i am cultured.

So this past weekend we experienced two major cultural events in Spain- Las Fallas y la Corrida de Toros (bull fight!)

Las Fallas took place in Valencia on the East coast...so we got on a bus on Friday afternoon around noon and arrived in Valencia around 4ish. There were thousands and thousands and thousands of people there....the streets were jam packed!! But basically in all the streets were huge float-like arrangements...crazy scenes from fairy tales or stories. So during the evening we walked around looking at them while people were setting off firecrackers and fireworks everywhere. Then at midnight they burned all the "fallas." We obviously would pick the worst falla to stand in front of to wait to burn...because it never did. Bad choice. But it was cool to actually be in Valencia for this national holiday and see this all go down.


THE BURNING FALLA...this is what the streets looked like...

THE FALLA BEFORE...

Then Sunday we went to a bull fight! Bull fighting season is March-October in Spain, but right now the novice bullfighters are the only ones participating. So although our bulls weren't as big as normal and the torreros weren't "official," it was still very cool to see. We had great seats too! But what basically happened was there were three torreros, or bullfighters. A bull would be released into the ring and the people in the ring would try to make the bull real angry by teasing it with brightly colored pink capes. Then in the second part the "picadores" would come out on a horse and the bull would charge the horse and the picador on top would stab the bull in the neck to try and get it's neck muscles to weaken. Next, they would take six knifes and shove then into the bull's back to get the bull even more mad. That's when the torrero would come out. He has a red cape and would wave it around in front of the bull to have the bull charge it...his goal was to do as many dangerous movements while remaining very close in distance to the bull. After that, he would take his sword and kill the bull...then they would drag the bull out of the ring and the next bull fighter would enter....whoever had the most "professional" moves and greatest audience approval would win the competition. Yes, it's a tad cruel but it's Spain's national sport and I'm glad I got to experience it.

The best torrero and his gang...

At the end of this week our spring break begins....we're heading to Paris, France for four days and then to Athens, Greece!! We then will be back in Madrid for Easter weekend!!! SOO excited!!