village people

January 5th, 2014
Every time we go to Spain we always try to make a visit to the village my grandfather grew up in.
Now when I say village, I mean legit village in that it lays in the Pyranees mountains and about 20 families live there. So technically the people who live in the village are village people. But not the village people you think of, like the ones who are known for playing their famous "YMCA" song that's played at weddings and Catholic school proms.
These are not these village people. I can only imagine little 80 year olds attempting the YMCA...actually I can imagine it, it's pretty funny.
Anyway, back to the village.
The village where my grandfather is from is called Olondriz. A small town where houses from the early 1900s still stand, with modern renovations of course.

The village of Olondriz

This is my great-great aunt's house or where the house my aunt Rosita parent's house

This is the inside of my aunt's house where we stopped by for some coffee and chocolates. 

I think also another reason I ate so much food is that when you go over a family member's  they feed you with chocolates, jamón and coffee, but I mean that is their way of taking care of you when you don't see them for some odd years, and the more you eat, the happier they are. So it's totally acceptable for you to be in a food coma in their house and almost pass out on their couch. It's also acceptable to eat a lot of food because they wont' judge you, eat as much as you like and they won't give you a weird look.

This is the entrance to my grandfather's house. 

I couldn't take pictures of the inside of the house because the upstairs was locked to keep the heat in the house. But fun facts about my grandfather's house:

1. He was the 3rd oldest out of 6 kids in his family.

2. His house was the first house to have a working toilet in the 1920s, so props to my great-grandfather for that one.

3. Across the house, pictured below is a huge garden where the fruits and vegetables would be grown, which inspired my grandfather to have his own garden in homes.

4. Over 80 years later, the house still stands with modern renovations but some rooms are in kept and my great aunt (the only girl out of the 6 kids) lives with her husband and maintains the house.

I know this picture is blurry, for some reason it was really hard to take a picture of but it's a clock (of course) and above it says "Michos"

Back in the day when my grandfather was young, all the houses in Olondriz had names for their houses. 

My grandfather's house was Casa Michos and is still known to the people who lived there during that time, with my grandfather.

I have no idea what Michos means but it still remains in my family and that house will forever remain as Casa Michos.

After visiting the village and saying hello to my relatives, we headed back to Pamplona where we would celebrate Tres Reyes (three kings) which will come in the next post.....