Witches and Romans

After dinner last night, we all took part in an incantation ceremony common to Galicia, called the Queimada.  Queimada is a pagan ritual that dates back to the 11th century, although it is sometimes believed to be an ancient Celtic tradition.  It is designed to keep away any bad spirits that try to curse humans.  Any occasion is good for a queimada, but it typically takes place during St. John's night ("witches night") on June 23.  It involves the brewing of a wildly alcoholic punch containing, among other things, the juice of a man and woman's brains, cockroaches, a dried skin of a yellow serpent, and the juice of a monkey's brain.  (If those are difficult to obtain, you can use lime and lemon juice, coffee beans, lemon peel, and orange juice.)  When the alcohol is added it is set afire, and as the incantation continues, the brewer ladles the burning liquid and pours it back again into the bowl.

                                                                Preparations begin

                        Burning punch being ladled as alcohol is added and the incantation is read.

 

                       Once the punch was brewed and the flames died down, it was served hot.

Do not be fooled by the fact that much of the alcohol is burned off in the process - at this queimada they were using 40 proof.  Authentic queimada might be as much as 65 proof. It was plenty potent.   Afterward, we sat in the lounge for awhile listening to Pete play guitar. .

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Unlike yesterday, this morning dawned brilliantly clear, and I was in the group going to Segovia right after breakfast.  David and Sue (British, but who have lived in Ireland for 25 years) were with me.  The taxi dropped us at the aqueduct.  That was perfect for me, since I was after two geocaches in that area.  While intrigued, David and Sue didn't really want to accompany me on my quest, so they were going a different direction.  We agreed to meet up in two hours.

I grabbed the caches, then took an obscenely large number of aqueduct pictures in hopes of getting the PERFECT one.  Then I climbed the stairs to the lookout to see it from the top.  As a result of that climb up and down, and traipsing through the little streets on the cobblestones, my knee was wrecked.  I stopped into a farmacia to get some ibuprofen, then went in search of a Diet Coke to take it with.  Then I sat and people-watched while I waited for the meeting time.

                                       Near the first cache, where I dropped off a travel bug.

                                        Highest point of the aqueduct, near the Plaza Mayor.

I have had a VERY busy schedule at Vaughantown today - field trip to Segovia, a one-to-one with Jaime, free time, lunch, siesta, cha-cha lesson, free time, conference call, and free time.  Whew!  I'm exhausted!  :-)   Next is entertainment, then dinner.  Need to start out early because it's going to take me awhile to get up to the meeting room with my painful knee.