Stage 1.2 La Crema
We woke up around noon on Friday. We immediately got into the car to drive into the city and see the last show of noise fireworks. They're set off at 2 pm every day for about two weeks before the Crema of the fallas. And they're supposed to have a certain rhythm to them. The plaza is always packed for the fireworks show, and especially for the last show, so we wanted to get there early. We worked our way through the crowd and squeezed into a small bar to get a breakfast of patatas bravas and calamari. Then headed back outside to see/hear the show.
After the fireworks, everyone disappears from the streets and into the bars to drink until the crema begins. We walked a few blocks away from the middle of the city to try to find someplace where we could have a sufficient meal. Cote said he was going to buy us lunch because it was his saint's day. Saint's days are more important than birthdays here in Spain. I'm actually surprised he didn't have something planned. We got some Manchego cheese, greek salad, ham (obvi) and a steak.
As we ate we made plans for the rest of the day...and the night. My plan was to go back and take a nap before the night's events. So after waiting forever for the slow service (I was watching the seasons and years go by before we got a bottle of water we asked for three times), we found a cab and went back to siesta.
Around seven, we piled into Cote's car and drove into the chaos. I'm not sure how we were successful in finding a parking spot. As we walked into the center of town, it seemed as though we were in a war zone. There were policemen and ambulances everywhere. Booms of fireworks were constantly going off, sounding like bombs and gunshots. All shops were closed. The only thing missing was pillaging. But people were obviously dressed up in the traditional costume. Everyone was drinking and smiling because little quiosks on the corners were selling beer and ice cream.
We wandered through the streets looking at the different fallas for a while, and we were also in search for a place to buy fireworks. Eventually we found one and got in line. As we were waiting, we saw a couple men dash by, followed by police. The men were illegal immigrants who had been selling goods on the street, which is illegal. Obviously, since there were cops everywhere and the men were not being discreet about what they were doing (it was happening everywhere you looked), they got caught. But not before making a break for it. When immigrants are arrested in Spain, they go to jail for about two years and then are sent back to their home country, usually to be imprisoned. Illegal immigrants are just deported.
Well, this guy really didn't want to go back. He ran through stands set up in the street selling souvenirs. We could see them swaying as he ran from one side to another and the police followed. When they came back, man in cuffs, there was a woman yelling at the cop for being unnecessarily violent. He had tazered the man. I think the woman took all the police officer's information to file a complaint.
So we bought our fireworks and set of a few of the small ones before deciding to get something cheap for dinner. We picked Burger King. However, we couldn't find it. All of us knew we had seen it, and passed it, but when and where? We got too impatient and instead got bocadillos at some small cafe. THEN we went to set off some fireworks. We bought about a thousand tiny ones, four really loud bombs, roman candles, flying saucers and one giant string of 50. I set off my roman candle and we all tossed a few of the little ones, but then things were starting to burn.
We wandered over to a big one that someone said was going to burn at 10. There were very few people there when we showed up, so we got really close to the front. We were standing there for an hour waiting for them to be ready to burn the thing though. There was a big sheet of protective fabric, which firefighters were spraying down, covering the corner and side of one building. Valencians literally build the fallas in the middle of the street, not necessarily in an open space.
Finally, they lit the fireworks and the giant paper maché structure began to burn! It was so amazing! And hot. And as soon as that one was finished, we knew we could walk in any direction to see another one burn to the ground. It's quite fantastic to see.
After watching a few burn, we went to go set off the rest of our fireworks. I can't believe they allow regular people to set off some of those things. The string of 50, which I thought would be like what Macaulay Culkin had in Home Alone, turned out to be what they used to light the fallas. ¡Fenomenal!
After all that activity, we were pretty tired. Cote wanted to meet up with his friends and celebrate some more. But after having some (delicious!) variation of churros and chocolate, Steph, Darlene and I decided to go back and go to bed. That was a really good decision.
We woke up around noon on Friday. We immediately got into the car to drive into the city and see the last show of noise fireworks. They're set off at 2 pm every day for about two weeks before the Crema of the fallas. And they're supposed to have a certain rhythm to them. The plaza is always packed for the fireworks show, and especially for the last show, so we wanted to get there early. We worked our way through the crowd and squeezed into a small bar to get a breakfast of patatas bravas and calamari. Then headed back outside to see/hear the show.
After the fireworks, everyone disappears from the streets and into the bars to drink until the crema begins. We walked a few blocks away from the middle of the city to try to find someplace where we could have a sufficient meal. Cote said he was going to buy us lunch because it was his saint's day. Saint's days are more important than birthdays here in Spain. I'm actually surprised he didn't have something planned. We got some Manchego cheese, greek salad, ham (obvi) and a steak.
As we ate we made plans for the rest of the day...and the night. My plan was to go back and take a nap before the night's events. So after waiting forever for the slow service (I was watching the seasons and years go by before we got a bottle of water we asked for three times), we found a cab and went back to siesta.
Around seven, we piled into Cote's car and drove into the chaos. I'm not sure how we were successful in finding a parking spot. As we walked into the center of town, it seemed as though we were in a war zone. There were policemen and ambulances everywhere. Booms of fireworks were constantly going off, sounding like bombs and gunshots. All shops were closed. The only thing missing was pillaging. But people were obviously dressed up in the traditional costume. Everyone was drinking and smiling because little quiosks on the corners were selling beer and ice cream.
We wandered through the streets looking at the different fallas for a while, and we were also in search for a place to buy fireworks. Eventually we found one and got in line. As we were waiting, we saw a couple men dash by, followed by police. The men were illegal immigrants who had been selling goods on the street, which is illegal. Obviously, since there were cops everywhere and the men were not being discreet about what they were doing (it was happening everywhere you looked), they got caught. But not before making a break for it. When immigrants are arrested in Spain, they go to jail for about two years and then are sent back to their home country, usually to be imprisoned. Illegal immigrants are just deported.
Well, this guy really didn't want to go back. He ran through stands set up in the street selling souvenirs. We could see them swaying as he ran from one side to another and the police followed. When they came back, man in cuffs, there was a woman yelling at the cop for being unnecessarily violent. He had tazered the man. I think the woman took all the police officer's information to file a complaint.
So we bought our fireworks and set of a few of the small ones before deciding to get something cheap for dinner. We picked Burger King. However, we couldn't find it. All of us knew we had seen it, and passed it, but when and where? We got too impatient and instead got bocadillos at some small cafe. THEN we went to set off some fireworks. We bought about a thousand tiny ones, four really loud bombs, roman candles, flying saucers and one giant string of 50. I set off my roman candle and we all tossed a few of the little ones, but then things were starting to burn.
We wandered over to a big one that someone said was going to burn at 10. There were very few people there when we showed up, so we got really close to the front. We were standing there for an hour waiting for them to be ready to burn the thing though. There was a big sheet of protective fabric, which firefighters were spraying down, covering the corner and side of one building. Valencians literally build the fallas in the middle of the street, not necessarily in an open space.
Finally, they lit the fireworks and the giant paper maché structure began to burn! It was so amazing! And hot. And as soon as that one was finished, we knew we could walk in any direction to see another one burn to the ground. It's quite fantastic to see.
After watching a few burn, we went to go set off the rest of our fireworks. I can't believe they allow regular people to set off some of those things. The string of 50, which I thought would be like what Macaulay Culkin had in Home Alone, turned out to be what they used to light the fallas. ¡Fenomenal!
After all that activity, we were pretty tired. Cote wanted to meet up with his friends and celebrate some more. But after having some (delicious!) variation of churros and chocolate, Steph, Darlene and I decided to go back and go to bed. That was a really good decision.
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