les fêtes de bayonne

If you ever have the chance to go to Bayonne for this festival, go.  For the past five nights, I've been walking around the town of Bayonne with 250,000 other people visiting concerts, eating french junk food (crepes and the like), dancing through the streets, and laughing at/with lots and lots of drunk people.  The Fetes open with an event where a choir sings a bunch of traditional Basque songs and they present the town's key to famous people.  I didn't know any of the people, but it was still cool to think there were (relatively) famous people there.  Then they unveil this big puppet called Le Roi de Lyon, who is kind of like the mascot for the Fetes, and launch fireworks that were really really loud.  Alain told me on the way to Bayonne about the fireworks, and he said they were more loud than pretty, and I definitely understood what he meant.  After the overture we started walking and found our first passed out dudes.  At first I was kind of shocked that these guys had friends who left them passed out on the sidewalk like that, but then I kind of got used to seeing people like that.  That aside, the first guy we saw was passed out standing up with his elbow resting casually on the ledge.  It was hilarious.

Most people bring their alcohol in large 2-litre coke bottles mixed with some type of juice, so the ground is littered with empty soda bottles.  I met a couple guys and told them it was my first Fetes de Bayonne, and they told me to step on a couple bottles to crush them flat.  Then they grabbed my hands dragged me skiing on these bottles down the street. Super fun, much more dangerous on the cobble stone streets than I imagined.  We stopped a lot to dance in front of the bars where they set up speakers to play music, and conveniently, served alcohol to the parched peoples.  Wednesday night we hung out on top of this hill for a while to get away from the craziness below us and I got the chance to meet some random people here and there.  There was a guy who went to Brown University, a girl from spain, and a french girl who had a boyfriend who did graffiti (I found out after I started talking to his girlfriend).  In general, everyone was pretty friendly with few to no angry drunks.  The first night we met a girl who was going to be late for her train, and she didn't know where the station was at, so we ran to catch her train at 4:30 in the am.  My feet were killing me afterwards, but I found a two-euro coin on the street and felt like a gentleman when she thanked me with bisous on both cheeks.  Speaking of finding things, I found another two euro coin and a nice (man-ly) bracelet, so I was pretty stoked.  That was Wednesday, a very cool way to start the fetes.

Thursday morning we woke up around 10 to go play a game of Pala, which is a typical Basque country game very similar to raquetball but with a much harder ball.  Raphael's other friend, Ambre showed up on the train that morning and we all went to San Sebastian, Spain for dinner later that night.  The city is situated just across the border from France, 45 min by car from where we are in Bayonne.  It was wild to drive just under an hour to a place with another language.  We tried out the local "tapas" in a bar, which are little hors-d'oeuvres with tasty dried hams and cheese.  Mailiss was there again, the wife of Charlie (uncle Alain's old friend), and she was full of information on the city.  Really full of information.  She would talk your ear off every time she stopped to look at something with you.  We drove back to Bayonne around 930 and made it in time to start the party at 11. Again another night of dancing and concerts.  Thursday we saw this pole climbing game where guys try to make it to the top of a light post while everyone around them throws empty (plastic) bottles at them.  It was really funny to watch, and for a second I wanted to try, but then I thought twice.  There was a rock concert at one of the stages so Raphael and I jumped in the dusty mosh pit for a bit.  Also very fun.

Friday afternoon we went to the beach and Sylvain and I surfed a little bit, and ate lunch after.  I took a huge nap and woke up at 1030pm but everyone was still just sitting around.  It kind of surprised me that we started our nights so late, but we came back home around 4am most nights, so I guess it balanced out.  Friday night was really fun, there were even more people out and about.  We ran into a drumline that was marching through the streets right in front of the cathedral, so we danced behind, following them for half an hour or so.  Saturday was more of the same, but with even more more people, so the streets were extra-crowded by this point.  There was a défilé, which is basically like a float parade with 4 or 5 cars outfitted with decorations of sorts.  I forgot to mention that everyone wears the same outfit at the Fetes:  white shorts/pants/skirt, white shirt, red scarf belt, and a red bandana around the neck.  It was so cool to see both old and young in the same clothes, day and night.  Saturday night, Raphael and I slid down a hill on our butts and so my shorts were pretty dirtied up by the end, but it was part of the experience to have dirty white clothes on every night.

sunday: the day of rest.  I needed it.

Tomorrow Sylvain and I leave for Montpelier/Toulon, and he will drop me off at the former so that I can meet up with Maxime Chevée, a friend from Berkeley.  Maxime lives in a town near Geneva on the French side of the border, but his grandparents live in a city close to Montpelier called Agde.  We're going to drive back to his house after a day or two in Agde, so I'll see the French Alps for the first time.  Life is so good.