O Valencia!

The main falla of 2012

Las Fallas are an event that is impossible to describe in words; imagine a month long festival that revolves around fireworks, firecrackers, bonfires, and any other type of flammable insanity you can think of. The festivities culminate on March 19th, the Feast Day of St. Joseph, when the entire community of Valencia gathers in the streets to party all day and night and then burn down these massive floats that permeate the city. I don't think "floats" really does the fallas justice, since they're more like building-size pieces of art. I honestly couldn't imagine building one of these things only to ultimately watch it get torched to the ground in a matter of seconds (unless I got to be the one to light it).

The festival is such a big event in Spain that getting a hostel to stay in is pretty much impossible, so we took a bus there just for the day--leaving Madrid 9:00am Monday morning, and returning the next day after twenty-three hours of debauchery. We could already see the smoke and hear the firecrackers as we drove in at 2:00pm, with the Mediterranean Sea right at our side. The bus dropped us off in front of the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, this visually mind-blowing complex of museums, an aquarium, a planetarium, an opera house, and more right in the middle of the city. It would have been awesome to go inside, but considering our limited amount of time we wanted to head right into downtown to find the fallas.

Arriving in the city center, we began to see fallas appearing on practically every street corner. I have no idea how many days they had already been sitting there, since they definitely obstruct traffic throughout the entire city. These monuments litter the streets, and usually have some kind of satirical message constructed in the design. It also felt like a Fourth of July celebration; they're were people setting off fireworks all over the place, and little kids lighting firecrackers right on the sidewalk (my brother Connor would have loved it all).

The night ended up being great, thanks to the company of old friends and new friends. There was wild dancing on every street--which led to a massive tear through my pants and only added to the craziness--while fireworks continued for hours. At midnight, we were able to watch the burning of the nearest falla, which was quickly incinerated into an ashy frame. Probably the most ridiculous part of the night was how all of that fire set off some kind of celestial sprinkler system, and it started pouring the minute all of the festivities ended. Unfortunately, we were a good thirty minute walk away from the bus stop, so everyone had a very wet bus ride back to Madrid.

Before...

...after.