The Few, The Strong, The Proud- Part 2

Anyone who has not been in Sevilla during Semana Santa has no idea how I felt for a brief period of time on Saturday night.  I think most people could probably identify with how I felt that afternoon- happy and extremely full. I slept most of the way to Sevilla, and when I woke up we were passing right by where April, Lucy, Derrick, I, and many other unfortunate Tar Heel souls were posted up with María Jose Sanchez de Córdoba for a long period of time.  We passed by all my old stomping grounds and were driving happily through the historic center to drop her cousin off, when we were stopped suddenly.  ¨What are they doing?¨ asked Claire.  I was afraid to look.  I knew deep down in my heart what they were doing.  I had a feeling it was a bunch of Spanish men with a big board on their back.  And that is exactly what it was.  A Semana Santa paso, practicing.  I just can´t EVER get away.  That week will haunt me forever.  You don´t know what it´s like to be in Sevilla and be trapped by Jesus and the Virgin Mary with no escape route.  And I'm not talking about Catholicism, either.  I´m talking huge replicas with candles, hundreds of people walking behind them, and moving at .0000000000000002 miles per hour due to the fact that they are incredibly heavy and being carried by men on their shoulders.  I was trapped many times that fateful week in April 2009, and here I was trapped again in March 2001.  To a lesser extent, yet all the same feelings started coming back to me.  ¨Maybe it´ll turn on that next street up there,¨ said Claire.  Poor, innocent Claire.  I informed her that that was the beauty of Semana Santa.  You always hope they´ll turn and that you can continue on with your day...but they never do.  However, this one magically did.  Maybe it´s just because they were practicing.  If it was the real thing, I feel confident they would have gone exactly where we needed to and make our drive 13 times longer. At least.

The few, the strong, the proud.  Not just the Marines, but also Americans who have survived Sevilla´s Semana Santa.