What were those explosions that sounded like mascletas this morning - I asked a man and his daughter dressed in the "fallero" shirts.  Oh - the desperta (wake up) from now until Monday.  Between 8am-9am every Falla commission wakes up their neighborhoods with an explosion.  I suppose that's why they were all about five minutes apart.  I must have heard ten this morning.

No more sleeping past 8:00 am they mentioned.  Oh, no worries I replied.  I have a three year old.  I'm always up at 8am.  Well, be sure to sleep when your child sleeps they said - otherwise you won't get any sleep at all.

Now that is advice they give to mothers with newborns.  I guess it applies to everyone with kids for Las Fallas. 

Here is my little Fallero - oh so cute in the shirt.

Yesterday we went to the Exposicion del Ninot.  Ninot are the figures that make up the Fallas constructions.  Each commission that has a falla (380 I believe) submit one figure for their official Falla and one for the children's Falla.  The admission was 2 euros which gave you the right to vote. 

My vote for the children's falla

Mitch's vote for the children's falla.

Can't you see how our parenting has affected us.  Clearly, I have given in way too much with our son.  Mitch - he is still traumatized from taking away that pacifier from our son, who by the way, can't even imagine using one. 

Here is another cute children's figure in keeping with the ipodization of the world.

My favorite Ninot for the regular fallas was this one.

This laughs at the new official protected housing that is being promoted for students or others with limited resources.  They are being promoted like crazy but many think they are too small to live in as you can see.

http://www.viviendas-vpo.com/

Here are a few close ups.

Some of the other nifty photos.  This exp ends tomorrow because they finish the planta - or the construction of all of the fallas by tomorrow evening at midnight. 

Airplane ban on liquids falla

Vulgar figures too -

We can see a school outside our window.  The children there range from age 3 or 4 to about 11 or 12 I think.  This morning, I noticed them spreading sand in a circle on the ground.  Hmmm.  Just what they did during the paella contest.  They must be making a giant paella I thought.

But the next time I looked out the window, I saw this.

A Falla - with what looked like the set up for a mascleta - those are fireworks hanging from the strings.  Goodness - will they actually burn it.  Yes, they did.  The love for pyrotechnics and las fallas is the culture of Valencia. 

First the Mascleta -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq700seKi7c

And finally, la crema -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXc_QQrQNrw

Last weekend there were a lot of paella contests including one in our neighborhood.  We just saw the preparations as nap time interfered before the paellas were cooked. 

Mitch noticed this gentleman's olive oil.  Yes mentioned his wife.  We're from "the pueblo." We picked and pressed those olives ourselves.  Mitch also assumed all of the wood was pressure treated.  Captain Safety's comments can make it hard to feel romantic about that paella huh?  I do learn a lot with him though. 

Yesterday evening we had a babysitter and we decided to try another mini-mascleta.  Turns out, it was a traca kilometrica.  I didn't really understand it until one of the falleros showed me the ropes and explained it. 

A kilometer of rope suspended around the neighborhood and the falla - all with fireworks attached.  They light one end and voila - off it runs with the people trying to stay ahead of it. 

These folks are crazy!! Mitch decided to run.  I decided to document.  We had no idea what to expect. 

It was hysterical and one of the greatest fallas experiences for me to date.  It is quite exhilarated to duck as the pyrotechnics zoom over your head.  This would not have met Ben's fancy at all - although there were tons of kids.  I assume everyone gets used to the noise, the fire and the explosions.  It's quite a show here.

Here are the links to the two videos I took.  Enjoy.  I hope you can appreciate how close those embers came to my head. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXthzoZURPk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcdP1Wo9S6s

Last night we ventured out to explore some of the pre-Fallas activities in the neighborhoods surrounding Colon, Xativa and Angel Guimera.  (Note - I often refer to the neighborhoods by the name of the nearby metro stop.  These are not the official barrio names - I just can't figure them out!)

There are 300+ fallas commissions all of which have a falla.  The concentration of them in the old town is high.  It seems that every few blocks yields another Casa Faller. 

The local newspapers Las Provincias and El Levante are great for keeping up on the last minute schedules put forth by the commissions.

We began our evening walking down the streets near the metro Colon.  Soon we stumbled upon folkloric dancing near the Casa Faller El Forcat on the streets Joaquin Costa - Conde Altea.  It was wonderful.

Here are some links to some folkloric dancing videos from last night that I posted on YouTube.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppeXmF6pcyk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1dkkZMCkIQ

Later we went to a mini-mascleta near Angel Guimera metro - Erudito Orellana - Fernando el Catolico.  Here is the Fallera Mayor arriving at the festivities.

We laughed because they closed off the traffic for her arrival, but once she crossed the strfeet, they opened it up for the mascleta.  The police were there to keep the traffic moving during the explosions!

There was a time when I thought that my mother and aunt shouldn't come visit during Las Fallas.  The quality of life is high in Valencia.  The weather is beautiful and it is just wonderful to have the beach and all of the beautiful sites to ourselves.   What was I thinking? 

Las Fallas, and the season of - as it does seem to be a distinct season of the year here - is simply amazing.  How incredibly lucky that they will be able to experience it.  If you've met my mother and my Aunt, you know they ask a lot of questions.  But I do as well.  Perhaps it's a family trait.  I've determined that I better read up on the Fallas and all of the ins and outs so I can better answer their questions.  After all - although I will always be an outsider to the Valencians - I am an insider for them.  When I mentioned to a worker at a local newsstand that I wanted to understand the culture of Las Fallas, she said - Good luck - that takes a lifetime!

