Merced.. a Pyro´s dream come true

My apologies to our faithful readers for the belated entry- im trying to do at least one post a week, but inevitably i will be a bit late on some occasions. My only hope is that the quality will somehow make up for the lack of quantity.

First, Ibiza. Wow. They call it the party capital of the world, and deservedly so. From the moment we stepped foot on the island, we were immersed in a place where the only relevant subject was which world-renowned DJs are playing at which famous clubs that night. Everything, from massive billboards to the island´s mcdonalds, was involved in party promotion. I admit I felt a little inadequate in terms of my DJ/electronic music knowledge, because when purchasing tickets to the clubs, we were asked which type of electronic music we enjoy the most (options including trance, house, funkyhouse, basshouse, big house, little house, your house, my house), our only response was "uh.. fiesta?".

We decided to base our club choice on name brand alone, so naturally our first stop was world-renowned Pacha. It was incredible, but in my opinion it was dwarfed by the following night´s selection- Privilege. Privilege also happens to be the biggest club in world- we were constantly reminded of this fact, too, when Will would yell it out intermittently during the festivities. Privilege appeared more like a small town than a club- i wouldnt be surprised if it has its own area code. It had everything from food vendors, outside and inside, to memorabilia shops (at least 5). I naturally assumed that Privilege consisted of many different dance rooms, but was quickly disproven when we walked into the club and were greeted with a space the size of a large airplane hangar- and 10,000 people dancing to the pounding bass from the DJ booth, which, by the way, was suspended above a pool. It truly needs to be seen to be believed- pictures and videos will be provided upon request.

After our return on Saturday, we were looking forward to several night´s rest. We were rudely awoken from our naps, however, when we heard what we thought were gunshots from the nearby pedestrian avenue. Upon our arrival we discovered they were not gunshots, but small fireworks, carried by people in devil costumes through the streets. Turns out it was the start of Barcelona´s biggest annual festival- La Merce, right outside our doorstep. We would not be granted peace and quiet anytime soon, but sleep is for the weak anyway I suppose.

The details on what exactly is being celebrated are still somewhat vague, but that didn´t stop us from participating like true locals in the festivities. The custom is for groups of people, outfitted in hoodies and bandanas despite the immense heat, to surround the "demons" carrying the fireworks and jump around, as that is the only way to avoid the spray from the sparklers. Dressed only in shorts, tshirts and sandals, we thought the devils would take it easy on us if we danced in the background. Not so. True to form, the demons preyed on the weak (in this case the underdressed), and they had no hesitations about exposing our vulnerablities and spraying us on the skin from point blank range. Bobby´s lasting neck burn is a constant reminder of our poor decision.

Thus we smartly chose to run back to our apartment, change into sparkle-resistant apparel, and head back out. We danced with the devils (and gargoyle and dragon floats as well, each outfitted with 3-5 sparklers apiece) until the parade was over. We then sprinted to the pier to catch the end of the fireworks, which rivaled anything ive seen on the 4th of july.



The next day was equally as entertaining- in the square 2 blocks from our apartment, teams of castellers (look on wikipedia if youre interested) build human castles, approximately 8 people high. They start with burly, juiced up men on the bottom, followed by girls towards the top. The only one to make it to the very top of the castle, however, is a small child, no more than 7 or 8 years old. I couldn´t help but feel slightly emasculated, watching these children, who probably have more cojones than I will ever have, risk life and limb climbing to the top of a human tower to entertain us all. And the towers did fall- we witnessed 2 enormous collapses- amazingly no one was hurt. In fact, a team´s response to failure was to get up and try it again- incredible persistence.

Perhaps the most relevant part of La Merce, though, is our time off from school- after a grueling week of classes (monday and tuesday), we were free for the weekend. Of course we had to take advantage of our time off, so on somewhat of a whim, we trained it all the way across the country to San Sebastian on the Atlantic coast, where we are now. It is famous for having the prettiest beach in the country, and this is perhaps the last taste of beach weather we will experience this fall. On that note, the beach is beckoning- more to come later.

Also I noticed a request from one of our readers, the mightyarmenian (by the way if you were trying to disguise your identity with that name you failed miserably) that we sign our names with our posts.

Hasta Luego,
Pitch

P.S. pictures to be posted upon our return to Barcelona