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JUNE 24TH-25TH, 2003 |
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June 24th, 2003 |
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I'm so tired right now! We didn't get home from the San Juan celebrations until 2am! San Juan is celebrated the night of June 23rd every year. Thousands of Mallorcans head to the beach to take part.When you're at the beach, you and your group place several candles in a circle (which is big enought for yourselves and your bags). You then draw a line connecting the candles in a circle, to keep the bad spirits and the witches away. Just before midnight, if you like somone, you write their name on a white piece of paper, put it in one of the candles, jump over the candle 3 times and collect the ashes from the burnt piece of paper then put it in your garden or flower pot. At the stroke of mightnight everyone rushes into the ocean. They each throw 3 pieces of one fruit, 3 flower petals, 3 coins and then make a wish while looking at the horizon. |
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Last night the beaches were crowded! So many people came out to celebrate San Juan! Fireworks randomly went off during the evening. We ate Spanish omelette (tortilla espanola) which is egg and potato-it was delicious! We also had croquettes- they're chicken in a batter. They were amazing!
Our candles died before midnight so after we finished eating Christine and I went off to look for some more but we didn't find any. At midnight we all went into the ocean and made our wishes. There were so many people in the water and it was pitch-black. As Christine said, if people from the planes flying over us saw everyone in the ocean at that hour, they would've thought we'd all gone mad! All in all San Juan was a really interesting and enjoyable festival. |
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Today I worked at Marineland-they even lent me one of their worker shirts!At first I was in charge of these little motorcycle things that and one big trampoline that could fit 6 kids at a time. (left) |
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In the beginning I didn't understand what Maria Jose was asking me to do, however after I while I caught on. It was hard because she has such a strong Mallorcan accent.
After about 2 hours of working there I was asked to go to the train. Operating the train was more fun since I got to press the buttons to start and stop the train. There was this one woman with her husband and kids who came and she didn't speak English, French or Spanish and she didn't understand that she had to pay more to go on the train. It was really frustrating because I couldn't communicate with |
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her and in the end she just left. Noellia was operating the simulator which is right next to the train. I was talking to her for a bit. She's 19 and still in school. She lives with her boyfriend and is working at Marineland for the summer. |
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June 25th, 2003 |
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We had a little trip to Deia today-it's a little ways after Valldemossa. Our first stop was just outside Deia at a manor house. We were overlooking the ocean. A couple thousand feet below us was the crystal blue water and Sa Foradada, which is a rock with a hole in it.
Afterwards we continued onto Deia-which is a really small town with virtually no tourists. The shopping/supermarket of Deia consists only of a few stores. We stopped off at a little place for breakfast and I had this typical Mallorcan meal called ensaimada, which is like floury pastry. After breakfast we headed up to the highest point of Deia where there was a little church. The view was amazing! (picture on right).
At around midday we drove to Cala Deia which is a very remote beach. It's so small and the mountains surround it. The rocks and pebbles on the beach reminded me a bit of England. The water was so salty that I could easily |
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float. After I got out of the water I thought my skin was peeling but it was actually the salt on my skin!Tony told me that when his dad had gone swimming there his foot was grabbed by an octopus! On the way home we saw some Mallorcan donkeys which Christine says are becoming extinct. Anyways snacktime for me-everyone's having a siesta since it's so hot! |
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