The craziness of Malaguita's life

After a 4-day stay with my beloved Spanish family, full of fun and exciting memories, we charged our batteries, ready for the next part of our trip. There came the time to say goodbye which wasn’t an easy task... Then we jumped into the car and one of the biggest boys’ dream was within their reach: a meeting with the most famous acrobatic paramotor pilot in the world - Javier Tejeiro Lopez Malaguita. Javi is a boy from Competa (a city near Malaga) who we met during Paragliding World Cup in Legnica. He is a real volcano of positive energy who loves risk-taking adventures. His incredible acrobatics in the air are absolutely spectacular. It seems that he flies against gravity. We had to travel 900km to reach Competa. After a 10-hour journey we finally reached our destination. The road to Javi’s house was a bit dangerous as it involved a lot of sharp bends…

a view from terrace

a street of Cómpeta

Narrow streets, sharp bends and a lot of dangerous precipices evoked the unwelcome symptoms of carsickness that we all knew from the childhood. Finally we reached Malaguita’s home (Malaguita is Javi's nickname). His father,Manu, and two brothers, welcomed us very warmly. We made a small traditional greeting ceremony by giving them a loaf of bread, salt and vodka from Poland. They were charmed and delighted by this tradition which is also strongly associated with Polish hospitality. Sir Manu had taught his sons paragliding since their early childhood. Later on, they decided to take one step forward - ACRO. They are doing extraordinary air shows which for an average guy seem impossible to be real (you can watch the video below ). Now they are the most popular acro-pilots in the world and the only ones who are able to do acrobatics while wearing a motor (known also a paramotor) on their back which is very challenging due to the weight that they have to carry during the flight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KethFAKIn94

Funes, eu!

After a very warm welcome we went to the apartment which my Spanish family prepared especially for us with all the necessary amenities.

They gave us an hour to dress up in "Fiestas" costumes and we went to celebrate with dozens of people on the streets. The day of "Fiestas" begins in exactly the same way as it ends: dancing and singing start from 9 a.m. and they last till 5 a.m. next day. One may ask: Where does the energy of all those people come from? Most likely its because of drinking litres of traditional Spanish wine from La Riojy which tastes really good.

Fiestas is a time of the year when everyone is celebrating, not only young people but also the elderlies and kids. They sit all together in pubs so the generation gap seems to be not existed any more. From time to time they go to observe bullfighting (corrida) or the running of the bulls, where the bulls are lead through the streets. Sometimes you can notice the march of Charanga which is sort of parade of the local musical band. The musicians (most of them are amateurs) hold "Gigantes" - two literally gigantic puppets which aim to resemble King and Queen of the town.

It's hard to put into words the joy and energy that all those people in Funes gave us and their amazing hospitality. They offered us a lot of popular Spanish dishes and took to the places where we had not even dreamed of.

Therefore, I'm sharing with you some of my pictures, they can somehow illustrate the great time we had in Funes!
                                                         

Funes, we're coming!

After spending a great time at the Dune of Pilat we needed a bit of refreshment. Suprisingly, we couldn't find any publicly available shower, even at the gas stations and huge parkings by the motorway. Finally, after crossing the Spanish border, we found a camping where we could take a shower and get rid of tonnes of sand from our bodies and clothes which we collected during our various adventures at the dune.

Then we jumped into the car and one of my biggest dream was about to happen. According to our schedule, the next stop was Funes, the place where over one year ago I left "my second family” and I came back to Poland. Funes is a small town in Navarre ( northern Spain) which will always take a special place in my memory. My Spanish family was waiting for us from the early morning. The most impatient members of the family were Unax and Gaizka- the children who I was looking after for six months. In that time there was a Spanish feast called "FIESTAS”. It's kind of festival where everyone is dressed in white during the whole week.An obligatory element of the outfit is a characteristic red ribbon or sort of red cravat or shawl.

We came to Funes in the morning when the Corrida was taking place in the middle of the town so a lot of people were celebrating on the streets. Boys decided to welcome everyone from the air so they flew on paragliders over the city, holding Polish flags in their hands! It was such a spectacular moment! I was so excited to see my Spanish family after such a long time so we quickly went to their house to hug them!

Damian, thank you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1twwTBEERY

To present some of my trip reports, I would like to share with you a song which accompanied us throughout the whole journey. Moving from place to place, we proudly screamed its Polish words, even while being on parking lots or gas stations. It helped us overcome tiredness and stopped our drivers from falling asleep. The author of that song is Damian Syjonfam. Damian, thanks for being with us for those two weeks ;)

lyrics in english:

Let the River rise here,

River next to which I could live.

The River from which water I could drink,

Like those who were here before me.

Let the driver does not wait, I'm staying here.

I will be part of what is going to be here,

I will celebrate ordinary customs,

Like those who were here before me.

A place will rise here,

A little bit better than the others.

It will be open,

For people of good will.

For the simple people of the village,

Who will leave their cares.

We will meet on the town,

All of you, just bring, good word

That is more valuable than the bread,

Harmony of spirit is what we need today.

Make your mind to be like rich soil

Don't try to understand it, just feel it.

The world is yours.

Don't try to understand it.

(second time)

Let the River rise here,

River next to which I could live.

The River from which water I could drink,

Like those who were here before me.

Let the driver does not wait, I'm staying here.

I will be part of what is going to be here,

I will celebrate ordinary customs,

Like those who were here before me.

A place will rise here,

A little bit better than the others.

It will be open,

For people of good will.

For the simple people of the village,

Who will leave their cares.

We will meet on the town,

All of you, just bring, good word

That is more valuable than the bread,

Harmony of spirit is what we need today.

Make your mind to be like rich soil

Don't try to understand it, just feel it.

The world is yours.

Don't try to understand it.