¡Viva Hogueras!

Parades, concerts, parties, oh my.
The past week has been pretty chaotic around here. There have been parades everynight, usually carrying on for a few hours, right down my street.
This parade featured dancers and performers from every hispanic country, South America and Central America. They all had on traditional outfits and performed old tribal dances.
The streets were all decorated with lights and tents and fireworks were going off all the time in all directions.
We met up with all my friends from my program and watched the end of the parade before heading down to the beach.

Down on the beach everyone had brought bevs and started bonfires and was basically just hanging out. There literally were more people on the beach during the Hogueras nights then there are on a sunny weekend afternoon here. It was insane.
This night was called the night of magic. The ritual is that you take a piece of paper and write down all the bad things you have done within the last year. Then you write down all the things you want to accomplish within the next year. After that you throw the piece of paper in a bonfire and go down to the sea and jump over seven waves. Supposedly, then the following year all your dreams will come true and you will become a better person. Of course we all gave it a shot- we figured it couldn't hurt!
During Hogueras all the spanish people go all out for the five days of the festival. I don't know when they have time to sleep. They literally stay out all night drinking and dancing and shooting fireworks. Spain is obsessed with fire, and Hogueras is actually a fire festival. The last night they burn all the floats in the streets of downtown. There are huge giant floats in the middle of apartment buildings, with flames shooting out of them. The fire department is all around keeping it under control and eventually putting them out, and usually spraying the whole crowd with the hose in the process.
All the kids wear their swim suits and scream "A-gua!" until they are drenched. The floats are so colorful and so intricate that it is kind of sad to see them burn, but so cool at the same time. Something like that would never fly in the US, Bromley said it was a lawsuit waiting to happen. Which if one of the buildings caught on fire, it would probably be the end of Hogueras. My internet went out and was out all the next day, and we think it's because the cable got burned in one of the fires. One of the floats was right on the corner of my apartment- and the workers were there all the next day repairing, then the internet reappeared. No pasa nada.

Warning: Explicit VIdeos

Hogueras is the yearly week-long festival of Alicante. From June 19-24 the entire downtown of the city shuts down. There are huge tents with food and tables in all the streets, vendors, gypsies, performers, concerts, dancing... At 2:00pm there is a giant fireworks display in Plaza de Luceros, with deafening booms that are meant to wake everyone up from the night before to go out and start "fiesta-ing" again. From 2:00pm until about 7:00 am it is chaos. Since my apartment is right about "La Rambla," or the main street of Alicante where all the fireworks and concerts happen, sleeping at night is close to impossible. Fireworks, bonfires, beach parties... anything goes. More about that later.
Part of Hogueras is a three weeks of bull fights, all held in Plaza del Toros. Each night three or four matadors perform, killing 6 bulls. Spain is known for their bull fights, and even though I wasn't sure how I would feel about it, I felt it was something I should see before I formed my opinion. Bromley and I went about a week ago. We bought the cheap upper balcony sun seats, (if your seat faces the sunset they are cheaper), figuring there was no need to be right on top of the bulls and blood. Wise decision. I would definitely not have wanted to sit any closer.
The entire ritual of the bull fight is very traditional, and distinctly separated into different elements of the fight. First they let in the BULL. These bulls are bred and brought up specifically for bull fighting by estate owners. The agressiveness and behavior of the bull means either honor or disgrace for the estate owners. If their bull puts up a good fights, or an "exceptional performance," the estate owner shares a victory lap with the matador after the fight.
The bull is released into the pen, with fire in its eyes, and races around trying to gore anything it can reach. Each matador works with a team of six other men, two on horseback with giant poking sticks, three flagmen who divert the bull in the ring when needed with capes, and two sword servants who hand the matador the weapons. First the flagmen test the bull's ferociousness, making him run around the ring, and the matador observes. The matador knowns the bull's pedigree before the fight, name, weight, age, quirks. These first few minutes are used to observe tiny little patterns, if the bull favors left over right, has eyesight in both eyes, which way it likes to turn, etc. All these factors are used to determine his strategy: how long the fight will last, how close to the bull he will get, which passes he'll try.

