Tuesday, March 20, 2012

It’s as if last week never happened.  The falla outside the balcony has gone up in flames and disappeared; traffic is once again flowing down Borrull; the street has been cleared of all debris; the sun has disappeared and it is raining heavily; and Rachel left for the airport at 5:00 AM this morning.  What a treat it was to have her here for the week.  Valencia reanimated her.  She did a ton of walking and took close to one thousand photos.  She got to meet many, but not all, of our friends and, most importantly of all, the three of us got to spend time together.

Yesterday it seemed that Valencia was saving the best for last in terms of decibels.  The mascletá in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento echoed through the streets of the city and once it was over the air was filled with the sounds of other mascletás all over the city.  The one on the Gran Vía did not go off until 3:00 and I got a perfect view of it from our balcony.  Rachel and Susan watched it from street level.

Rachel spent most of the afternoon packing her suitcase and working on the photos she took.  I spent most of the afternoon on the couch with my leg elevated and occasionally applying ice to the knee.  It is feeling better and there are moments, soon after I have taken the medication, when I am able to walk with almost no pain.  I am hopeful that today’s treatment – the first of I don’t know how many – will succeed in removing the accumulated fluid and will restore my mobility to where it was previously.

Around 9:00 PM the falla outside our balcony was moved down the street to the intersection of Borrull and Botánico where it could be away from neighboring buildings.  There had been a constant report of firecrackers since 3:00 PM and the rhythm of the explosions did not diminish one whit as the night progressed.  At 11:00 Susan and Rachel ventured forth to witness the burning of some of the fallas.  At 2:00 AM, as they were about to light the falla of Pilar the skies opened up and it began to pour and Rachel and Susan sought shelter under a nearby portico.  They returned home thoroughly drenched and napped briefly before the alarm went off at 4:30.  They dressed and went downstairs to meet the cab that was waiting outside our front door.  As I write this she is forty-five minutes into her flight to San Francisco. Today’s photos are courtesy of Susan.

Here is a link to a video of the Cremat http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/valencia.html