Posts Tagged ‘san mateo’

Summer’s ending

En castellano

The outdoor pool at parque del oeste

Bracingly good pool

The summer is winding down, but we’ve had a few days of decent weather, so yesterday I took advantage of temperatures in the low 20s to head to the outdoor pool before they close it on the 15th. Liz usually takes a few minutes to get into the water in the outdoor pool whereas I usually dive straight in… it’s unheated so at 11am it can be bracing.

people at a bar during san mateo

From here they'll go to another bar and stand around there too...

The other marker of the end of the summer is the San Mateo festival. It also began yesterday, and runs through to the end of Tuesday the 21st. As in previous years it seems to be largely about sandwiches and beer and strolling around the city. There’s a big stage in the cathedral square but I don’t recognize many of the artists, there’s a battle of the bands stage by the faculty of psychology and a jazz stage in the umbrella square. Apart from that there are a number of stages in different areas of the city with fiesta bands… these are the bands that spend the summer playing at fiestas all over, some specializing in the 80s others playing a bit more varied stuff, you see them advertised on rural bus shelters, usually with thin white ties on black shirts or some other cheesy band uniform motif. On some of the message boards there were a lot of moaners complaining that the bands were rubbish this year and how they were going to go to Gijón instead. There’s also a funfair, games and activities for kids in the park, the rally of Asturias and a few dozen sporting events going on.

Two workers setting up a ride at the fair

Fairly setup

I went out strolling with my camera to the funfair on the slab above the train station, then around the different stages, wandering solo is entertaining enough, but a large part of the fun seems to be standing around talking, or shouting depending on how near or far a stage is. Still, there’s plenty of time to practice my standing around talking, another 11 days to be precise, although not tonight, because the walking season starts tomorrow, and we leave at 6:45am.

El verano casi se acaba, hacía buen tiempo durante la semana pasada, así que ayer aproveché de las temperaturas que llegaban a los 20 para ir con rumbo a la piscina descubierta antes de la cierran el día 15. Liz normalmente lleva unos minutos para entrar en el agua mientras que me tiro al agua inmediatamente, no hay calefacción entonces a las 11h puede estar fresca.

El otro señal del fin del verano es la fiesta de San Mateo, empezó ayer y durará hasta el final del 21, como los años anteriores parece en gran parte sobre bocatas y cerveza y dar una vuelta por la ciudad. Hay un escenario en la plaza de la catedral pero no conozco muchos de los artistas, hay un concurso de rock en un tablero al lado de la facultad de psicología y un tablero de jazz en la plaza de paraguas. Ademas hay unos tableros en varios barrios en la ciudad en que tocarán orquestas típicas de las fiestas, son las orquestas que tocan en romerías y verbenas todo el verano, algunas tocan en música de los años 80, otras tienen un repertorio un poco mas extensivo, se las ve en publicidad en las paradas rurales de los autobuses, muchas veces llevan corbatas estrechas blancas y camisas negras o algún uniforme cursi. En algunos foros habían muchos que se quejaban que los artistas son malos este año y como iban a ir a Gijón en lugar de ir a San Mateo. Hay también una feria, juegos y actividades infantiles en el parque, el rally de Asturias y unos docenas de eventos deportivos.

Dí un paseo con la camera a la feria que esta en la losa encima de la estación del tren, y después iba por los tableros y escenarios. Pasear solo es bastante entretenido, pero parece que mucho de la entretenimiento es estar de pie charlando, o gritando depende en la proximidad de un escenario. Bueno, me queda mucho tiempo para practicar mi “estar de pie y charlando”, once días más para ser exacto, aun que esta noche no, porque la temporada de caminar empezará mañana y tenemos que salir a las 0645h

Tags: ,
Posted in asturias 1 Comment »

Matthew, patron saint of sarnies?

The nine day San Mateo festival comes to an end today. There has been a lot of stuff on in various different places in the city, ranging from a classic car show to an unforgettable (but not in a good way) polka band in the park. I’m not really a fiesta kind of person, and it’s not nearly as much fun when you’re not in a group (so if we’re here next year this is a good time to visit) but I’ve done a few bits and pieces.

There are two signature events in San Mateo, according to the local TV, one is the parade on the day of the Americas in Asturias (lots of floats, lots of latin rhythms interspersed with pipe bands marching past) which was on Friday, and a big fireworks display in Parque Invierno (winter park) at midnight last night. I missed the fireworks because I had walked up the Naranco mountain to see the sunset and by the time I got back I just wanted a beer and a sit down for a while. However, it was covered live by TPA, the local TV station, where two reporters gamely batted back and forth ‘ooohs’ and ‘aaahhhhs’ and comments like ‘that’s a blue one, oh, now a yellow, maybe silver’. The fireworks, while not on a Chinese scale, were pretty impressive.

The other major theme of San Mateo is the chiriguitos, the outdoor stalls where you can get a drink and a buttie. Really they should be thinking of changing the name to the buttie fest, because combined with the chiriguitos, today is another day for bollos, bread baked with a chorizo inside (although I prefer the ones with black pudding). Almost everyone on the street has a carrier bag with their bottle of wine and bollo preñado. Last night was the busiest so far. The steets were packed, and amazingly, for streets packed with people who all seem to be drinking (1000 mojito drinkers in Cuban corner is a sight to behold), I haven’t seen a single fight. Not one, and not too many incapably drunk people. I cannot imagine how a citywide street festival lasting nine days with a significant drinking component would play out in the UK. No, actually I can imagine it and it wouldn’t be pretty.

Posted by Picasa

Tags: , ,
Posted in asturias Comments Off

Fiesta!

Walking around the city the last few days I’ve seen various preparations going on. Bars are suddenly sprouting extra outdoor bars, plazas are getting stages built in them, the park has a new children’s play area. All of this is for San Mateo, Oviedo’s big annual fiesta. It runs from the 12th through to the 21st and, despite my students rubbishing the lineup, I’m quite looking forward to it. Every day there’s kids stuff in the park, there’s theatre, there are concerts, both free and not free. I read in the paper that the council is being very serious this year about the noise pollution, and that the live music will have to finish by 2:30am on weeknights and by 5:30am at the weekends.

Among the artists playing the free gigs by the cathedral are Tomatito, Estrella Morente and Amaparanoia (all of whom I’d pay to see). On the 19th it’s the Day of the Americas in Asturias and the flags are being hung right now. There’s going to be a big parade. One of my students said that I should try the bocadillos (sandwiches, but made with crusty bread) especially the calamares. She was chuffed to learn the alliterative squid sandwich translation.

The photo is from the opening speech/fireworks/Asturian anthem/holding up of a chicken in which the dean of the university gave a speech which basically went like this:- Oviedo, it’s great, we love it, aren’t we lucky to live in such a great city, I mean it’s bloomin fantastic, and when we do this again next year let’s hope that Real Oviedo are in the second division (that would be an upwards move, and that got the biggest round of applause), viva Oviedo, viva San Mateo.

The holding up of the chicken made the front page of today’s paper, I have yet to read it to figure out just what that was all about.

Posted by Picasa

Tags: , ,
Posted in asturias Comments Off