Murcia and Valencia, March 15-20

So much has happened since I last wrote, so much that u probably won't believe, but I will try to explain. Patricia, my best friend from LA, arrived on Saturday the 15th of March to spend 10 days with me and to see if she liked Spain enough to move back here for the entire summer.
She flew Iberia, and guess what? yup, they lost her bags! Actually she received one bag, which she luckily had put her dance shoes and few essentials in, but the other one was AND STILL IS nowhere to be found! It's been 5 days and no word from Iberia.

So, a friendly reminder to all of you planning on coming out to visit....DON'T FLY IBERIA!!!! :)

With a great attitude and only the clothes and shoes she was wearing, she was ready for our journey. Actually, I don't think we could've ever prepared for this journey!
We took the metro to the train station hoping to buy our ticket from Madrid to Alicante, then Alicante to Murcia (because we had already missed the direct train from Madrid to Murcia). WRONG! It was sold out. Now what? Well, the ticket agent mentioned the possibility of taking the bus to Murcia, so we hopped back on the subway and took it to the bus station, only to find out that the next bus was at midnight, getting us to Murcia at 6am, by which time the sals congress would be over and only Sunday evening would remain to dance. Frustrated, but not letting the wind out of our sails, we had the idea to take the metro back to the airport and rent a car and drive to Murcia! When we got there, we saw 3 car rental agencies. The first one.....out of cars, sorry! The second one...out of cars, sorry! Our last hope was Hertz, and like a beacon in the night, we had our car, a cute blue Peugeot and a full tank of gas.

Off we went, on unfamiliar terrain, embarking at 9pm, hoping to arrive to Murcia in one piece and in time to dance before the congress ended saturday night. Through clenched fists, white knuckles, do we go here or do we go there, getting lost in downtown Murcia, we made it to the coastal town of Los Narejos, Los Alcàzares, where the congress hotel was. We changed in the car, excited, impressed, and ready to dance our hearts out. We went running into the hotel and realized we didn't hear any music! hahahaha! At this point we began to get frustrated. The hotel reception wasn't very friendly and told us we were mistaken but there was no congress here at this hotel, but never telling us where to go. In walks Eddie Torres, "El Rey de la Salsa", innovator of on2 style (mambo) in NY. We asked him where to go, and he said that his chauffeur was going to be heading back that way. So we hopped on the private shuttle for the stars, and 25 minutes later we found ourselves in a deserted town that we would've NEVER found on our own! By that time it was 2:30am, and luckily for us the conress went until 5am that day. We danced a little, mingled a little, and then hoppen back on the bus to the congress hotel.
I forgot to mention a small detail....we actually didn't have a hotel of our own until Sunday, and check-in is usually in the afternoon....so, we went to the afterparty in the hotel lobby, mingled, ate, and partied until 8:30am.

From there we headed to the car (our hotel for Saturday night), and slept until 11am, at which point we were able to check into our REAL hotel for Sunday, which was a cute 2-star hotel called Hotel Los Narejos. We showered, got dressed, and went to the beach. There we found a little chiringuito to have coffee, eat lunch, and take in the beautiful weather. Back in our hotel, took a quick 4-hour nap, got dressed and did it all again a second night. We ran into Albert Torres (LA's salsa promotor) in the lobby of the hotel, and he gave us free passes for the congress for Sunday night, a front seat to watch the shows, then introduced us to the salsa promotor from Valencia named Augustin Williams. He offered to let us follow him in our car as we drove to Valencia the next day.

Good thing he did because Las Fallas had already begun on Saturday the 15th, and it was Monday the 17th and a majority of the streets were blocked off, therefore we couldn't return our car to Hertz! He maneuvered us to another dropoff location, and then called around for us and found us a great deal on a hotel room (because we obviously weren't prepared enough to book one ahead of time!) witha corporate discount. It was a 4-star hotel "de lujo" (luxury). We changed there and went out with him to his dance academy and then to tour the city.

Las Fallas is a tradition that begins March 15th of every year. The city builds huge paper-mache sculptures that are displayed on almost every corner and in every neighborhood in the city. On the 19th in the evening, they are all burnt to welcome in the spring. This tradition began because people back in the day used to put out all their old furniture, clothes, and household goods they didn't want and would burn them. Slowly it developed into what Las Fallas are today....a 4-day celebration and an excuse to party! What an incredible experience. At 2pm during the day every day they set off 5 minutes of continuous explosions, so intense it makes your hair stand up on end. There are people wandering the streets at all hours, dancing, singing, eating, setting off firecrackers, all dressed up in the traditional garb for the celebration.

On March 19th, Las Fallas are burnt down, beginning with Las Fallas Infantiles (the children's) first at 10pm, then the rest of them at midnight. The largest one is saved until the very end. This one is in the heart of downtown, in front of city hall, where crowds gather and wait for hours just to get a good spot. We arrived at 11:15pm and stood until 1am waiting for this experience we had heard so much about. Exactly at 1am sharp, a barrage of fireworks is set off, lasting about 10 minutes and filling the dark night with smoke. Then the largest paper-mache doll is set ablaze, and burns to the ground in about 10 minutes. Firefighters are standing by, people are cheering, black smoke billows up in the air, and ashes rain down on us. It's an unbelievable sight. It takes them about 1 year and millions of euros to build these things, and then within 10 minutes they are ashes. As soon as this last falla is burnt, the cleanup crew has already taken to the streets because by morning on the 20th, there is no evidence that this whole thing even happened.

By the time we finished watching this, it was about 2am, and our train back to Madrid was leaving at 6:50am. We were forced to buy a 1st class ticket because everything else ws booked, and every other time of departure was booked. So, what to do between 2 and 6am? Well, sleep in the freezing cold train station of course, play cards, listen to music, watch salsa videos, and hide from the cold in the automated foto booths! Those 4 hours were the longest part of this whole trip, but well worth the first class treatment on the train back to Madrid.

So here we are, unwinding, doing laundry, napping, Pat still without bags, and awaiting our dear friend Ilanit's arrival from Milan tonight to begin the party again. Tonight begins the Madrid Salsa Congress!!! Watch out Madrid!!!!

Enjoy my pics from Murcia and Valencia. Go to my pics and click on collections: Murcia and Valencia