CARNAVALES!!!

Last weekend was Carnaval here in Palma! Carnaval is like the Spanish version of Halloween, where everyone gets dressed up in the street, there are activities each day in all the schools, and there is a HUGE parade with elaborate floats and dances. It was simply indescribable!

First off, we had to plan our costumes. Encarna and I had been looking up ideas the whole week and trying to come up with something original. SO.... I bought some suspenders, a bow tie and some white gloves and went as a ventriloquist's doll! Encarna bought some black fabric to attach to a white skirt of hers and went as a zebra, and Raquel want as a leopard. We had some friends come over to the house and hang out first: a cowboy, a basketball player, and a carton of milk... heehee. Then we all went out to a discoteca to dance and see all the other costumes... Wow some people really got into it! It was really fun...

When we got home it wasn't as difficult to clean up for Raquel and I as it was for Encarna. We went to sleep and found out in the morning that we had no water!! Thank god Encarna got to shower and rinse out all the hair die the night before! We were worried she would have had to sleep with all of that on! ¿Menos mal, no?

So that was Saturday night... On Sunday there was a huge parade that passed through all of Palma with decorated floats, elaborate costumes, and different dances from Spain as well as South America. I went with my friend Paul, who is actually from Peru, and he explained the significance behind a lot of the South American dances... it was really interesting. There were also people on the floats that threw out candy and roses (considering it was on Valentine's Day too). It reminded me of the 4th of July Parade in Steilacoom... man do I miss that :)

San Sebastiá

Hey everyone! Sorry it has been so long since my last post... I always want to put some pictures on here and considering I no longer have a camera I waited until I could upload some of my friends' pics onto my computer :)

Just a couple weeks ago Palma celebrated its patron saint, or San Sebastiá (Saint Sebastian). I found out that this saints day is a lot "darker" than many of those I have been around for here. People traditionally dress up in devil/demon costumes and there are concerts in just about every plaza. Kids had school off in the middle of the week so that they could go celebrate with their families the night before. On that Tuesday I went out with some friends to the "torradas", which are basically barbeques in the streets. Palma sets up fires all over the place next to live music and you can bring your own meat and cook your dinner while you meet with friends in the street. The music was great. In every plaza there was a different type of music, and as the festivities went on the entire night, you could be sure to hit them all up if you wanted.

The food was delicious. Some of Encarna's friends picked up all the meat for us, which included all different types of chorizos, lomo de cerdo, and some long "bacon-y"-looking meat. Wow it was good... but a LOT of meat. Before I could finish one type someone was already throwing some other type at me. Yummmm!

So before the big show that came later we went to la Plaça de Cort (where the town hall is) and we got to see this incredible projected light show. They lit up the main building while telling a story.... and we got to see all over the world! It was amazing how good the technology was! There was this part where they "took us" to Africa and there were people beating on drums and all of a sudden it looked like the building was the inside of the head of a drum and there were hands beating on it... it looked sooooo real! The music that went along with it was really fun too... I can only imagine how much money they spent on all these festivities... and they were all free! This picture is of the cathedral here in Palma as it was projected on the town hall.. you can only imagine how cool the other parts were!

On Saturday (because San Sebastiá is more like a week-long fesitval in Palma), there was a huge performance/spectacle in front of the cathedral. There was a woman singing opera while fireworks shot into the background along with the music and men playing "gaitas" (or bagpipes) in deep, dark, ominous tones to represent los demonios. There was lots of fire and red lights everywhere, and men were hired to throw firecrackers in the streets to scare people. It was INTENSE! To this day though I'm really surprised that the Catholic Church would celebrate such a "devilish" holiday... but it was really worth seeing!

While Encarna and I had mentioned dressing up in devil costumes for the festivities, I think we saw enough people dressed up to make up for us. It was really cool to go out in the streets later and see everyone out celebrating. On Paseo Marítimo there must have been hundreds of people all dressed up, eating, drinking, and talking. I dont think we do anything comparable for the patron saint of Tacoma, do we? Hee hee. People really come together to celebrate here in Palma... or maybe they just really like to party! Haaha. Anywho, las carnavales are coming up here this weekend, which is like Spain's Halloween, so I'll be sure to post pictures of costumes soon! Hope all is well back home... Miss you all!