It was the afternoon on our first day in Barcelona, and Vinny and I had already exhausted many of the main streets around the tourist sites. So as we walked along the pier we decided to take a roundabout route to go to la Sagrada Familia. We chose to take La Rambla avenue.
The avenue already started with a bit of craziness. If you’ve ever been to Times Square in New York city, then I’m sure you’ve seen people dressed in costume, like Spiderman or the “Naked Cowboy,” for tourists to take pictures. La Rambla avenue has the same but they take it to a whole other level. These costumes are incredible. Some people are covered in flowers to look like a walking garden. Another man was painted in all white, skin and clothes, and was seated upon a toilet on a platform with his trousers down to the ankles. Don’t worry, a newspaper not only provided the man with reading material, but also censorship for an important appendage. Some people were impressive gargoyles, dressed in metallic black, standing on stilts hidden under their pants, and had horns on their head and giant wings attached on their back. Another man was a genie, seated upon a magic carpet. The carpet was anchored by a pole on the left side and a weighted plank on the floor, kept hidden by a small piece of carpet.
The next source of entertainment came from a fourth story balcony of an apartment building lining La Rambla. A Spaniard and his life-size female puppet were putting on skits and interacting with the crowd below. The puppet had a large mouth that could open and close and arms manipulated by a sturdy wire. She strangled him, he pretended to throw her off the balcony. She kissed him, he danced and sang. She scoped out passerby, and he made jokes with them. Though I didn’t understand any of it because he was speaking all in Spanish, I was absolutely cracking up, and so was much of the crowd.
As we walked futher, we noticed to the left, a bit of a passageway, canopied with an emblem and tarp. It was a market, selling chocolate, sweets, lunch and seafood, all for very cheap. Vinny inhaled a kilo of strawberries and I contently nibbled on a chocolate bunny lollipop. And because Vinny hyped up this rare fish snack that his mother enjoys, I had to try some, even though I’m not too keen on fish. The fish meat was breaded into small bite size balls and warmed. They were delicious!
But, it was another area of seafood that held a surprise. One vending area sold whole pieces of various seafood. I walked close, my curious eyes inspecting the various intricacies of each critter, until I saw something move from the corner of my eyes. I jumped backwards with a yelp, colliding with a group of women who also cried out with my surprise. The lobster was still alive and moving! They’re always dead in the states, or if they are alive, they are in a tank. Vinny was laughing so hard at my fright, while I stood there trying to catch my breath. Once I calmed my heartbeat, we watched the sea creatures again. The shrimp and crabs was also moving: the arms, the mouths, and legs. Vinny told me to stand next to the lobster that initially scared me, so he could take a picture, and though I was still quite squeamish and whimpering, I stood there long enough to for quick pose and smile.
The market wasn’t the only place with crazy items for sale. When we left the market, and continued our walk north on La Rambla, vending carts lined the avenue with pet animals for sale. Sure, they had the normal stuff, fish, hamsters, small turtles and birds. But the more we walked, the crazier the selection became. There were chickens and roosters, chipmunks and squirrels, baby chicks and little duckies, large and teeny turtles, and many more. If it hadn’t started drizzling, we probably would have gawked a little longer at all the different animals. But instead, we jogged to the subway, barely missing the downpour, and crossed our fingers that it would stop when we exited at la Sagrada Familia.
