Day one of the tournament and after.

Thursday finally came round and with it the start of the Pontevedra chess tournament. We had a lift arranged to get us up to the venue where we met up with our boys. The boys have been suffering from mosquito bites so we went equipped with creams to put on after the event to stop itching and scratching. The insect repellent we bought to Santiago on Wednesday seemed to have prevented more bites but earlier ones were still being annoying, so the Adams family dispensary came into its own. 

I left the men to their chess and followed the instructions I received the other day on how to find my way down from the Mercantil sports complex, through the woods, to the river and thus back into town. A very pleasant walk on the whole. Following the route in reverse later went well until I was almost there when suddenly I found myself amongst houses. This was not the plan. It was almost a panic moment but then I spotted a chap in his garden and asked the way. As I thought, I was within five minutes away from the place but I just needed pointing in the right direction. 

I arrived at the complex only to have a Vigo chess playing friend tell me that Phil was playing a junior who seemed to know a lot more about openings than you might expect from one of such a young age. That was about par for the course. This happens all the time. And Phil's was one of the last games to finish. This also happens a lot. In the end it was drawn. So, a moderate success. 

Our boys on the other hand had all won their games. A great success there then. Let us hope it continues. 

 We had a lift back to town and sat around in the hotel for a while before venturing out into the noise of the Pontevedra evening. We had watched a very good (and very loud) drumming band as soon as we got back. 

 When we went in, they moved from Plaza de Verduras, on one side of our hotel, to Plaza de la Leña, on the other. So we were treated to a double dose of drumming. 


Not long after this fireworks started. We couldn't see anything but we could hear them and we had to shut the windows to keep the smoke and gunpowder smell out of our room. Eventually they moved on and, once again, we could hear the activity being related in the next square along. 

When we went out later we saw them in the square near the Peregrina chapel. Tall men in silver cloaks were gliding around, waving fireworks on the end of long slender sticks. It was most impressive. The crowd stood frighteningly close to the action. There were barriers but these would have been of little use if one of the gliding men had dropped his firework wand. 

Health and safety men in the UK would have had conniptions. 

The light show was pretty fantastic all the same. It has to be said: the Spanish can put on a bit of a spectacle. 

Pontevedra's old quarter is quite compact which is a big advantage when it comes to organising festivities like this week's fun and games. There are enough buildings between the different squares to keep each one separate but the distance is not so great that it makes it hard to move an act from one square to another. 

This sort of thing is going to continue all week. I'm not sure how much sleep we are going to get. 

We may have to just go and join in and then sleep in on the next morning. It's a hard life!!