Hoguera Oficial en la Plaza del Ayuntamiento

Well, turns out I didn't have time to make it out to visit any more Hogueras today! Boxes, boxes and more boxes! Good thing I still have the "Official" Hoguera in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento (in front of City Hall) to share with you guys! ;o)

We approached the Plaza from the harbour side yesterday, and my mouth dropped open as I saw this filling the view through one of the archways:

This year's Hoguera Oficial is amazing!

keep reading!

Wandering around town visiting Hogueras

I stuck around and had lunch downtown after the Masclet� today, figured it would be the perfect excuse (since I was already out of the house and joyfully ignoring the piles of boxes waiting to be unpacked) to wander around and visit a few of the Hogueras. My dad decided to keep me company and we meandered around for a while (and ducked into the delightful respite of a movie theatre's AC for a couple of hours, lol!), admiring some monuments, dissing others, enjoying the wit displayed in some of the captions... Care to join me as I go through some images of this tour? ;o)

First up, an Hoguera from the "special" category (i.e. big spenders) that I had walked by on Monday while they were finishing it up: H. Seneca-Autobuses.

It had a very fishy motif to it, so you know I liked it! Check out the mermaid attracting the sailor:

And this other mermaid (or is she a siren?) whose voice enchants the tourists who come to our shores:

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Mascleta 2011 take 2!

So I actually made it down again today for another Masclet�! Two in one year... wow! :p

I was early enough so that I managed to find a decent viewing spot right up against the fences... Right in front of the local press who were getting ready to launch their interviews:

Check out the cameraman's get-up:

all protected like a fireman! He got up in the thick of things during the explosions...

keep reading!

Hogueras in my neck of the woods

I live in a area of Alicante called Cabo Huertas, the cape between the two main beaches. It used to be nothing but fields and orchards with the odd building here and there (looking over the Alicante Bay) until about 10 - 15 years ago when the big real estate boom started and buildings just mushroomed over night. Since it's mostly recent construction in an area where space wasn't a problem, we have a very different look from the main part of the city. More relaxed, more space, a bit more beachy (even though most places don't have a view of the Med).

Most of the hullabaloo of Hogueras takes places downtown. There are monuments built every couple of blocks. The parades walk down the main streets until they reach city hall or the Cathedral. Many streets are cut off to traffic so the "barracas" can be set up for the members of the different hogueras to get together and eat meals and party throughout the holidays. But even though we're a bit distant from all that, we still "feel" the fiesta atmosphere (in a large part thanks to the kids setting off firecrackers in the parks) since there are three hogueras set up in this area. Since they're younger there aren't as many people involved and so have lower budgets than the ones downtown which basically means they're smaller (I eplained budgets and categories 2 years ago here, and here are these same hogueras from last year).

Let's start off with a welcome return! The Hoguera Alicante Golf disappeared last year because of the economic crisis! I'm guessing the neighbourhood's money situation has improved since I came across their Hogueras this afternoon:

Not very impressive, small Fifth category Hoguera (the one in the foreground is the children's). But I did enjoy this one Ninot who represents all the people who've been having a really hard time this year since the anti-tobacco law went into full effect (no more smoking in any place that serves food or drink unless on a terrace):

keep reading!

Mascleta y Planta!

Let's get this party started!!! ;o)

It's that time of the year again... when Alicante goes wild and the sound of firecrackers and the smell of gunpowder fill the air: HOGUERAS!!! Our major FIESTA!!!

How'd you like that masclet� (well, 4' of the 10' it lasted)? I hope you didn't skip out on the terratremol, the earth-shattering final minute! ;o)

keep reading!

Off to the Fires!

It's TIME!!! La Nit de la Crem� has arrived! 

At midnight on the dot a giant palmera (fireworks in shape of a palm tree) will be launched from the castle. 

palm tree fireworks from the 2009 competition

The newspaper says they're aiming for a record breaking palmera, both in duration and size (11.5m diameter, 700m in height). As it dissipates the Bellea del Foc will give the order to burn the Official Hoguera in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, and a few minutes after the Hogueras de Categor�a Especial will be ignited as well. 

They go for simultaneous burns of all the big monuments so as to better distribute the crowds. All of it will be watched over by firemen, who will go from one Hoguera to the next until all have been reduced to ashes sometime between 3 and 4 a.m.

