You will gain weight during Fallas. You just can’t avoid it. With churros on every street corner, hot dog stands lining every street, mojito carts everywhere, and just about anything you would want to eat readily available, you could easily pack on a few pounds. I know I had my fair share of junk food, and I do not regret it (even though I’m going to be in a bikini in a few weeks). Those churros were just too damn good.
Let me tell you about a food sent by God himself. Enter the buñuelo, a fried dough ball served best with a sprinkle of sugar on top. I thought that I loved churros con chocolate (and I still do), but man do I love a good buñuelo. They only sell them either by the dozen or half-dozen, and I could probably eat all of them. However, for the sake of my waist line I always shared them with a group of people.
Are you drooling yet?
I am usually good about eating (relatively) healthy, but I could not resist it when my walk home consisted of passing 20 churro stands. I had at least one every day for that week. They had different variations of these churros and bunuelos. They had them chocolate filled, chocolate dipped, creme filled, white chocolate dipped, and my person favorite, caramel filled.
In addition to these fried goodies, there was also an abundance of hot dog stands and random food everywhere. Thankfully I am a very thrifty person, so it kept my stomach in check whenever I had to fork over my money.
Now let me tell you about the parties. Fallas is basically a week long party. Music, people, dancing, food-everywhere. I LOVE dancing, but I hate the preparation that goes into getting ready for clubs. I like getting primped and prepped, but I just get too lazy. Enter the “verbena,” kind of like a huge block party. They were held every night between March 13-18 from 11pm-4am. Sadly, the neighbors started complaining a few years ago about the noise, so they had to cap the verbenas at 4am. These were a much cheaper, more casual, and (in my opinion) more fun version of the discotecas.
Hundreds of streets held these verbenas, and they ranged from big outdoor venues with a stage and DJ to a tent party with some food stands surrounding them. Then, if you still wanted more, you could go to the discotecas til 8am. I love dancing and going to clubs, but I also love my sleep. This week definitely took a toll on me, but it was worth it.
Unfortunately I don’t have any good pictures of these parties because I was too paranoid about bringing anything with me. Sadly, six of my friends lost either a phone or wallet this week. It was a good wake up call for me to watch out for pickpockets. However, it was still an amazing experience, and I’ll think about it for years to come.