Sitting on the steps in the tower of Castilla de Santa Catalina, Jaén.
Inside the sanctuary of Catedral de Jaén.
Outside Catedral de Jaén.
The inmate-tour guide in the prison at Castilla de Santa Catalina. His face was animated using projection technology. When he "talked" it was very creepy.
Castilla de Santa Catalina
The mountains beyond the ramparts of Castilla de Santa Catalina.
Ramparts and main tower of Castilla de Santa Catalina
Cala Lilly in the courtyard of the convent near Abadat in Úbeda.
Blue skies over the convent.
Fountain in Plaza de Leones in the city of Baeza. The fountain is from the 16th century, the lions that adorn it are more than two thousand years old.
Graffiti on the wall of the old Universidad de Baeza. In Medeival and Renaissance Spain university graduates marked their accomplishment by tagging the walls of public buildings using the blood of bulls.
The street behind the Catedral de Baeza. On the left is the rear of the cathedral on the right is the wall around La Judería where the Baeza´s Jewish residents lived, almost completely isolated from the rest of the city, after the Christian Reconquest.
Preserved section of La Muralla, the wall of the city of Úbeda.
A stairway to the "road" around the top of La Muralla.
Look! More olive groves.
Irises growing alongside the road.
The entrance of the convent.
La muralla de Úbeda [The wall of Úbeda]
Puertas de la iglesia en Plaza Vazquez de Molina [The doors of the church in Plaza Vazquez de Molina] 
Yo, en la Plaza Vazquez de Molina. Finalmente, estoy disfrutando el sol. [Me, in the Plaza Vazquez de Molina. Finally, I´m enjoying the sun.]
Hecha de mano plato cerámica con Don Quixote y Sancho Panza [Hand-made ceramic plate with Don Quixote and Sancho Panza]
Torre de la iglesia [Church tower]
La muralla de Úbeda [The wall of Úbeda]
Una fuente en la Plaza Vazquez de Molina [A fountain in the Plaza Vazquez de Molina]
La iglesia grande en Plaza Vazquez de Molina [The large church in Plaza Vazquez de Molina]
Perhaps one of the most interesting things to see in Spain is something that you can´t see anywhere else in the world. I am, of course, talking about the festivities of Semana Santa, or Holy Week. The week spanning Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday is filled with processions and parties the likes of which you have never seen. Never, that is, unless you have been in Spain for Holy Week. 
For the uninitiated, the processions can be a little disconcerting. Especially for those of us from the good 'ol US of A, the costumes worn by the procession participants have some negative associations with the KKK. With that in mind, here´s a little background info on the traditional procession garb:
Before/during the Spanish Inquisition the robes and hoods were the mark of pure Catholicism. The pointed hoods with masks were to show that all "pure," pious Catholics held equal status in the eyes of God. The hoods are pointed because they elevate a person toward heaven. During the inquisition the Catholic church made heretics wear the robes and hoods as a symbol that they were lacking this pure Catholicism and were being crucified (or burned) in order to purify their souls.
The different colors of the robes signify specific parishes/churches. Each church has their own Jesus, corresponding to a specific day/event during Semana Santa, their own Virgin Mary, and a Patron Saint. The colors of each of the robes signify which Jesus/Virgin Mary/Patron Saint combination is "theirs." The robe colors follow a trajectory from light--starting on Palm Sunday--to dark. The wear the darkest colors on Good Friday: they are robed from head to toe in black with sashes of dark green, dark blue, and purple to signify the crucifixion and death of Jesus. The spectrum returns to light colors on Saturday and they wear the lightest colors (usually white robes with red or green sashes) on Sunday to signify the joy of the resurrection of Jesus.
Each church in Úbeda is responsible for organizing the procession that corresponds with "their" Jesus. The church who has "Jesus crucified" plans the procession for Good Friday. The church with "Jesus Resurrected" is responsible for the Easter Procession, etc. On Easter, the procession is led by the church that has "Jesus Resurrected" followed by representations of the ascent of Jesus to heaven, the Virgin Mary, and all of the other churches.
[Hat tip to my professor Alice Nelson, and also to the nice old man who runs the Super Regalo 99 here in Úbeda, for the information.]
Church ceiling in the city of Baños de Encima.
Baños de Encima
Inside the castle wall at Baños de Encima.
View of the olive groves from the castle wall.
Looking up at the castle wall.
Standing on top of the tower in the castle.
The view from my living room windows in Úbeda.
One of many Holy Week processions in Úbeda.
For our first field trip David from Abadat took us on an excursion to the city of Baños de Encima to see an ancient castle there and walk through the town. Here are some photos of what we saw. There are also a few pictures of the view from my apartment and the city of Úbeda.
[They are on Snapfish because I´ve discovered it is much easier to upload them there than it is to put them on Blogger. If you don´t already have an account you will need to create one in order to view the photos.]
I´m finally posting a blog about my adventures in Spain. I´ve been here nearly a week and so far it´s been a little crazy. Just so everyone is up to speed let me explain briefly...
As many of you know, I left Washington on March 29th at o´dark thirty. Both of my flights (Seattle-Chicago, Chicago-Madrid) were relatively uneventful. The only hitch was that I couldn´t sleep at all. Talk about frustrating. I arrived in Madrid expecting sunny, spring-like weather only to find that it was barely 40º outside. Talk about disappointment.
By the time I finally managed to get my shuttle and get to my hotel I had been awake for over 24 hours and was pretty much delirious. Thank goodness they let me check in early at the hotel. Once in my room I proceeded to try calling my wonderful husband only to find that I couldn´t get my phone card to work. Exhausted, frustrated, and homesick already I direct dialed, praying that it wouldn´t cost an arm and a leg. Hooray...a familiar voice.
I spent one night in Madrid, met there by another girl from my program and on Saturday we took the train from Madrid to Linares-Baeza together. The train ride went quickly and we were at the station before we knew it. Only a taxi ride away from our final destination, Úbeda, we hailed a cab and were on our way. Difficulties arose when we discovered that not only did the cabbie not know where the language school was, nobody in the city bothers to remember street names. Ugh! We were following a nice, old gentleman to the tourist information center when David, one of the proprietors of the school, spied two obviously foreign girls lugging around heavy suitcases and assumed we were looking for him.
Now, five days later I´m settled into my apartment with four housemates and classes are going well. Our first field-trip is this Friday and I´ll post more pictures afterward. For now I am just discovering the city and enjoying the festivities of the biggest Semana Santa celebration in the Andalucian province.
¡Chao!
