¡Hola todos!

So the festivals that I feel like I´ve been talking about forever have finally ended and boy do I have some thoughts for you. All in all it was an amazing and unforgetable experience. I had to put a few pictures up so you could get an idea of what the festivals are like. However, the computer I´m using is so slow that the bull fight pictures didn´t get put up but hopefully they will eventually.

So the beginning of Las Hogueras which is Alicante´s huge festival basically celebrating the summer solstice. It started on monday night when I met up with my Spanish friends and went with them to a boltellon, which is Spanish pregaming on the beach. Of course their schedule is so different than ours, they don´t even start pregaming until 12. So we went and hung out with spaniards and americans on the beach and then went to the discotechas to dance. We ended up staying out and danceing until 6 in the morning....little did I know that this would be the laid back night.

I had made plans to meet up with my Spanish friend to go to the beach at 11:30 the next day. However, when I called her at 11:30 a.m. I realized that she meant 11:30 p.m. ....oops... so I called some of other friends and went to the beach anyway. it was a beautiful day and who sleeps when they are in Spain anyway! haha I love the sun and the beach too much to stay indoors. So I used being awake to walk around the city to see all the Hoguerras that were set up in the streets. Much of the streets in the city are blocked off for the Hogueras. There are barracas in the streets as well which are basically neighborhood parties with music and food. Each neighborhood has a contest to see which one has the best hoguera. There are 184 hogueras thoughtout the city. Ah! My favorite was the hogueras with obama....did I mention that they burn these hogueras the last day of the festival? Yes Obama went up in flames. Anyway the hoguera was really interesting. It was about the crisis in the world and it was a huge chess set. Obama was on the pawns or bishops in the game and the king and queen of spain as well as other important people were in it too....at least thats the best I got out of the Spanish signs. It was really cool to see and I thought it was a neat idea. It won 3rd place in the contest. I never got to see 1st and 2nd place....184 is a lot of hogueraa.

After spending the day on the beach I came home and took a siesta and got ready for the next night on the beach. This was the big beach night and I´d never seen it so packed before. People had bonfires on the beach to represent hogueraas and there were ppl jumping over the fires all over as well as people jumping over 3 waves for good luck...I wished to get an A on my grammer test...pray for me...I think I need more than luck....

Anyway after more dancing and chilling with everyone I made it home once again at 6 a.m. Ah! Since my body still hated sleeping in when its such a beautiful day out, the next day i got up fairly early again to do my homework and decided to go the mascléta. They had been having a mascléta everyday for the past week at 2. I went with my madre and watched the one during the day. Basically what it is shooting off a bunch of firecrackers and fireworks in the middle of the city. They are so many and its soo loud u feel like a bomb when off.. and it looks like it too...check out the pics. Here in Alicante they are obsessed with firecrackers. All the children run around play with fire and throwing them everywhere. I was about ready to try to find the parents of a few....

Anyway later yesterday I went with my madre to here condo thing that she has in another city close by. She goes there to get out of the heat because it is in the base of the mountain and has a better breeze. I got to see some of the Spanish countryside and realized that away from the beach I was def. in the middle of the desert.

Later that night the show finally started. We watch the starting firework on the top of the castillo at 12 and then went to watch obama being burned to the ground. We got there kinda late so we didnt get very good spots but we saw the whole thing go up in flames in the middle of the city with only the bomberos (firefighters) keeping it as bay with water. It is completly insane but a really cool site to see at the same time.

Then we went and saw the hoguera in our neighborhood. we got front row seats however...my madre left early and let me there with all the screaming children and I soon found out why. You know the picture of children playing in a broken fire hydrant....well I would have been one of those. All the children around me proceeded to chant agua agua until the bomberos sprayed us all with hoses....for like 2 mins...my thoughts were first...who they hell is watching the fire...second...this feels good I was really hot this close to the fire anyway...and third....wait aren´t we in the middle of a desert here? However I found myself enjoying the whole thing! it was so much fun to come home dripping wet but to be able to watch the huge bonfire because the bomberos keep us cool!

It was the crazy thing I´ve even seen or been a part of but it was so much fun and a great experience! So now the finallly is tonight with fireworks over the beach...it will be kinda sad for the crazyness to come to and end but check out the pics I got to put up and see a little bit of it.

Anyway we head to Granada tomorrow for a weekend adventure.

Look for more updates soon!

amor,

Lindsey