July 2007

Sunday, July 22nd, 2007 – Ortzaize, Baxenabarre.

By Philippe Acheritogaray, 2007-07-25 22:30.

My uncle Jean-Baptiste Acheritogaray and his wife Isabelle and my cousin Elsa, spent the weekend in Barberanborda with us. On my last day in the Basque Country, we had a family lunch together at the local restaurant/hotel in Ortzaize, Mendi-Alde,...

Saturday, July 21st, 2007 – Baiona, Lapurdi & Donibane Garazi, Baxenabarre.

By Philippe Acheritogaray, 2007-07-25 21:58.

Today my cousin Argitxu Acheritogaray and I visited the “Batekmila – Euskal Munduak”(The Worlds of the Basques) exposition in Baiona, Lapurdi. This multimedia exposition explores Basque culture throughout the world, and was crea...

Friday, July 20th, 2007 – Baiona & Uztaritze - Lapurdi.

By Philippe Acheritogaray, 2007-07-25 21:23.

Today I spent the morning in Baiona to do some souvenir shopping and came across this cool store that my brother had told me about, “4+3 – Les 7 Provinces du Pays Basque”, located near St. Mary’s cathedral at 71, rue d’Espagne. You can ...

Thursday, July 19th, 2007 – Hernani & Donostia - Gipuzkoa.

By Philippe Acheritogaray, 2007-07-23 17:09.

On our way to Donostia, we stopped in neighboring Hernani, to visit the offices of Behatokia ( http://www.behatokia.info/index.php?newlang=eng ), which is an organization whose purpose is to collaborate with other groups and institutions to work in the...

Wednesday, July 18th, 2007 – A taste of Xiberoa with Argitxu and Francois Camus.

By Philippe Acheritogaray, 2007-07-22 01:11.

Today my brother Robert and I met up with Argitxu Camus Etchecopar and her parents to get a little tour of Xiberoa. Argitxu attended the World Congress of Basque Communities last week and presented her latest book in the Urazandi collection on th...

Tuesday, July 17th, 2007 – Hazparne – LAPURDI & Xareta LAPURDI & NAFARROA.

By Philippe Acheritogaray, 2007-07-19 00:12.

Today I visited the offices of Heurocom, located in Hazparne, Lapurdi. Heurocom specializes in technical design and implementation of Basque exhibits. The company was founded 5 years ago by my cousin Panpi Acheritogaray and his daughter and son have be...

Monday, July 16th, 2007 – Baiona, Angelu – LAPURDI

By Philippe Acheritogaray, 2007-07-18 19:32.

Today I visited the offices of Eusko Ikaskuntza, which is a private scientific - cultural entity, founded in 1918 by the Statutory Diputations of Alava, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa and Nafarroa, as a stable and permanent instrument for the development of Basque ...

Sunday, July 15th, 2007 – Hiriburu – LAPURDI

By Philippe Acheritogaray, 2007-07-17 06:37.

For the past couple of days, I’ve been staying with my aunt Joan and uncle Michel at their home in Hiriburu. Before my brother and his family moved to the Basque Country I would always stay with my aunt while visiting here. Sunday we all ...

Saturday, July 14th, 2007 – Urketa, Hiriburu – LAPURDI

By Philippe Acheritogaray, 2007-07-17 06:31.

On Saturday, I attended a luncheon with my brother’s family, which was hosted by Benoit Etcheverry and his wife, at his home in Urketa. At the luncheon I had the opportunity to meet Anne Etchegoyen & Xavier Marcos. Anne Etchegoyen is a young ...

Friday, July 13th, 2007 – Bilbo, Bizkaia & Gasteiz, Araba.World Congress Day Five – Closing.

By Philippe Acheritogaray, 2007-07-15 04:18.

Today the congress met to decide on a proposal submitted by Peru and to elect the three representatives of the Diaspora, who will meet with the Basque Government on a tri-annual basis. The proposal by Peru was a five point statement about the curre...

