valencia part 2. burning.

back to valencia, where the street held her breath for the start of the show.

and so did this lady, i guess.

we all hurried to reach the best fires.

and then it began...

lights, cameras! action. and more screens were watching than eyes.

fireworks in city intersections! america the land of brave!? prooove it.


but thankfully the firemen were there to keep things under control. (where is he looking??)


it was the closest i've been to war.


but mikayla came out unscathed, still mellow.


cool as a cat.


not like murray... who checked to see he was still in one piece.

good vibrations

Flashing forward to the near-past for an entry. Last weekend I went camping with friends Scottie and Andy. We pitched tent on a beach in la Graciosa, a tiny island north of Lanzarote, the most eastward of the Canary Islands. Friday we biked sand trails, passing between large reddish hills and making pit-stops at deserted beaches, occasionally excaliming our excitement towards the paraidise around us. Tired, we came back to the tent and lay on its floor for a nap.

A small writing from that moment:

"The bongos tap-tap, boom-boom in the town over the sand mounds off somewehre to the left. The walls of the tent pop their nylon in and out, wind whapping to the rhythm. I can feel my heart beating across my veins as my leg burns from the sun and muscle-ache. Scottie is passed out, wiped from the day. I see him across, in the other chamber, through and beyond the tipping-in-the-sand boxes and bags of snacks. The wind rustles the tent some more and I drift to sleep, my face warm and settling,"

valencia, part 1. pre-burning.

this blog is not slow it's just lazy--it refuses, no matter how half-heartedly i try to cajole it, to keep up. so i've had a talk with it and it agrees to give it another go, beginning its tales with last march, with my trip to valencia to watch fires and explosions in an annual festival called "las fallas."

i decided to go at the last minute, buying my bus ticket the night before, and sleeping on the floor of a hotel room with my friends michael, murray, and mikayla. i'm not sure why they let me come, since my name does not start with 'm'.

after an afternoon of startling explosions every few seconds, our nerves were well-rattled and had to be dulled.

thus commenced the rooftop debaucheries. murray in front, mikayla on the right, and michael behind. you can see the knees of another friend steve.


murray soon settled into a state of deep relaxation.


and the jets flew above, people on the move as we watched the light fade.


mikayla was unimpressed by my creepy photographer antics.


and then the sun went down as the jets whirly-gigged away.

so we went to the streets, in look of fireworks and loud bangs.


its a festival that little kids seemed to have invented and the city of valencia has somehow allowed--fulfilling everybody's pyromaniac dreams.


welcome to the crystal castle, where characiture drawings and cotton candy abound.


street band.


street talk.


and somebody deep in their thoughts.


and a little boy entranced by the flames.

flames that you will have to see next time, because my blog has just sat on its hands and refuses to continue. give it some comments for encouragement and maybe it will perk up again soon.

the drummer

His eyes looked beyond to a deep content, his face wrinkling upward into a worn-in smile.
- ‘Chicago…now that’s a small world,’ he said in his drawn-out, poetic cadence. ‘That’s where I grew up,’ feeling the deep hum each syllable produced in his throat.

The two of them, the black man with the salted beard, and the old American boy, stood by the cobbled and sloping street that wound noisily through the city center.

- ‘Is that where you learned?’ asked the American.
- ‘Yeah, I come from a family of musicians,’ said the older man, hands in his pockets still tingling wholesome and raw.

.

a simple thing i wrote today, inspired by a man i saw drum and then met outside the bar.

real madrid vs. real betis

iñigo, cousin of cousins, had to extra tickets to the real madrid game last weekend. i found myself unexpectedly in the fourth row, watching some of the world's most famous warming up about 15 feet in front. another video:

more video to come. pictures. and i'll be focusing a little more on writing from now on.

sevilla

i'll be making more of these...

toledo and a bit

today, after leaving the prado museum, i lay in the sun for 2 hours with my friend mikayla. ah.
it was one of those days. these tiny little birds were hopping all around me, getting so close i was getting a little nervous. i ate my two baguette sandwiches with spanish ham for lunch. a pug with an unmistakable smile on his muzzle tapped his paws past us. i was content, to say the least.

with those images off my mind, i'll move backwards to my visit to toledo a couple weekends ago. it's a small city south of madrid, its buildings and narrow streets crawling over the face of a mountain. it's completely european in style and just absurdly picturesque. i spent the day exploring with my friends scottie and andy, pictured here.

they're both from BU. the rock formations in the background are typical of the mountains that surround toledo.

the city seen from the outskirts.

now lets venture in.

scottie doing his own exploring. most of the streets were this narrow, and yet cars would still maze their way around, pedestrians having to step into an indentation to avoid being hit.


lots of birds to be seen when looking up, sitting on wires, relaxing in alcoves... doing what birds do.


entered this church where we could climb the stairs to its tower.


great views to be had from up there.


back on the street. a beautiful way of drying clothes.


old people are dope.


scottie taking a breather after walking all day. a very smiley model.


mikayla wearing her trademark mellow expression. (she actually is that mellow inside her head, i asked)


ray, the director of the study abroad program. keeping an eye on us. making sure he doesn't lose any ducklings.

that's about it for the trip. as i can't get my video upload to work, i'll have to introduce you to my host-brother carlos later on... i'll leave you with my sad attempt at growing a man-beard. the elephants on the wall are mocking me.

a quick tour of my homestay

first and most important, the kitchen. note the cage, where the pet hamster michael lives, and the leg of ham--a staple that should be seen in every kitchen everywhere

the family room/dining room area. where much nintendo wii is played and little television is watched. the table is only used when there are people over for dinner.

the view from my bedroom. sort of a residential neighborhood northeast of downtown, by about 20-25 minutes on the metro.

my bed, the all-purpose piece of furniture where many naps are taken, many ipod sessions occur, where i surf the internet, write, read for class, and most importantly--sleep. the room used to be maria's (my host-sister, who is 10), explaining the pretty elephants on the wall.