vijanera - Silió">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-08-la-vijanera-cantabrias-pagan-nature-festival/31381074583_55421e002f_z.jpg" alt="La Vijanera - Silió"/>
</a>

Some of the people were dressed like this. My guess is that they are the heroes of the day.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-08-la-vijanera-cantabrias-pagan-nature-festival/31381077803_90ab415958_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="La Vijanera - Silió">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-08-la-vijanera-cantabrias-pagan-nature-festival/31381077803_4a7a833452_z.jpg" alt="La Vijanera - Silió"/>
</a>

Some of the spirit monsters looked like snipers. As a parade it wasn't even remotely scary, but if you were walking through the forest and a few of them jumped out at you, you'd do what bears do in the woods.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-08-la-vijanera-cantabrias-pagan-nature-festival/31381075963_e1d60f6b2c_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="La Vijanera - Silió">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-08-la-vijanera-cantabrias-pagan-nature-festival/31381075963_c4f56ed917_z.jpg" alt="La Vijanera - Silió"/>
</a>

This guy was the coolest. Can't help but wonder how many [I am Groot](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph_l7Pp_1mk) jokes are made around him. Probably disappointingly few. I had my photo taken with him, too, but somehow my wife put the camera in black-and-white mode when she took it.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-08-la-vijanera-cantabrias-pagan-nature-festival/31381079753_92f3974689_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="La Vijanera - Silió">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-08-la-vijanera-cantabrias-pagan-nature-festival/31381079753_55064c7467_z.jpg" alt="La Vijanera - Silió"/>
</a>

"I'm with Groot."

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-08-la-vijanera-cantabrias-pagan-nature-festival/31381084673_f0b299bf37_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="La Vijanera - Silió">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2017-01-08-la-vijanera-cantabrias-pagan-nature-festival/31381084673_6fac715525_z.jpg" alt="La Vijanera - Silió"/>
</a>

I do love little country backwaters like this. How amazing that this little festival that they have every year, and have been celebrating for millennia, can attract such attention.

If you are hungry for more photos, [Flickr is full of them](https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=vijanera).

## The Video

It was _really loud_, so turn up your volume to get the full experience.

<iframe width="505" height="284" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Is-c55zMfb4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I'm glad we went. It's an interesting thing to experience, and to have experienced, but I suspect we won't be returning. The 500€ prize for the best photograph meant that the place was crawling with DSLR-wielding contestants.

Thanks for the lovely day out, _Silió_ and _Puente Viesgo_!


3 posts from January, 2017