Tuesday, March 18, 2014

            This year our stretch of Barón de Cárcer is not a formation point for the casals that are participating in the ofrenda.  That means the unintentional battle of the bands that took place outside our windows last year is a missing element in this year’s iteration of Fallas.  In spite of the missing music, the decibel level outside our building is still rather substantial.

            The streets were almost deserted as we made our way to our casal yesterday at 2:00.  Part of the reason is that many people were in place to watch the mascletá, but the more pertinent reason may be that the out of towners have returned home. WE covered the two-mile journey in about twenty-five minutes and arrived a few minutes before lunch was served.

            Yesterday’s lunch was a fideuá prepared with an abundance of seafood.  It was so delicious that I needed to have a second helping.  After coffee we made our way back home to rest up and relax a bit.  We decided that we would take a cab down to the casal for last evening’s event.

            That event was the president’s dinner and it was preceded by a brief presentation that emulated the presentation made by the flight attendants on a flight before take off.  It was funny and well received.  After the presentation we turned our attention to the food, which consisted of a variety of tapas followed by pork chops.  Dessert consisted of fresh strawberries and a variety of homemade pastries.  When midnight rolled around we decided that it was best for us to return home and we did just that.

            Today is the day when the casal participated in the ofrenda and Susan will be taking a number of pictures as the falleras get ready for the event and will then take pictures along the route.  I will share those pictures with you tomorrow.