Next the picadors, or men on heavily padded and blindfolded horses, enter the ring. The bull attacks the horse, who stands still without knowing what is going on, and the picador uses his lance to stab the large mound of muscle on the neck of the bull. At the same time, the bull tries to pick up the horse with its horns, all of which weakens the neck muscle and causes a huge loss of blood, weakening the bull.
Next banderillas are thrown into the bull's flank by the flagmen or the matador himself. These are little dagger like rods decorated in the local colors. (Graphic, I know.) These further weaken the bull and sometimes make his charges more ferocious. The second video is of this portion. (I was freaking out during all this stabbing and blood everywhere. I was very glad we chose to sit further back, there was no need to be any closer. The Spaniards however were screaming and cheering and loving it. By this point I just wanted the bull to die and get it over with.)
The final stage is known as "death." The matador reenters the ring with a red cape, which is solely a matter of tradition because bulls are in fact colorblind. A series of passes are performed, demonstrating the control the matador has over the bull. (See the first video.) Eventually the matador uses a giant sword and stabs the bull through the aorta, aiming for a quick and clean death. Within a few moments of being struck, the bull literally collapses to the ground dead. It is drug out of the ring by a team of four horses, which pull it by its horns.
So that's about it. Then the next matador comes out and they release the next fresh bull, full of fire and ready to fight. Then it dies. Next... Keeps on going.
While I can appreciate the art and difficulty of the tradition, I don't know that I would want to go to another show. It was interesting, but not exactly my idea of a great time. There is an intermission in the middle, where everyone whips out a bocodilla (think sub sandwich) and their coolers of bevs. Bromley and I didn't know it was ok to bring things into the stadium, so obviously we were not prepared. However we were sitting next to some really nice people who gave us there extra sandwich and a giant bottle of water, just to be nice. I'm sure they had been watching my cover my eyes and seen both of our faces and known we were first-timers. Good samaritans.

World travels...

Where to begin?  Last I wrote I was in Germany- so much has happened since then...

Now I am back in Alicante, Espana, for the last few weeks of my semester.   The rest of the trip went smoothly; there were no more train problems, everything went according to plan.  We ended up having make reservations on most trains, with the exception of Italy.  The trains were very convenient, easy means of transportation and I wish there were more of them in the US.  They came on time, left on time, and were pretty relaxing.

This is a pic of me on the Old Bridge in Heidelberg, right outside Brian's apartment.  You can see the castle in the background.  Brom and I took a little tram up to the castle, explored for a bit, and hiked back down.  Heidelberg was very cute and homey.  We went out to watch the Euro 08 soccer games every night and all the locals were very into it.  The weather was great and we got to see all of the old downtown area.  Very successful.

We had an early (I mean 6:00 am early) train to Lucerne on the morning of the 10th.  Brian's army friend Claudia, who also met us when we arrived to deliver the keys, was nice enough to come and take us to the train station at 5:30 am.  She was a great and very helpful.  We made it to Lucerne no prob.

Lucerne was beautiful.  It is a smaller city right on Lake Luzern (the swiss spelling of Lucerne).  The water was perfectly clear; you could easily see the rocks all the way down at the bottom.  Mountains were all around in the distance, which we could see despite the fog.  On a clear day there would be much more.  The houses and apartments are adorable, with flower boxes and balconies everywhere.  The streets were all extremely clean and all the city buses ran on electricity.  Switzerland was amazing.

From Lucerne, we took the Golden Pass scenic train to Interlaken.  It was the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen in my life.  The train passed through tons of tiny swiss villages in the middle of mountains in the middle of nowhere.  The houses were like life-size cuckoo clocks with shutters in all colors.  The train went over a mountain and through a clearing  with waterfalls coming down the Alps in all directions.  All of the lake water was more than drinkable; it was the best water I have tasted in my life.

Interlaken got its name because it is positioned between two lakes, with mountains all around.  It is internationally known for its extreme sports: sky-diving, para-gliding, canyoning, white-water rafting, canyon jumping, bungee jumping, it goes on and on.  Bromley and I went biking the first day down the edge of one of the lakes.  It was beautiful and peaceful and a nice flat ride.  We took some sandwiches and had a little picnic in the middle of nowhere.

