A long day of traveling—driving 2 hours to the airport, a 2 hour flight which was delayed—and other un noteworthy shenanigans.. we finally arrived at the most beautiful hotel I have every stayed in, Las Arenas Belanioros Hotel. The 5 star hotel has a mass amount of beach front property, with two outdoor pools and 1 indoors. We checked these out first.
(my room)
(my balcony)
While I was watching Tommy toddle around the steps, I noticed an odd assortment of friends eating lunch together. My immediate thought was that they were some sort of band because there is no other explanation for their friendship based on the makeup. Kaitlyn made the same observation when she approached me saying, “Those guys are a band from the US—well I think they are because they are speaking English. I want to ask who they are.”
After settling into our beautiful rooms (with incredible views from both balconies), we headed straight to the pool with the kids. There seemed to be a lot of action outside the pool, around the beach area, so I went to see what was happening. There seemed to be a mini volleyball arena set up which was blasting music for all to enjoy. That’s when I met the band, or the guitarist at least. He came up and we small talked (the usual in a foreign country—where you from, where have you been or where are you headed, names, etc. etc. etc.). From this small talk, I confirmed with Rob (Holliday) that he was in fact from a band, Prodigy, which is apparently a huge band from the UK. I told him it sounded familiar, but only because of Brandon Fox’s band, Makeshift Prodigy, but had no idea who he was. Rob is also a guitarist for Marilyn Manson and has performed many shows in Chicago which he thinks I should go to on Manson’s next tour.
Anyway, the band was in Valencia to perform at a festival near town (well 1.25 hours outside of Valencia)—a mini Lollapalooza if you will. (FAMILY & overly concerned friends- skip the remainder of this paragraph.) He told me I can ride with the band and chill backstage for the show.. they play at 1am and are leaving around 930pm. This seemed like the perfect adventure I was looking for. It seemed even more perfect after a few poolside drinks. I met the rest of the band members and some of the crew or agents possibly, and thought more about the situation. Reasons to go: Would be a very cool, unforgettable experience. Reasons not to go (obviously)… young, helpless American girl, alone in a foreign country. Its an hour and a half away. That was really the reason holding me back. If I could get to and from this fest without the assistance of rock stars (as a back up) I probably wouldn’t have hesitated. That, or if I had an accomplice in the activity. But I talked myself out of it, thinking this was not smart, I knew it wasn’t smart, and therefore, I should NOT go.
Instead I got to video chat with Giorgio, which was probably an upgrade considering it would not give me nightmares like Prodigy might have. While talking to Giorgio (and so tired I could have just passed out), I realized I hadn’t eaten all day because I’d been quite nasceous from traveling. Giorgio suggested chips & guac, and I was sold. So I went on a search around town for what we perceive as a typical Spanish appetizer. Wrong. Apparently that is strictly Mexican. Furthermore, restaurants in Spain do no believe in “to-go” unless it’s coffee. There is a stirp of restaurants along the beach and none of them could give me what I wanted. Disappointed, I walked up and down the left side of the beach and found yet another spectacular stand that Chicago needs to take up—grilled corn stands. People are grilling corn on every corner. It’s like the Taste of Chicago daily, and every 10 steps. For 2 euro I got a freshly grilled, over salted, delicious ear of corn. I didn’t even have to ask for extra salt, they are that good. They salt the green part, the put the corn on top of the salt, and salt the top of the corn so it looks like the blizzard of ’78 just hit.
At night, families lined the coast of the beach with their picnic tables and dinner. Groups of kids were scattered about the beach. It seemed like this was a Saturday night tradition in Valencia, until midnight. At midnight, I walked out on my balcony to see incredible fireworks booming over the hotel. The fireworks were a 15 minute long grand finale. We still are not sure what they were for, but it was great end to the night.
(this was about 5 minutes in)
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