Day 12, The Assumption of Mary Celebration & Rhonda.

The famous Ronda gorge.

 
"Today, the Catholic church was having a fiesta!Everyone kind of marched towards this mountain. There was  a band playing and these like six big men carried a big altar thing with who they worship, the virgin Mary, in it. We hiked up the huge mountain in like 30-45 minutes. After we got up there, they placed virgin Mary on this throne and everyone was clapping up at the top. People were eating the famous paella and drinking and smoking. After awhile, our family hiked back down and walked to our car and drove about ten minutes away to Ronda. We walked around and saw this bridge and over it was trees all over and it was filled with aqua blue water. It was so pretty. " Talie.

The Mary float that is being carried up the mountain.

    "Today, a group of people from the church, hiked all the way up a mountain. (also known as the zig zag trail - which snakes its way up to the top of the mountain, and was the medieval road to Rhonda) They worship Mary, so some men in the the group carried a statue of Mary up the mountain. Then we all partied on top." Then, we went to Rhonda. We saw a view that was so pretty. It had trees, a waterfall, rocks and bushes. it was beautiful. Then we ate lunch. I had the amazing pizza." Ashlynn.

Everybody excited about the fiesta. Following the band marching out of Montejaque.

Benson, getting it all on type, while Tan hangs out - all of the old men kept worrying about his bald little head in the son, but he won't keep a hat on, so we're hoping that the lathering of sunscreen will be good enough.

  

The zig zag trail which leads to the destination for the virgin Mary statue.

The view of Montejaque from the zig zag trail.

   Yesterday, we found out about the festival and are excited to be a part of it. We arrive at the top around 11:00 am, we buy some Fanta, play Frisbee and meet Nancy, a woman from Belgium who just purchased a hotel and a pool at the top of the village. We are ready to walk back down, while the rest of villagers drink and lounge until 3:00 pm. when they serve their paella and follow Mary back down the hill.

Whew! We made it to the top and find some shade.

On our way down, we are all partied out.

    We drive to Ronda and walk around the old city and see the famous bridge (started in 1750, but not completed until 1793) that was built over the deep gorge to connect the two parts of Ronda. We eat at a restaurant overlooking the gorge. I am surprised that most of the meals in Spain are accompanied by patatas fritas (french fries).

Public water fountains.

The beautiful countryside around Ronda.

Overlooking the breattaking gorge.

Our restaurant that overlooks the gorge.

      We walk back across the amazing bridge to a park, where there is a man playing a number of different instruments, a woman singing, and a shirtless boy dancing with a ball to the music (nope, it's not a basketball). The music is very soothing, and we buy the CD. However we are not that impressed with the dancing boy, accept for Kennedi who just sits and gazes, later announcing, "Now I have three boyfriends: Tanner, Dad and the dancing boy with no shirt on."

Kennedi could have sat there all day.