Mon 30 Aug
Last night I got a surge of energy and exercised at 9pm. Had to have a cold bath and beer combo to cope. Today I could not move much, so did some research on local maps – original river routes, irrigation system, port expansion, peripheral town urbanisation, farmland preservation. Cabin fever sent me to the edge, so i had a late beer at the closest taberna. Unlike me to show some self-compassion, who even am i? I’m proud of him
TUes 31 aug
did the dishes while listening to a classic Jhud show from 2017. cycled to Ethnographic Museum (L’ETNO) and looked in awe at traditional Valencia farmer technology: ditch scrapers, water wheels, horse-drawn ploughs. you can see the craftsmanship, of course, but if you look closer you can see the deep understanding of the land. their bodies form unison with ergonomic tools – in the girth of a handle, in the weave of a basket, in the latches, loops and leather straps. spent too long looking at a pitchfork so didn’t make it to the Museum of Rice; it was one piece of wood, so the only possible conclusions I can offer is that it was grown this way, or carved from a plank.
began cycling towards Menises where there is a crumbling ancient aqueduct, made it halfway before I got a flatty. successfully borrowed a pump using only spanish words and global gestures (pump = la bomba = furiously puffing and moving arms up and down with fixed wrists) and got home by fluke before it deflated again. Andreu invited us to process the tomatoes I got from Grama in his apartment. we cooked half for canning, with the rest getting gutted and diced w onions, peppers and garlic for a lactofermented salsa.
Wed 1 Sep
Visit the museum of Rice (in an old mill in Cabanyal) but q distracted w complicated feelings. Manage to swim in the beach for about 10 seconds before being waved out by lifeguards for the red flag I ran straight past. In the eve I went back to Andreu’s to jar the lactofermented salsa and going to a craft beer bar w Nestor for a cherry sour and some bitching about Falles festival.
Glass of wine & Grateful Dead while I made courgette, green bean and onion soup. Ate some hot w toast and oil, then munched a wedge of melon.
Friday 3sep
Roof yoga
soup, fried potatoes, lacto tomato salsa, mozzarella
listen to this
Sat 4 Sep
Buenos dias
Walk to carles
PIck up some beers and cheese
Collect car
drive to rice paddy fields
Touch actual rice plants
Stare lovingly at acequies
Lunch outside church on a big rock
Nestor’s quiche with my caramelised onions
Walk around, find lil cave, sniff wild thyme
Drive to albufera
Look at salt lake
Forest hike to the beach
Nudey swimming in janky water
Dropped me off
Show opening in Ruzafa
Bravas i cerveza
Buenas noches
SUN 5 Sep
Run to and from climbing, know my body will hurt 2moro. Spend afternoon on sofa catching up w Zakia nts show, and generally basking in some good feelings about my situation. Get a train to Campanar to enjoy the local, alternative Falles. Anchovies & olives in vinegar (3:1 water), parley and garlic. Dark lager. Toddlers lighting bangers, and deafening, ground-shaking boooms dont visibly faze anyone. Baby falles mr potato head and traditional dancing w maracas and incredible handmade dresses. Teary lead dancer (female) is being photographed in front of a burning pile of plastic. Must be a mixture of pride, relief, and black smoke. I speak at length w paloma about the meaning of Falles in the community, its use as a tool of populism for conservative middle class and aggrandization to maximise festival vibes for tourism.
The neighbourhood is lucky to have Ricky (Ricardo Ruiz, a local architect and Falles enthusiast) facilitating the events and connecting “high-” and “low-” culture. He organises a team of artists, architects and friends to design, fabricate and build a fresh pavilion every year, which provides the backdrop for other more random and chaotic family frivolities. Ricky also hands me a catalogue of critical texts, local business adverts, isometric plan drawings, and interviews with key figures in the association. Paloma gives me her last banger to light which is so sweet. We have a few stubby beers from a hatch, eat pizza paid for by the association, and dig around in the smouldering ash pile for marbles that lead architect Alex embedded into the pavilion wall during construction. I find a marble, which takes on a prismatic and intangible value that will likely be difficult to explain.