The next day we were signed up for canyoning, (I'm not even sure what that is, but Bromley wanted to try it...) but by some mix up we were put into a group of white water rafters.  We went with the flow, thought it would be fun and extreme nonetheless.  Our guide, Drew from New Zealand, was quite a hoot.  He has rafted all over the world for the last 15 years: Africa, Australia, Europe... He was very into it.

So he was telling us all about the dangers of the river and what to do it you fall out, the correct way to float or get back in the boat, how you never stand up because you could get caught on a rock... he basically scared the wits out of me.  He told us everything that could go wrong.  Then he was like, "Ok, none of that will happen, let's go!"  

He loaded us in the boat, two Australians in the front, two little british boys in the middle, Brom and I in the back, with Drew right behind me.  He said that way he could grab me if I did anything wrong.  He had no faith in me.

Everything went fine.  We made it, obviously.  Anytime there was a big rock coming, Drew yelled, "Watch the bump!"  If things were really rough he would yell, "Hold on!"  The problem I had was that the rope to hold onto was outside the boat, and I was scared my hand was going to be peeled off by the giant rocks.  If things were really rough, Drew yelled, "Get down!" which means that you needed to dive into the bottom of the boat.  So, whenever I was scared, I got down.  I never fell out, so that seemed to work.

Bromley was a natural, of course.  None of us fell out, which was nice.  The water was fairly shallow and there were rocks everywhere, so I definitely didn't want to fall out.  Also it was water coming down from the tops of the mountains, so it was freezing cold, even through the wetsuits.  There were a few calmer parts of the river that Drew let us jump out of the boat and swim around, and it was invigorating, to say the least.

So from Interlaken we trained down to Milan for the night, mostly because Milan is a big city and lodging it relatively cheap, at least compared to Switerland.  In the morning we had a few hours to walk around and see the castle, Duormo (or basilica), and a few of the major streets.  (Would have been dangerous to stay there longer, there was some serious shopping.)

So then we trained over to Venice, or Venezia.  It was beautiful, everything you would expect it to be: canals everywhere, boats, gondolas, italian architecture.   We got a little lost on the way to the hotel (See Venice album for pics...).  Bromley had both of our bags and was hauling them up and down the stairs of the 410 bridges.  He had a map and was sure he could find the hotel himself, and eventually he did, after 3 hours of exploring with all the luggage.  I followed behind with a few little carry-on bags and my camera, takings pics.  That night we grabbed some pizza for dinner (Bromley had pizza for every meal in Italy) and walked around the city.  Visited Piazza de San Marco which is where their duermo is, as well as a giant clock tower. 

Afterwards we decided we had to go for a gondola ride, in Venice it is practically mandatory.  Our guide's name was Tito, but he told us to call him Bond, James Bond.  He was quite the character as well.  He and his twin brother were born and raised in Venice and are both certified Gondoliers (he showed us his license to prove it).   He showed us the palazzo where Marco Polo lived, where Mozart lived, and the city hall and many other city sights.  He was talking all about his new Brazilian girlfriend and showed us her picture on his video phone.  We have a ton of video of him and his antics.  He showed us how to row the gondolas and let me try it for a minute.  It was classic Venezia.

From Venice we trained over to La Spezia, a small Italian town on the riviera that is one starting out point for Cinque Terre.  Cinque is the italian word for '5' and is a series of five fishing villages on rocky mountain slopes right on the oceanfront.  Hundreds of years ago peasant farmers converted the mountains into terraces for farming lemons, other fruits and many vineyards.  They also grew into famous fishing areas.  The houses are adorable, all bright happy colors and lining sidewalks.  There are no streets and no cars.  From Cinque, it is train or boat to leave.  In-between each town are hiking trails, which were all along the water, winding through the mountains and the vineyards.   

From La Spezia, we ended up in Pisa.  In Pisa there isn't much to see besides the Leaning Tower and the piazza it is in.  We checked that out, took the mandatory pics (holding up the tower, pushing the tower down... etc.) and decided to explore the countryside a bit, especially since we had our rail passes and all.  

So we trained once again to the little town of Siena, between Florence and Pisa.  The ride there was amazing; vineyards and villas scattered along the rolling hills.  It was picture perfect Italy.  Siena was a great little town, a little bigger than I expected it to be.  The cathedral was amazing, with an octagonal pulpit and perfectly preserved Renaissance frescos.  We didn't get to see as much of the town as we would have liked because it started sprinkling right when we arrived and slowly began raining harder and harder.  We took cover in the cathedral for a while, but then headed back to Pisa. 

