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How I Moved to Spain and Malaga's Carnival

Hello and welcome back to a new addition to the Spanish Weekly Newsletter. Thank you for being patient last week, I was unfortunately sick and was unable to put together and update on my life in Spain while I rested and recuperated. I look forward to diving in with all of you this week. Welcome to those who are new here, if you are curious you can check out my previous newsletters to catchup on what you've missed so far.

My Story of Moving to Spain

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A little under two weeks ago I released my last video on how I moved to Spain, while this isn't a deep dive into the HOW, it gives a better understanding of the WHY and the WHAT I needed to do to make the move actually happen in my life. My journey started back in October, 2024. I was in a job that was no longer fulfilling my creativity, and I wasn't finding my current life meaningful. It was around this time that I discovered a group which specializes on helping people learn how to move to a new country.
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The hardest part of this transition wasn't the actual move, but in finding a way to sustain myself financially to make the move happen in the first place. This took everything from searching online contracting websites, to pitching myself to people on LinkedIn, to going through interviews only to find the position was only for people who were living in the US, you name it I thought of it. What changed was that I was presented an opportunity and I jumped. The Same company that I was learning how to move abroad from, had a change in team and I pitched myself to the business owner. After an interview and some further discussions I was offered a fully remote position. And I mean FULLY remote.
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From there it was a manner of working backwards from a move date, I bought my plane ticket and then made my plan for over the next 4 months of what I needed to do to make this move happen and there was a lot. I had to get my pets vaccine ready and put one of my cats on a diet (yay). I needed to get rid of roughly 95% of the stuff that I owned in order to make the move out of my apartment, believe me this took time. But in time with effort it cam to fruition and on September 1st, 2025 I landed in Spain.

If this is something you are interested in learning more about how I did the move, let me know!

Malaga's Carnival

Last Week, Malaga wrapped up it's week long Carnival celebration. This is the winter festival that marks the tradition of satire, stories, and celebrations that breaks transitions to let the Spanish live freely prior to the beginning to the Lent. This is a week long celebration of freedom in Spain as Carnival was once banned under the Franco dictatorship where celebrations and opportunities to speak out were expressly forbidden. For nearly 40 years, Spanish people did not have a voice or a way to speak out against the regime. This festival isn't just about a big party, it is the true celebration of freedom in Spain.

The week kicks off with a parade where there are floats, people in costumes, and confetti, so so much confetti. It is incredible to see so many get dressed up to celebrate this night. This also starts another important tradition, the murgas. These groups spend the better part of the previous year writing songs, creating costumes, and creating a performance. The point of these performances is so that they can make fun of what is going on in the government, scandals, and other events and happenings in and around the region.

Later in the week there is the crowning of the gods, here they pick the god and goddess of the festival, these are the inverse of the catholic tradition that exists throughout Spain. There is a large competition where Spanish locals create impressive floats that are then judged and the winner is deemed the god/goddess of the carnival.

The week culminates in the burying of the Boquerón, this is the end of Carnival. The purpose of this is to give up the fears, failures, and doubts from the previous year to start the year fresh. This is symbolic especially heading into the Lenten season. The reason for the Boquerón is this is a local fix that is typically eaten on a stick and fried directly on the beah.

I have a short video coming this week all on Malaga's Carnival!

Sabor de España

This week we go back to the Spanish basics and had two different types of Paella.

The star of the show was the Arròs negre, this is similar to the traditional paella, but the big difference is the the rice and dish is died black with squid ink. Honestly it is a bit strange to look at, but it tastes so good. The origin of this dish is it comes from coastal fishermen who were committed to using every part of the catch, including the ink sack.
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This dish is typically served with seafood, shrimp, and small clams. The texture is a bit gritty, but the flavor was rich and unmistakably from the sea.

That is going to wrap this weeks Spain Weekly! Thanks for everyone who waited while I recovered and have gotten back into the swing of things. I am going to slow down video production and will aim to have 2-3 videos a month, but only if the content is high quality and I feel that it shares something meaningful. I am committed to making content that is enjoyable to watch, thought provoking, and shares a slice of my journeys in Spain, and around the world.
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See you on the Trail - Evan the Wayfarer