Thursday, July 12th, 2007 – Bilbo, Bizkaia: World Congress Day Four

By Philippe Acheritogaray, 2007-07-13 08:05.

Today the congress started with a presentation by Minister of Culture and Spokesperson for the Basque Government, Miren Azkarate. The main portion of Miren’s presentation was the description of the new Etxepare Institute that the Basque Governm...

Wednesday, July 11th, 2007 - Bilbo, Bizkaka: World Congress Day Three

By Philippe Acheritogaray, 2007-07-12 02:10.

Today the congress started with a presentation by FEVA (Federation of Basque Entities in Argentina), and began with a poignant speech given by FEVA’s President, Mariluz Arteche. Her speech focused on FEVA’s support of the Basque Country’s p...

Tuesday, July 10th, 2007 – Bilbo, Bizkaia: World Congress Day Two

By Philippe Acheritogaray, 2007-07-12 00:54.

After a short night, the congress started promptly at 8:30am, across the street from the Sheraton Bilbo, in the Palicio Euskalduna complex. Josu Legarreta kicked off the congress with an overview of the schedule and topics to be covered for the n...

Monday, July 9th, 2007 – Bilbo, Bizkaia: World Congress Opening Day

By Idoya Urruty, 2007-07-11 06:38.

Author: Philippe Acheritogaray. The first day of the World Congress started with an excursion to the Bizkaian coastal village of Bermeo, where we were caravanned in three large buses. The congress attendees visited a full scale replica of a w...

Sunday, July 8th, 2007 – Bilbo, Bizkaia: World Congress Introduction

By Philippe Acheritogaray, 2007-07-11 01:40.

After the Omenaldia in Bidarrai, Xabier Berrueta, Argitxu Camus Etchecopar and I drove to Bilbo to attend the introductory evening dinner at the Sheraton Hotel in Bilbo. I met the delegates from the Montreal Basque Club in Canada, and after dinner, ...

Sunday, July 8th, 2007 – Bidarrai, Baxenabarre

By Philippe Acheritogaray, 2007-07-10 05:27.

Frederic Fuldain Omenaldia: Today the village of Bidarrai paid homage to one of her son’s who immigrated to San Francisco and made remarkable contributions towards Basque Culture. The day started with a morning memorial mass officiated by Fath...

Saturday, July 7th, 2007 – Ezpeleta, Lapurdi

By Philippe Acheritogaray, 2007-07-08 03:47.

Course des Crêtes Today I attended the cross country race, “Course des Crêtes” ( http://www.force-basque.org/cdc.asp ), that was held in Ezpeleta, where my sister in law’s brother and sister were participating. The race is the largest of i...

Friday, July 6th, 2007 - Azkarate-Baxenabarre

By Philippe Acheritogaray, 2007-07-07 22:01.

Friday, July 6th, 2007 I also had the chance to visit the Chateau in Azkarate, that will be transformed into an International Center for the Basque Diaspora. Part of this project involves having young volunteers spend three weeks work...

Friday, July 6th, 2007 Uztaritze-Lapurdi

By Philippe Acheritogaray, 2007-07-07 20:41.

Today I visited the Basque Cultural Institute, located in Uztaritze, Lapurdi . The institute is supported by various levels of the French government and works to support the development of the Basque language and Basque culture, by channeling fi...

Thursday, July 5th, 2007 Senpereko Sorginak – Witches of Senpere

By Philippe Acheritogaray, 2007-07-07 05:09.

Senpere, Lapurdi. Tonight I attended a special dance performance in the picturesque village of Senpere, Lapurdi. The theme of the dances was “Witches & Witchcraft,” and they were performed by two groups in the baseria (Basque farm hous...

Wednesday, July 4th, 2007 - Coming home to Barberanborda

By Philippe Acheritogaray, 2007-07-07 02:12.

I arrived on Wednesday, July 4 from San Francisco to Biarritz and was greeted by my sister in law Mireille Acheritogaray and my two nephews, Andoni and Filipe. I’ve arrived a few days early for the World Congress to acclimate to the local time zone a...