The event of the year in Valencia is fallas - an enormous, week-long festival which is the culmination of an entire year of preparation. It turned out to be our lucky week - unwittingly we had scheduled interviews in the South during the week of fallas, and ended up in the middle of the action on Wednesday night and Thursday morning!
The festival takes its name from the giant "fallas" or statutes which are built, mostly in some form of political satire. The largest of these are several stories tall and the detail is incredible. Like Mardi Gras, there are a number of local clubs or organizations which each build a falla - the largest ones cost in excess of $1 million to create. They are placed in various locations throughout the city, mostly in major intersections, closing down all the main roads in the city for the entire week. And then on Friday night they are set on fire and burned in a spectacle that draws visitors from all over the world! Next week they start designing and building fallas for next year.
A falla in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento
Space does not permit even a cursory description of fallas week in Valencia. At 2:00 p.m. every day in the central plaza and at various other locations in the city, thousands of explosives are fired over a 5-minute period that sounds like a battle-front. It is not uncommon to have windows blown out of nearby buildings. And all through the week, young and old walk along the streets throwing firecrackers at random. Walking through the city sounds like walking through a war zone. After a while you become accustomed to firecrackers exploding at your feet. Parents hand firecrackers to their children in strollers so the children can experience the joy of throwing them on the sidewalk. This is the Spanish version of family entertainment!
In the evening and until 3:00 a.m., bands are marching around town and street concerts are in progress at high volume. Needless to say, between the bands and the firecrackers we got very little sleep on Wednesday night in Valencia! The poor missionaries haven't slept all week!
In the evening the citizens dress in tradition costumes and parade through the streets. The dresses cost literally thousands of dollars.
A "fallera" and her daughter in the metro on the way to the parade
I had heard and read about fallas, but until I saw it, it was difficult to imagine the scale of this party. It is really quite an amazing thing, and unlike similar festivals in other parts of the world (Carnival, Mardi Gras), it is very much a family event, as you can see from the photo above. Is Spain great or what?
It still seems a little surreal to be spending time in Palma with the Thompsons! We were there on Friday for zone conference and were able to have dinner together in Palma . We walked to a small cafe not far from our hotel and had a lovely meal together.
The Strongs were in town for an Audi convention last week and we were able to spend a couple of hours with them, enjoying some wonderful Spanish hot chocolate in one of our favorite little cafes. Cindi wanted some pottery, so we took them to a great ceramic store in the old section of town, where they spent a little more than they had planned on!
Add a cape, a belt, and for the finishing touch . . . some tighty-whities!
Other adventures not pictured: Flying kites on the sand dunes, beach, and Wright Brothers monument. Collecting shells, collecting more shells, sorting shells, returning at least 20 pounds of shells back to the beach, and bringing at least as many home with us. Watching a pod of dolpins swim and jump and dive along the shore not more than 100 feet away from us. Earning Junior Ranger patches at four different parks: Wright Brothers, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Fort Raleigh, and Jockey's Ridge Sand Dunes. Riding the ferry to Ocracoke Island to see the most distant light house on our Sunday lighthouse drive (which included three lights total and one Junior Ranger patch). Swimming in the pool at the resort. Swimming in the jacuzzi tub in the condo. Eating fresh fish. Being together and playing for six straight days. Hooray for spring break!