Now I'm going to go put my bikini on under a t-shirt and some shorts. Make myself a sandwich and head out downtown to watch it all BURN!!! Don't know which one yet... I want to take my camera and cell phone down (for pics and vid) so I'm going to want to avoid getting too wet during the bany�... the solution: plastic bags. 

If you want to join in or have an idea of what I'll be doing, I highly suggest you check out the post (with video) I wrote last year about the Crem� and the Bany�! I was out with my sister and some British friends of hers visiting and we really lucked out by getting close (in the reserved area!) to one of the big ones. Since I'm on my own this year I won't go for something that intense... might end up at the one in the harbour like I did 2 years ago. That one usually has fireworks coming out of it as it burns as you can see from this little video I put together for my friends back then:

Have a good evening! I sure intend to, even though I don't plan on getting this wet:

Hogueras and the People: Life on the Streets. SJ-0!

Happy San Juan day everyone!!! Tonight's the night! Tonight it all goes up in flames!!! :o)

I know, I know... I haven't showed you practically any of the monuments yet! Sorry 'bout that... but I've discovered that if you spend hours out and about photographing them... it doesn't leave you with any time (or energy) to actually go through the pics, select some, edit them and then write a post! :s  So I'm going to do what I did last year, and prolong Hogueras on the blog by showing you the monuments over the course of the next week or so, by categories. I've got 30 Hogueras to go through so to do them justice (and to avoid an overdose) you definitely don't want them all in one sitting!

Plus there are still other aspects of Hogueras to discuss, like its people!!! The heart and will behind it all. That which breathes life into this party (and which drives some people out of town to avoid all the noise involved, lol!). I'm going to do this in two times, to show you a bit of action on the streets, and then the clothes. Since the street action involves music, that means video!!! Just a few short clips, straight from my cell phone 'cause I'm afraid after last night's fiesta I don't have the energy to do any editing!

So like I said, music. The Hogueras just wouldn't be the same without these guys:

Every Hoguera has a marching band. They're there to accompany the members of the Hoguera in the various parades/processions they participate in (an element I haven't been able to write about this year), or to provide music for the jaunts around the Hoguera's associated neighbourhood. Here's a group (from the Hoguera Seneca-Autobuses) with their Bellea Infantil just returning to their Hoguera:

I'm afraid I only caught the tail end of that... I thought they were going to continue but they disbanded which is when I took the photo above of the musicians "relaxing").

This group (from Hoguera Altozano Sur) I caught yesterday just as they were about to head out:

And towards the end of the day (on my way back to the car in fact) I ran into the most lively group yet, (from Hoguera Foguerer Carolinas):

Now these guys have definitely got rythm! ;o)

Even the participants in the small Hoguera in my sleepy neighbourhood have been seen wandering the streets around here! Yesterday morning they were out and about in a relaxed get-up:

while just a couple of hours ago I caught sight of them (in more formal/official outfits) through the back window within my compound! I was hoping their trajectory would bring them 'round the front end but I guess not this year. :o(

You'll have noticed from those videos/pics a couple of different dress options for the members of these Hogueras. More formal/official:

Belleas and other members of the Hoguera Seneca-Autobuses

and more relaxed:

Members of the Hoguera Florida Portazgo

The second is kind of the "party uniform". You know, the one you're not worried about getting dirty. Basically everyone's wearing the same t-shirts. I'll give you a closer look at the nicer clothes in another post since this year for the first time I lucked out and was able to catch a bunch of people on film!

Hogueras by night, SJ-1

The 23rd is the best night to go out partying since the 24th is a holiday and there are no worries about "getting up" the next morning... ;o) 

I unfortunately killed my camera battery by spending another 4h out and about in the afternoon photographing the Hogueras that are in the "outer radius" (in other words can't get from one big one to the other on foot, went around in the car, losing myself in neighbourhoods I'd never been in and going through the nightmare of finding a parking space -several slightly less than legal, oops!- at each Hoguera). So no camera for my night out on the town... but thank you technology gods for decent cameras on cell phones!

So home at 5 a.m.... and since had no time between returning from visiting Hogueras to going out de fiesta, no time to edit and show you more Hogueras photos, so just a couple of nighttime shots from my cellphone:

Hoguera Calvo Sotelo

And here's one of the "barracas" associated with this Hoguera where I had dinner and danced well into the night (4h30 a.m.) with friends who booked a table there for the whole week:

Result: great spirits, but dead feet and back after hours of visiting Hogueras and then hours of dancing! :o)

Hoguera Oficial, SJ-2

I spent 4 solid hours walking around this afternoon visiting all (I think) the Hogueras in the core downtown area, and I'm pooped! I still haven't decided how I'm going to organise the "viewing" and I'm too tired to sort through and edit over 200 photos tonight, so for today I'm just going to show you the "official" Hoguera, which is to say the one in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. It doesn't enter into any of the competitions, and it's the one that starts off the Noche de San Juan by being burnt precisely at midnight (all the others start a bit later) upon the order of the Bellea del Foc.

