I Love the Nightlife, I Like to Boogie...

When in Rome, er, I mean Spain, do as the Spaniards do... or so the saying goes. Hats off to these people - They are PROFESSIONAL partiers! Sure, we love to have a good time too, but after 6 weeks on this schedule we´ve both been beaten down and have taken turns at spending days sick in bed. When we know we´ll only be able to get little or no beer and zero wine in India, it´s so tempting to get our fill on good stuff NOW.

Our typical day - Up at 10ish, coffee and maybe a pastry, followed by walking or Internet, then lunch at 2ish (if we get a Menu del Dia, which is THE best deal here (they include a glass or sometimes whole bottle of wine for free), followed by lots more walking, dinner at 10ish (which also includes wine or beer since it's the same price as a soda or water!), and who knows what after. Now that we´re in Andalucian sherry country, we´ve switched to after-dinner tastings from the barrel - Yum! Most weeknights there are people out 'til at least 1-2 AM, but on weekends it goes 'til 5,6,dawn. Even if you TRY to get to bed earlier, you'll be awakened repeatedly by music or people laughing on the street below, or by the street cleaning crew (they´re a bit obsesive about it here).

One thing we HAVE been missing here though is dancing. I suspect it´s just not knowing where the good places are, but besides the occasional electronica or world beat soundtrack in a cafe, we have yet to find a good venue to boogie down. All in all, the quality of life here seems REALLY good. The Andalucians in particular have been more friendly + engaging and they smile more. Maybe it´s the warmer weather, the slower pace, or some other combination, but we like the vibe.

Las Fallas (Part 2)

So I must admit, that by the time the burn rolled around on Sunday night we were feeling pretty cooked. Regardless, we were able to watch a couple of the bigger ones burn and the crowd energy was great. OUR biggest night out ended up being Friday. We had the typical, late Spanish dinner around 10-11:00 PM, washing it down with tasty vino tinto before hitting the streets. We really liked the energy in barrio El Carmen (where our apartment was) so we wandered around, trying to go down different streets than we had before to see some new Fallas. By 12:30 AM, we´d picked our spot in the middle of one of the bridges that cross over the sunken riverbed park, Parque Rio Turia, to watch the fireworks. Rio Turia is an AWESOME 9KM long park that winds through the center of the city and affords great views of Calatrava´s SPECTACULAR new Palace of the Arts (which is not yet open, but we did our best to get photos over the fencing) and the City in general. At 1:00AM the first BIG explosion rang out over the roar of the crowd and constant barage of smaller fireworks that EVERYONE is setting off. The next 20 minutes, watching the explosions fire off like doomsday and people walking under us was totally magical.

After, we headed way out to the MASSIVE Nu Campamar Falla (that's it behind me) that had won this year´s competition. If I tell you that MOST of the Falla groups only spent 6,500E (1 Euro = 1.22 Dollars), and that my pick for favorite (Na Jordana, photo below) cost 180,000E, but that Nu Campamar spent a whopping 600,000E, you might get the idea of how over-the-top it was. It was SO big as to be obnoxious, but the workmanship was so good that how could it NOT be picked the winner?! All that was topped by the fact that it was WAY away from all the others, so it took away from the feeling of it being part of the rest of the community. Maybe in the future they'll consider putting spending limits to level the playing field.

By this time it was almost 4:00 AM and we started our long walk back, but not before trying in vain to get a beer to quench our thirst. Still eager to see more, we opted for a night time stroll through a great, new modern park, Parque Cabecera. It was as spectacular at night as it had been in the day. Continuing towards El Carmen, we popped our heads into a couple discos that were open, still searching for cervecas, but opted out when they only had Budweiser (go figure?!) to choose from. Finally we saw someone walk out of a bar that appeared to be closed, but we decided to peek in anyway and were delighted to find it full of 20/30-somethings. We pulled up at the bar and ordered a couple Mahou beers and were given a bowl of unshelled peanuts too - What a treat! It was abou 6:00 AM by the time we left, satisfied, if not a little buzzed too :)

We had brought my I-pod, so we put on a groovy playlist for the remainder of the walk home. We strutted past the Sumo + Geisha Falla, and a few others we hadn't yet seen, including a very fun brazilian dancer who was SO much larger than life! Finally, we were back in the hood and passing the Mercado Central where we'd been buying all our fruit, veggies, almonds, cheeses + olives. We noticed the side doors open and some activity inside, so we went in to check it out. Here, the vendors were all JUST starting to set up for the day - The pescador was scooping out ice and artfully arranging fish and octopus, the fruiteria woman was carefully piling strawberries and oranges, etc. Amidst the bustle, a guy was walking around with a tray of hot espressos and other drinks for sale to the vendors. What a feast for the eyes! Most everyone was super-friendly, even posing for photos, and we bought some of our favorite mandarinas + olives while walking around. We finally fell into bed around 8:00 AM, totally exhausted! What a NIGHT!

