Fiesta de la Primavera

Every year in Granada there is an unofficial celebration for the coming of Spring. This celebration is aptly named La fiesta de la primavera or Spring Party. The date is changeable, and I presume depends upon the weather; this year the perfectly sunny date of Friday, March 18th was chosen with a fantastic spring high of 65°F. Though my flat mates and I didn't officially start our celebration till 3:30pm, I heard tell of the hard core partiers who had been drinking their hearts out since 11am! Loaded with our supplies (aka, homemade Sangria - red wine, sugar, rum, and fruit chunks) and dressed in our spring clothing - woohoo sandals and short sleeves! - we headed over towards the Botellón, or in this case the Botellodromo (explanation: Botellón comes from Botella and means really big bottle. Adding the dromo makes it mean super huge gigantic bottle.) Upon entering the vicinity of the lot where the Botellón is, we were immediately affronted by hundreds of people flocking to the same destination. Some had even jacked a shopping cart to carry all their supplies. A few groups had thematically dressed up.

We wheedled and shoved and slithered our way into the midst of the crowd, found a nice spot and parked ourselves. The ambience was full on celebration – kids were chanting soccer themes and singing Spanish songs. We were lucky enough to be near one guy who had brought a boom box. In the next group over someone was playing with an animal skull they had brought with them.

Pictures of our antics:

Around 6:30 the crowd was beginning to get to me and so I started forcing my way out (for some reason harder than getting in…) at least 20 minutes later I emerged from the main force and was able to breathe. I took respite in the apartment for a few hours before preparing myself to meet the force again, but this time with a new group of friends. I was to meet up, for the first time, with an intercambio – Nani – at a Dunkin Coffee (that’s Dunkin Donuts to us) at 9 pm. Venturing out there, newly refreshed and slightly hesitant at meeting new people at this particular event. But it all turned out marvelously! After ordering a chocolate filled donut and café con leche from one of my classmates from French class, I ran into a few other girls who were waiting to meet up with Nani - Casey, Anna, and Yumi. We seem to hit it off right away, and I’m feeling better about the night already. The girls are really nice, Americans and Yumi is Japanese (her family is alright), and we are talking in steady Spanish.

Still waiting for Nani, a bit of culture finds us on this night of surprises. We see a religious procession, including the bleeding Jesus on an altar, for Lent. A starkly contrasting solemnity on this city-wide party night.

Finally, I meet Nani, her brother and his girlfriend (neat fact: in Spanish your sibling’s significant other has relationship with you – cuñado/a. Literally it’s brother or sister-in-law, but it’s also now in use for any type of relationship.) We head back to the massive body of people, me fearing going into its depths once again. Thankfully we only stay on the outskirts…which tonight is the density of the everyday botellón. Gathering a few more Americans and a few more Spaniards as the night goes on, we have a grand ol’ time. I find out that the 4 American girls are actually ISA kids, and we reach a new level of bonding. Yumi gets more and more silly as the night and drink goes on…and all of our pictures get better and better.

Impromptu concert performed by Casey!

Around 11pm we finally start the movement for heading out to a new location. Which at 12:30ish becomes our respective homes. I actually enjoy my nighttime walk home. There are still some people strolling the streets, the lights are on, it isn’t chilly at all and I’ve made some new friends. All in all, ¡mi fiesta de la primavera es un éxito! (Success!)