Fiesta - the moon also rises

Sorry Ernesto...

The fireworks were short and spectacular last night. Apparently the big one is at lunchtime tomorrow. Lunchtime? Obviously this is a sonic display rather than a pretty colours one and is something not to be missed, I'm told. Last night I went out at about midnight and bumped into friends Mayte and Paco (their wedding photographs were posted on the blog way back in March/April). I spent the next few hours trailing a village band about town and drinking the free beer on offer. I missed out on the free soup and hot chocolate at three in the morning at the organisers' tent and crawled home to bed. No rest for the wicked, they say. I was woken by firecrackers at about 7.30am. and with that started the hostil...sorry, festivities for the next day. This is the 'burn the candle at both ends' mentalitity that makes five days of fiestas fun for people and scary for cats and dogs (and teenagers who like to sleep in). We're off to see a paella competition and to get our bearings for the rest of the fiesta. No bullfighting at this one some of you will be glad to hear, so not quite the authentic Hemmingway experience, but then Valencia district is more famous for its pyrotechnics than its matadors. No 'gunpowder plot' here but that's probably just as well as they tend to use a little too much!