By the time Andréa left for work this
morning I had gotten no sleep. It was 4h00 but there was something
wrong. I had been tossing and turning all night long. My stomach had
cramped so badly that my entire body ached. This feeling was
familiar...It reminded me of my first bout of food poisoning!!! It
wasn't nearly as violent as the last time but the symptoms were all
the same. I really hate to say this but I think it was Flora's
lasagna. I'm sure it was nothing she did but somehow there must've
been cross-contamination somewhere. It was the last thing I ate since noon that
day so I know that it wasn't anything else.
Andréa and I were leaving for Spain
around noon with his mom and step-dad so I tried to be super cheery
when he came home from work. I couldn't fake being well though :-( A
sleepless night of feeling like my intestines were being ripped open
wasn't easy to hide. I fessed up to Andréa when he found me curled
in the fetal position on the daybed. He immediately called his mom
and she was on her way over with medicine.
I was in the middle of re-hydrating as
Joelle and Albert arrived. I still wasn't feeling great but I sucked
it up because I didn't want to hold up their trip. I just popped the
pills that Joelle gave me and tried not to puke. During the drive I got horrendous back pains. It was either a side effect of
the food poisoning or a result of sitting in the car too long. I felt
like such a bitch. I guess it was a blessing that I didn't get any
sleep the night before because I was pretty much out the 8 hour drive
to Peniscola. Andréa had worked the entire morning but couldn't
sleep due to the sun. Poor babe...Oh well, he's much better off than
me. You don't want to hang around me when I get no sleep...That's for sure ;-)
The four of us arrived in Peniscola
just as the sun had set. I met Andréa's aunt and uncle as we were
getting out of the car. Joelle and Albert own an apartment here so we
went straight up. They definitely have style because this place
reminds me of an article out of Architectural Digest—one of my
favorite mags.
We didn't hang out in the apartment long before we headed back out. The six of us went to Benicarlo to see the Falles festivities. Falles is a festival that occurs
in Spain about three times a year. There are intricate paper
sculptures all over the town centers the size of small buildings. At
the end of the festival all of the sculptures are lit on fire and
they burn to the ground. It's pretty sad that these pieces are
destroyed...they're so beautiful and look as if they took a lot of
time and work!!! It's tradition though...
One of the things that baffled me were all of the little kids with fireworks. They buy a wooden box which they decorate and fill with tons of firecrackers. The kids I saw were as young as 4. Imagine a 4 year old with a lighter and a firecracker in America...I didn't see a single kid get hurt here and there were tons of them! I guess you've gotta learn fire safety at an early age in Spain ;-) I'm sure the kids are better for it. It kind of scared me though...Not gonna lie...
After a walk-through of the festival
grounds we had dinner at one of Joelle's friends' restaurants. The
Spanish don't normally eat until 22h00 so he was doing us a favor by
letting us eat earlier. For 15 euro per person, we had sangria,
crostinis with fresh tomato, mini-patties of chicken, fried calamari,
mussels, and fried potatoes in aioli for appetizers. As for entrées, most
everyone got grilled squid except for Andréa's aunt Rosy who ordered
the steak. Normally with this deal dessert and coffee are included but we were all so full we decided to opt out.
Everyone was dead after the day's
travels so we cut the night short. By short, I mean midnight-ish. We
ARE in Spain here...Andréa and I took the kids room with the two
twin beds while his aunt and uncle slept in the living room on the
pull-out. Finally...REST!!!
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