We had a Ryanair flight our of Pisa the next morning at about nine.  If you have never flown any of the European budget airlines, Ryanair in particular, you can not imagine.  There are no assigned seats, so if you are not careful you will end up sitting by a rando.  Everyone always claps when the pilot takes off and when they land, as if celebrating they made it through the flight.  If for some reason there is turbulence or a quick bump or something, people scream. I don't think it is so much them being afraid, they are just crazy.  There are also an unusually large amounts of little kids, usually crying, chatting away in foreign languages, or kicking the back of the seats.  The plane ride from Pisa to Alicante is only about 2 hours, so it was tolerable, but an experience none the less.

Hallo aus Deutschland

(That means 'Hello from Germany,' definitely had to look that one up...)
Well, I am writing this little post from the comfort of my cousin Brian's Heidelberg flat, courtesy of the US Army internet connection. Let me tell you, the Army hooks up their men. This two story apartment is fully equipped with vaulted ceilings, a flat screen tv, washer and dryer (!!), and a full kitchen including an oven! I don't even know what to do with myself. In Spain, we use the good 'ol clothesline and cook food on the stove... life is hard.
We got to Heidelberg a day later than expected because all the trains from Paris on Sunday were full. We didn't realize that even though we had a Eurail pass, we still had to reserve tickets. Another night in Paris... not a problem.
Backing up, Paris was amazing. Bromley and I got to see all the big sights: the Louve, D'Orsay, Tour Eiffel, Seine, Jardin des Tuileries, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur. We went up the Eiffel Tower and cruised down the Seine in one of the tour boats. Five days isn't much, but we made it work. The weather held up for us too; even though it was overcast, it was a decent mild temperature and only slightly rained one day. We metro-ed all over that city. More about that later.
Back to now- Germany is fab. Especially after being in Paris, Heidelberg is a very comfortable, relaxed, hometown sort of place. Everyone is very friendly and most speak English, or at least try. (Which is good because German is nothing like anything I have ever heard in my life. No clue.) Brian's flat has to be primo real estate zone. It is literally right in the middle of the cutest block in town. The Euro 2008 soccer tournament is going on right now and Brian lives right above an English sports bar, so we got to see the game last night and tonight, in English, a luxury these days. Holland beat world champs Italy last night, which made the Germans very happy, and Sweden dominated Greece tonight, which did not make the Germans happy. Over the past two days we have walked all over 'Old Town,' the historical district of town where Brian lives. Also Bromley and I went for a run down the Necker River earlier tonight. There are mountains and trees all around, very beautiful. Heidelberg has been a nice relaxing place, makes me not want to leave.
Tomorrow morning we leave at 6:00 AM for Lucerne, Switerland. We will be back in Alicante on the 18th! I will have a much more thorough report from there. (And a million pictures, get excited!)

Mikey and Co visit, Alicante C.F. wins... Good week.

Mikey came to town!
My cousin Mike Kelly and his two friends, Casey and Matt, came to town last Tuesday. They were in the middle of a two week whirlwind tour of europe, and Alicante made it to the itenerary... no big deal. They were in town for two full days, three nights- plenty of time for beaching and "barrio-ing." They got to see all the major sights, at least from a distance. (They never made the hike up to the castle, but there is still a nice view of it from Playa Postiguet, so no pasa nada.)
Even though my spanish roommate, Cristina, is slightly on the anal-retentive side and likes to leave libby and I random Post-It's with different messages of things she doesn't like around the apartment, we all managed to stay in our little apartment with no problems. The boys got to spend everyday on the beach, and gave Bromsky someone to hang out with as I studied for my last final in my court interpreting class. It was a great few days and it was nice to see a familiar face.
Last night all the Mizzou kids from our program went to the Alicante C.F. (the local soccer team, Division 2) playoff game. The game was at 8:30 pm and we had the perfect seats to see the sunset. The team dominated 3-0 and we even snuck down to the lower section for the second half, scoring some killer second row seats. Here is a video we caught of a nasty play... Alicante is the blue team. Major Foulage. We are testing out the blog's video abilities, let me know if it doesn't play.....