The four days of Fallas have evolved over the years.  The 17th century Fallas were simply bonfires set up in honor of St. Joseph's day - the patron saint of the carpenters.  Apparently, they would burn their scraps before spring.  In the 19th century, rudimentary fallas - ninots- figures - appeared.  Mostly they were figures of inside jokes among neighbors - all taken in good humor.   By the end of the 19th century, some political statements were made - and the government got involved.  (how surprising :))

Today, the government subsidizes a percentage of the expenses.  Currently, there are slightly more than 300 fallas and fallas commissions.  In total, the commissions, which are made up of neighborhoods, spend over 20 million euros per year.  The local government spends about 2 million to help them organize.

This year there will be a total of 380 fallas for a total cost of  7.8 million euros.  Some of the major Fallas charge for admission to get up close and see them.  Apparently the dues to join our neighborhood Falla is 280 euros a year.  I can only imagine what the really important commissions charge given the costs of their monuments. 

Off we went to our very first Mascleta today.  We had NO idea what to expect except noise of course.  Perhaps you remember me writing that I didn't think I would enjoy it but that I would head to the ayuntamiento (city hall) to experience it, just once, for cultural appreciation.   We arrived around 1:45 and were able to get a fairly good view, I assume because it was a work day. Here we are just before the Mascleta began.  Notice that some folks had a slightly better view than we did.

The crowd around us was quite varied.  Folks from age 16 to 86 I assume.  Some of the twenty-some year olds were right behind us doing some illegal things that are generally overlooked here.  Since I was videotaping the experience, I also turned around and videotaped them.  That made them nervous.  I told them I was just documenting the Valencian culture which they found to be quite amusing.  The older gentleman on the other side of them obviously disapproved of anyone thinking that their activities were part of the Valencian culture. 

As we were waiting for the Mascleta to begin, my husband, (aka Captain Safety- have you checked your smoke detector batteries lately) noticed that the ambulance was right next to the fireworks staging area.  Yet, all the people were way back.  So, if there was an explosion, how would that ambulance help.  Good point....that's why I married him.  He's smart like that :)

Before the Mascleta began, it was announced that the air portion of the mascleta would be cancelled for safety reasons due to the high winds.  There were loud boos among the crowd.  Yesterday's winds topped 60 some mile and hour winds - so I guess it was a sensible move.

Masclet means firecracker in Valencian.  Mascleta means LARGE firecracker - or many in Valencia.  Yes, there were many, many firecrackers at the Mascleta.  What started with a few explosions evolved into a rhythmic series of explosions.  I suddenly understood why some people referred to the mascleta as a symphony of explosions.   It was fun.  After the "music" portion came the explosions that were more intense, with little pauses in between.  Then came the explosions that caused even Mitch to cover his ears.  I was videotaping so my ears were naked - but they survived. 

Surprise, surprise.  I loved it.  It was awesome. Everyone cheered and clapped when it was over.  Then the crowd began to run - apparently to lift up the pyrotechnic.  Today is also the International Day of the Woman - so the pyrotechnic for the day was a woman - which is apparently quite unusual.  The pyrotechnic team entered a big cage where the fireworks were staged and walked around while the crowd cheered.

 Here are a few pictures of the Falla being constructed near the Ayuntamiento.

  We ran into someone we know on the metro home.  She told us that today's mascleta was flojo - soft - and not very good.  Hmm.  I need to see what a good one is like then.

Las Fallas are coming!

The Falleras dresses and skirts are hanging in the dry cleaners windows.

Petardos (Fireworks - the noise making kind :) are everywhere)  

There are new Churrerias  popping up everywhere. 

 I haven't tried the bunuelos de calabaza (pumpkin bunuels) yet but the churros are yummy. 

Look at these oil machines.  This is serious business. 

The streets are lit up at night and the Fallas are being constructed already in some of the major Fallas areas.  Tomorrow I'll share some of those photos. 

Hasta pronto!

The Mascleta Napolitana is the Mascleta at the Beach.  A fifteen minute pyrotechnic display at the beach in broad daylight.  We heard about it from a German girl when we were at the beach last weekend and for a few minutes we thought about going.   That was until we remembered that the noise level is phenomenal and that we have a three year old that doesn't like loud noise unless of course, he is creating it.

Today's paper Las Provincias said that the Mascleta at the beach was a wild success.  35,000 in attendance - boosted by 30 degree celcius temperature.  Here is a link, a picture (courtesy of the paper) and a brief snippet.

Un cuarto de hora de exhibición de colores en el que se dispararon más de 2.205 kilogramos de material pirotécnico y donde destacaron las bombas de color chocolate y vainilla.

Translation - a 15 minute exhibition of colors in which more than 2,205 kilograms of pirotecnic material was set off - and of which stood out the bombs made of chocolate and vanilla.

If you click on the following link - it should launch a three minute video of the mascleta napolitana at the beach.  If not, cut and paste into a new browser.  Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-LjR0Gc3FQ

Have I mentioned the orange trees in Valencia?  We've all heard of Valencian oranges.  Well, here in Valencia, almost every other tree is an orange tree.  Sure, some of the fruit is large, some small, some clementines and some mandarins - but round and orange is the constant. 

From what I hear, these oranges are not edible, or at least not tasty.  There was a day when I would need to make that determination myself, but now I'm an old fart and a Mom and far too responsible for that.  Calling for all comments from you adventurous urban forragers who have dared to taste.