2:20 am

I had to write. Not that I could sleep, what with all the clanging. I guess the Virgen de Carmen is returning to her church. What a surreal night. A mini-Semana Santa. Now I'm sitting in bed, listening to Ella and Louis as I try to record everything. So I took a bike ride to El Palo this evening to buy some UM-2 (C) batteries for my speakers. I came across a large throng of people lining the streets. I ran into 2 girls I knew, Christiana and I can't remember the other one's name. They said it was some procession for the patron virgin of the fishermen. Yeah, right, whatever. Anyway, Lorenzo and Ingeborg from Alhambra Instituto were there, too. I stuck around for the mini-procession. The Virgin was hoisted by about 40 guys. Little girls dressed in their flamenco dresses were all around. I heard they were transporting the virgin to a boat, but I didn't wait to witness the final outcome. I had batteries to buy! However, on the way back home, I ran into "Jeckel and Hyde" De. (You never know if she'll be hot or cold.) This time she was very talky. I told her of my shit going on at work. A German couple she knows stopped to chat with us also. Then we noticed a gathering of people all around us. And before we knew it, there again was the virgin herself! How did she get to Pedregalejo? Anyway, this time I did stay to see her loaded onto the rowboat, flowers and lights adorning it. Other boats, similarly decorated, lit the evening with red flares, and fell in behind the Virgin on a nautical journey. I went home. Around midnight, I went back to El Palo, where there was a band playing out beyond the carnival that was set up on the beachfront. Oh, how I love carnivals! I thought of the Blue Water Festival! Algodon dulce! Anyway, I ran into Yop and his father. He left soon because they're going to Expo in Sevilla tomorrow. I loved watching the little girls dancing the Sevillanas. Incredible. I have to re-learn how to dance that! After a very frustrating 10 minutes of trying to get a beer (I hate having to learn how to be RUDE!), I went to Donde. Along the way, I couldn't help noticing all the activity at the restaurants and the little kids still going strong at 1:30 am. Spain! The stamina of Spaniards is incredible.

(Had to take a short break to "Raid" the bugs.)

So then I ran into De and Ingra at Donde. De was pretty rude to me. I'm not sure what her problem is. I saw Manolo there, too. He remembered that I had gone home to mi país, but thought it was Germany - and then half a dozen other European countries before I told him I was American. He was surprised. I don't sound like an American, he said. He's probably comparing me to De. She is a true embarrassment hearing her speak Spanish! So anyway, on the way home from Donde I ran into the Virginal procession again. Men marching with oars. Some really strange stuff. Along the beachfront restaurants were occasional shrines to the virgin. The processioneers would yell out, "¡Viva la Virgen de Carmen!," and the crowd would yell, "¡Viva!" "¡Arriba la Virgen de Carmen!" "¡Arriba!" Then they would mumble something very quickly and everyone said, "Guapa. Guapa. ¡Guapa, guapa, guapa!" in a chant-like fashion. So many stimuli here!

// "Moonlight in Vermont" is playing. It's almost 3 am and I have to work tomorrow! 'Night! Hey! I think I needed this day. It picked me up out of my depression. (Somewhat)

// I have to credit De with a good line tonight. All night we've been hearing loud blasts of fireworks, but couldn't see anything. De and I were yelling to each other from our terraces. She said it's typical Spain, "You hear it, but you don't see it." Yeah, they promise you the world, but rarely follow through.