Las Fallas

March 17-19 a group of friends went to a town 4 hours East of Madrid called Valencia. It is on the Mediterranean coast and has a large festival the week leading up to March 19th called Las Fallas. The festival has 3 main components:

1) The presentation of the flowers to the virgin
2) The Fallas, or sculptures, are made out of paper mache and are on display the week leading up to Saturday. On Saturday night at midnight and 1 am, they burn all of the Fallas to the ground.
3) The firecrackers and fireworks

So my group got there on Thursday night and we took the metro and walked up the coast to our hostel/apartment that we rented for the weekend. On the way we stopped for dinner and got calamari. The food was superb! Since we were on the coast, everything was so fresh and cooked to perfection. So much better than seafood in Chicago lol. Then, since our apartment was directly on the sea, we went for a walk along the Mediterranean under the stars. It was so relaxing and serene to hear the crashing of the waves. It made me so excited to move to LA and get to live near the beach all the time!

The next day we went into town to experience Las Fallas! We had heard about the general 3 components I pointed out to you, but had no idea when and where they occur. Sooo getting on a bus to go to the city center was step 1. While on the bus, we met some natives, who were extremely helpful and told us about the Big Bang which goes on at 2 in Plaza de Ayuntamiento, so obviously we went there. It was 75 degrees and sunny. Put that together with it being packed with people, and it was warm! I actually got a little sun even, very exciting since Madrid seems to like to rain a fair amount... (Its like I'm back in Champaign sometimes). The Big Bang is when they set off fireworks, directly in the square (They aren't big on safety) and it is a 20 minute firework show in broad daylight. Its an odd concept, but really they just want the noise, which we later learned is a huge component. During the finale, the windows of the buildings in the square were rattling and you could feel the noise in your chest! It was incredible, and if you look at my facebook, you can see pictures of the before and after. Before, it was sunny and clear skies; after, it was filled with smoke and ash. You couldn't see 20 feet in front of you.

The presentation of the flowers we heard started at 4 so we went there. The concept is that there is the skeleton of a 30 foot tall virgin and she is wearing a gown or cape basically. Then, everyone in the parade has a bouquet of flowers and presents them, which are used to make the gown/cape of the virgin. We asked around and people don't go through the parade twice and make loops, they have enough people involved to present the thousands of flowers and each person only does it once! The parade goes on for hours. We stayed and watched for probably 1 hours. It was really cool. All the women wear the same traditional gown and do their hair in the exact same way (it kinda looks like princess Leia). The men wear old fashioned suits, and everything is in bright colors. Not to mention people of all ages participate. There were babies in strollers and older couples with canes. Seeing everyone in the community get involved for this honor was exciting. Also, for those of you that feel this would get boring quite quickly, they have bands come through and play every 10 minutes or so. It really makes a different keeping the bystanders interested, trust me.

On Saturday morning, a friend and I woke up early and watched the sunrise over the Mediterranean. It was beautiful! I highly recommend getting up to watch something like that. There were 8 of us, and only Anna and I woke up for it (at 7 am). Clearly we're a bunch of college students on break, because 7 am really isn't early in the grand scheme of things lol.

Later we went and looked at last Fallas. They were really cool. Each was themed to represent something that had happened in the past year, and they are often satires. My favorite was about television. It had this old man watching TV holding out his remote with drool dripping from his mouth and his eyes were red and dry. Then on the back, there was another television showing "children's shows". It had 2 babies watching the TV, and on TV there were breasts, blood, alcohol, and I think someone was choking another person. Either way, they clearly got their point across.

During the entire weekend, there were also people with firecrackers. Like I mentioned before, Europe isn't as big on safety as America is. They hand out firecrackers like candy. You can literally hear a firecracker every 5 seconds when you are in the city center. And some of them are really loud! It really makes you feel a part of the environment and reminds you where you are. It was definitely a part of their culture.

Unfortunately for those of you that are waiting to hear about the burning of the Fallas, you won't hear about it from me. I returned to Madrid on Saturday night at 9pm so I could go pick up Brian from the airport on Sunday morning!!! Completely worth it in my opinion.

I had a wonderful time. Valencia is a beautiful city right on the sea, they are famous for their paella, which of course I tried and loved. They also are famous for their orxata (pronounced or-cha-ta). It is like a milkshake, but is the consistency of milk. I loved it and had it multiple times while I was there! So good!

Well, soon I'll write again to tell you about my week with Brian! Hasta luego!