Vilagarcia de Arousa
Chiscos - Atlantic Cruise
John Simpson
Mon 15 Aug 2011 20:40
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42:36.03n 08:46.15w
A Pobra do Caraminal was a pleasant little town with good food
shops so we were able to restock our provisions. Thankfully this was
one town where we didn't need to call a mechanic! We didn't do much walking
there, but one evening had a stroll along the beachfront to the other end of the
bay where there was a little church. We happened to arrive about 20
minutes after Saturday evening Mass had started and they had left the doors open
so we sat on the wall in the churchyard and listened for a while. Quite
unexpectedly, a group of musicians then turned up dressed in national
costume. They were a small group of bagpipers, drummers and
tambourine players and they formed up into a circle by the open doorway.
Shortly after the choir inside had finished singing the Sanctus, the band struck
up and played for 3-4 minutes from their position by the
doorway. As soon as they'd finished playing, the choir inside began the
Agnus Dei and the band walked away again. We've no idea what it was all
about but it made an intriguing spectacle. I was a bit cross with the man
in the blue shirt on the left. He appeared to be the conductor as he beat
time on the shoulder of the lady playing the bass drum all the time they were
playing, but if he wanted to take part why didn't he dress up?!
 The other intriguing thing about Caraminal was that a man was
letting off flares from the beach virtually all the time we were there during
daylight hours. You may be able to see a white van on the
quayside in the distance in the next picture. The man was on the beach
below the van, which was just outside the church where the bagpipe band
played. Whether the two things were linked, or whether there was another
reason for setting off the flares, we will never know. Nobody reacted to
the flares at all, so we could only assume that this was all to be
expected.
 On Sunday we moved across the Ria to Vilagarcia de Arousa
(another short journey, this time 7 miles). We had heard that there was to
be a festival celebrating the town's patron saint San Roque so we thought we
ought to call in. We were lucky enough to get the last visitor's berth in
the Marina, which is apparently full of lots of other people trying to come to
the festival. See here the view from Chiscos - you can see we were
literally given the last space by the entrance!
 We arrived about 12.30 pm and as soon as we arrived the
weather closed in so that we couldn't see past the Marina entrance - not even as
far as the crane! The rain lashed down for the remainder of the day and we
spent our time reading and catching up with family on Skype. In the
evening we had a soggy night out in the Cocktail bar alongside the Marina
where I enjoyed ordering a Mojito Naranja (Orange Mojito). The
Spanish 'j' is pronounced as the 'ch' in 'loch', so having two of those in a
title was very exciting! Today (Monday) dawned bright and sunny again and
the town has begun to work itself into festival mode. As we walked around
the town this morning there were more bagpipers/drummers/tambourine players,
this time in a procession stopping to serenade people in the street
cafes.
 A huge stack of loudspeakers and a stage have been set up by
the side of the Marina during the day and we found out that there will be a DJ
playing later. This being Spain, the evening activities are due to start
at midnight and, having heard the sound-check, we think there will be little
point in going to bed until they're finished!
Susan
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