Not having internet at home has made maintaining a blog "casi imposible".
This past Wednesday, Laura (my roommate) and I went to Valencia to participate in the grand Spanish celebration of Las Falles. Las Falles are enormous, whimsical sculptures made out of painted wood, paper and wax that represent any satircal theme. The falles are constructed into whatever allegory, social criticism or irony that catches the artists eye, and are worked upon vigariously all year until they reach up to 5 stories tall. On the fifth and final night of Las Falles, "La Crema", all the falles are set on fire, signifying the cleansing quality of spring. Laura and I arrived on the 4th day, where we were able to walk around a witness the sculptures before they were destroyed. We also were able to see the processions of people dressed up in traditional garb called falleres. The women and children looked beautiful and I felt like I'd been transported back in time. I was sad that such beautiful structures would be destroyed. However, on the night of "La Crema", I stood in awe as fireworks stormed the skies, much more thoroughly then any fourth of july fireworks show, and the light of the burning falles lit up the night. For those first three minuutes or so, the whole city fell silent, captivated by the symbolism. The most alarming thing about the celebration, however, is how closely the streets simulate a war field. Every 10 seconds a ear-shattering explosion would go off caused by a firework, or small bomb thrown by a small child or elderly person. Really bizarre.
Scratch that, the best part of Las Falles was the breakfest buffett at our hotel. DIVINE.
On Friday morning Laura and I left to go stay with Loli and Jacinto at their apartment situated outside of Valencia in a beach town called "Cullera". Several days before we left, Jacinto kept asking us if we were going to bring boys back with us from Valencia. We were the first people, outside of family, that they'd ever invited to stay with them, and therefore we could not be trusted. When we arrived at the "bus station" (several buses parked in a parking lot), we discovered that Jacintos phone was not working. Stranded temporarily, we accompanied our irish bus driver to get a coke in a restaurant along the beach before slowly trying to find the apartment on our own. We finally found them and were able to lie out on the beach for the last hour of sun. The next day was very cloudy, so we decided to "hike" to the top of a small mountain to visit the local iglesia. Loli accompanied us, wearing a floridian style white track-suit. Standing a mere 3feet tall, she trudged up the mountain, mumbling inspiration to herself. She emplored Laura and I to take photos of such things as the parking lot across from our apartment and an old restaurant that she wishes she could have eaten at before it closed down. Staying with them made Laura and I really feel like a part of their family. Loli absolutely kills me. I went to the market with her, and she kept running around, crawling under peoples arms to get the best pick. When the lady at the market told Loli that me and her son would make a beautiful pair, Loli said that I was her "grand-daughter". On sunday we lay out on the beach for several hours, before going to a restaurant for a traditional valenciano lunch of paella, fresh fish, and one of my new favorite drinks, calimocho (a mix of coke/pepsi and red wine-don't knock it till you try it!) We left Cullera around 3pm, all four of us piled in to a small two-door audi. I had the disfortune of sitting behind Loli, who, apparently needed double the size of her leg length while sitting in the passenger seat. Around 45 minutes into the trip, the car began to stop and start, stop and start. We bumped along for a good 5 minutes before ultimately breaking down. If you know anything about driving in Spain, you know that the most chaotic place to be is on the highway, since practically no one observes the speed limit. Apparently seasoned pros, Loli and Jacinto whipped out these flourescent yellow traffic vests with light reflectors on them and stepped out to invisigate. An hour and a half later, we were picked up by a taxi, where were drove back in the opposite direction to the airport to rent a car. Jacinto, being the kind of elderly man who does not see the purpose of having a pin-number when he can always just go to the bank during regular hours, did not have enough money to rent a car. Laura and I had to throw down the rest of our cash (which we were later reimbursed). 30 minutes later, when Jacinto finally found his way out of the parking lot and on to the PROPER high-way exit, we set off on the five hour trek back to Madrid. "Un aventura!" cried Loli from the front seat. We engaged in the sort of deep, philosophical dialogue I had a command of, making such observations as, "My! There are many stars in the sky tonight" and "I like the oranges from valencia better then those in the States". We arrived back to Madrid, sunburnt and dirty around 1am. Totally worth it.. =)
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