Las Fallas (Part 1)

It's mind-blowing to me to come across big festivals that I've never even HEARD of when travelling. Las Fallas festival in Valencia, Spain is one of them. It wasn't until we'd decided to come here that I first read about it in Lonely Planet, where they said something to the effect that if you´re in Spain from March 13-19 this should NOT be missed. Realizing that we WOULD be in the general area, I figured "Why not?!" and that's how we found ourselves here in the midst of one of the craziest parties we've ever witnessed. Since it started in 1850´s, this week-long festival has grown from the different barrios/neighborhoods of town creating modest-sized papier mache sculptures in competition to one another to NOW where the most outlandish costs 600,000 Euro and is about 8 storeys high (28 Meters)! Every day at 2pm they hold a LOUD fireworks show that's much more about percussion than light, and at 1am there's a more traditional nightime display, except that it´s so over-the-top it feels more like the apocalypse. There are many costumed parades that happen throughout the week and lots of celebrations within the different barrios that have sponsored each Falla. On Sunday (tonight), it all culminates in a fire parade, another massive fireworks display and the torching of all the Fallas.

We´ve been disappointed that we´ll be missing BurningMan this year, but WOW, this is certainly helping to take some of the sting out of that! There are people out in force 24-hours, and if you think you´ll sleep much here, you´ll be wrong. There´s a constant cacophany of firework explosions (even 3 year olds set them off, and they´re not small either!) with the occasional marching band and the underlying roar of human sound + energy. We were VERY lucky to score an apartment for the week in the heart of it with a great vantage on one of the El Carmen barrio groups. There are always people milling about. They host a daily paella feast for lunch and various dinners. The day they paraded to the Virgin for their flower offering, everyone was dressed in their finest traditional regalia. The band members followed behind and they played throughout the entire procession and even one last song once they returned a couple hours later! These people have pride!

You can check out videos at www.fallas.com, go into Multimedia, then Mascletades 2006, view Dia 18 or 19 for the biggest.

Here's a "link" to more photos

Hola Amigos!

As some of you know firsthand, one of the most special parts of our trip thus far has been stopping in on friends we haven´t seen in awhile. Spain has been no different. Three years ago, Darin + I had the privelege of going to the wedding of my friend Maribel, who was marrying a Basque named Inaki, and moving over there. After some initial difficulties with connecting via e-mail (Spain is not so tech-savvy even as Central America!) we finally were able to come up and stay in their beautiful apartment near Donostia/San Sebastian for a few days. What fun we have had! AND what a difference being shown around by locals that we otherwise would never have seen... On Sunday, after a night of partying just a LITTLE bit :), we headed South along the coast in an area that looks suprisingly reminiscent of Big Sur (A big difference being that you pass through many small, active fishing villages) and ended up at a rocky island connected to shore by a stone bridge with a steep staircase leading up to a church. What a setting! This church, Iglesia San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, originated in 1053 for the wives of fishermen to pray for their husbands to come back from trips out to sea. The alter is even fashioned after the hull of a boat. Very powerful place!

We´re excited for the other reunions with friends still to come. For anyone contemplating travel in the next few years, here´s a reminder of the rough itinerary of where we´ll be (following good weather and Visa restrictions) -

May ´06 - October ´06 India, Delhi and North + Nepal
Nov. ´06 - Dec. ´06 Tibet
Jan. ´07 Southern China
Feb. ´07 Vietnam, North
March ´07 - May ´07 Laos, Cambodia + Vietnam, South
June ´07 - ? Thailand
Later India, Central + South

If you´re thinking of travelling in the general area, let us know and we´ll do our best to meet up with you. Of course, all this is a big TBD based on where we find a good opportunity to settle down and live, but we´re hoping for Northern Thailand. When we DO have that, then there´ll be NO excuses not to come :)