Hoguera Oficial, "back" view

The theme of this year's Hoguera by artist Pedro Espadero (at a cost of 102'000�) is "Amor de Verano" or "Summer Love". Apparently it's 80% wood, and the base covers 18 metres while the whole monument weighs more than 7'000kg!

Hoguera Oficial, "frontal" view

Let's move in for a closer look, shall we?

I've noticed these past 3 years that a marine scene seems almost obligatory in an Hoguera in Alicante! Perhaps to remind people how much we owe the sea? Particularly in this province of fishermen and beach tourism...

This one's fun! It's what I'll be doing Thursday night while everything gets burnt: insulting firemen while hoping to be hosed down (and so cooled off)!

La Bany�!

The accompanying text states:

"El agua de la bany�
tiene algo de misterio,
cambia insultos por piropos
al cuerpo de los bomberos."

Which roughly translates as:

"The water of the bany�
is a bit mysterious,
it changes insults into flattery
for the corps of firemen."

The Bany� is a wonderful tradition of the Hogueras. It takes place while the monuments burn... we (the crowd) insult the firemen and in exchange they get us all soaking wet! It definitely helps to fight the heat from the flames. ;o)

Here are several loving couples...

And here's a scene some people love, while others don't: the masclet�!

La Masclet�!

I think this is my favourite shot so far this year...

We mustn't forget the kiddies!

Hoguera Oficial Infantil

I'm not sure what the Indian Chief is doing there... the other figures all seem to represent elements of European history or literature... The woman on the bull is Europa, from Greek mythology.

Hoguera Oficial Infantil

Here's the ninot they had in the official exhibit, Napoleon on his way to St Helena:

And I loved seeing this pair:

although I must say I much prefer the Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law versions! ;o)

Hogueras Playeros, SJ-3

It's time to start visiting the completed Hogueras! :o)

I didn't have time to make it into town today, so I just visited the Hogueras around here (the beach area), and I discovered that one of them is missing! There were 3 last year... and although 3 are in the programme, one of them (Alicante Golf) is nowhere to be found! I checked around the neighbourhood it was set up in last year, even asked a business owner, and he told me he thinks it was "cancelled" this year for financial reasons. Apparently they already had trouble last year getting the money together and this year, well even worse. Damn crisis! :s

But onto more joyful matters! Here goes the first of the other two (they're both 4th category Hogueras) -that I actually showed you being set up yesterday- : Hoguera La Condomina (where I saw the masclet� nocturna last week) whose theme is "El Genio Alicantino" (the Alicante genious? I think they mean the things that attract tourists to Alicante... based on the figures!)

Hoguera La Condomina. Artista: Miguel Balaguer Nieto

Here's Alicante's mayor, armed and dangerous! If you remember she was their candidate for the Ninot Indultat...

Tourists!!! The German dude from yesterday joins a British retiree (they've got colonies here!) and a Japanese:

And this couple seem to have taken quite a fright!

Possibly because of this guy and his pyrotechnics competition! :p

A family fighting for an inch of sand along Alicante's famous beaches...

And this one... no idea!!! A bull at the beach???

Here's what the whole group looks like from the back:

and here's their Hoguera Infantil:

The one that's a few blocks from my place is the Hoguera Avda Costablanca-Entreplayas, and they're celebrating their 20th Anniversary with the theme "De Nit i de Dia" (Night and Day):

This sun and moon couple was their candidate for the Ninot Indultat:

And they've chosen to bring up other holidays (similar to Hogueras) in the region, the Fallas in Valencia...

and the Fiestas de la Magdalena in Castellon (never been)

I like the way you get to see the difference between the traditional dresses (and hair styles) in the three!

And looks like they were prepared for the Hercules football club making it up to the First Division this year:

Here's the ensemble from the back:

With the Hoguera Infantil which I learnt is a 1st category hoguera! I didn't know they could mix and match categories...

And I just learnt they won the 4th prize in their category for it! Bravo! :o)

Tomorrow I'll go wander around downtown and see what I run into... ;o)