Carnaige at Benecasiim

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OMG! where to begin this time. Last week 5 hopeful travellers set off for some partying in Spain, excited by the idea of seeing Kings of Leon live in concert and aprehensive about camping for a whole week. We left London in the wee hours of the morning and I) think I was still half asleep when I landed head first into the train to Gatwick airport. YES thats right, Backpack on and smaller bag attached to my front I totally did not miss the gap between the train and the platform at London Bridge and took a heavy and painful fall. Poor Steve, asked me if I was ok and all I could respond was..... NO! lol so funny now but not at5 the time. Thank goodness my luggage eased the fall but 1 week later the bruise still speaks for itself. We headed to spain where we spent just 1 day. After leaving our backpacks in the lockers at the airport we quickly jumped on the metro and headed to La Rambla which is Barcelonas most famous shopping strip and main food market. For a fraction of the english price we drank fresh juices, bought prawns, olives and cheese and made our way down to the boat docks to eat a feast and do our first summer sun bake. Emma, one of my budding travels organised to meet a friend so we all sat in the shade of a palm tree catching up and learrning about life in Spain. Before long it was time to head back to the train station and catch the train to Benecasiim. The ride was very smooth and we had the opportunity to have 2 hours sleep. I wish that I knew then that it would probably be the most decent sleep that I would get for the next 5 days!
Upon arrival we were greeted by hot HOT weather and a mass of people herded like cattle onto buses. The bus took as to the FIB campsite which was also the venue of the Festival so we were very concerned about picking a good location to set up tent. The campsite appeared well organised. I was a little shocked to see the open air showers for all to take a peek but after convincing myself that it would be ok because I would wear a bikini we set up camp under an olive tree and headed into town to buy groceries. The campsite was soooooo packed. People and tents everywhere! I eventually came round to the idea of using a port-a-loo but never got use to the smell. we actually bought air freashener and sprayed before we stepped into the the bacteria infested hut.
So after setting up camp we were ready to hit the beach. We now had two days to get use to the reality of camping before the festival began and it was a great 2 days, besides the intial third degree burns I inherited on the 'spots I missed´. We had 6 other fellow travellers meeting us and I will refer to them as the Cooshy group because they stayed in an apartment that was high in the Benecasiim Hills and hosted views of the Mediteranean. So the first few days were all about day time fun at the beach, volleyball and the boys checking out loads and loads of topless women. YIKES! I still say there is something to be said for keeping some things a suprise!
So the festival began on the thursday bight and first up were OASIS. they were good, but not great. Actually the lead singer Liam is not entertaining at all. He wore a weird Kaftan that showed his sweay marks and he was a very cocky talker. It was a great opportunity to get my bearings around the festival and begin sampling the many culinary delights they had on offer. We decided to catch an early night (1 am9 in preperation for the night we were all waiting for- Friday night- Kings of Leon. Sleeping was not so easy with the blaring festival musiv to 4 am but it helped me make a decision to buy ear plugs for the nights that would follow.
On Friday we were ready and could not wait for the main headline band we had made the trek to Bene for. We had afternoon siestas just to ensure we would be fully awake for the enebt and got ready early. I wore my favourite rolling stones T-shirt that helps me to immerse myself in the whole experience and off we went. The day had reached sweltering high tempretures and winds and began just before we left camp base. Within an hour of selecting our prime postion for the kings the winds had picked up and a fire had broken out across the road from the festival. There were 8 ft fences around the festival grounds and we could still see the flames above the fence. It was amazing how quickly the fire travelled and luckily the wind was pushing it away from the festival. It was still pretty scary and it would have only taken one quick wind change for the festival to go up in flames. Still hopeful we stood waiting for the Kings to come on stage. But soon the winds got worse and two of the main screens fell down followed by swinging stage lights and before we knew it the Kings had cancelled the show and the festival was stopped for the night. Words can not explain my devastation and annoyance at the cancellation, all the way to spain! grrrrrrrrrrr. Sooooooo we headed back to camp in high winds that just kept getting worse and worse! Loads of fellow campers were packing up and heading out of camp and some tents had already been demolished by the winds. Without any opportunity for toilet stops we jumped in our tents and I layed there for over 9 hours watching and waiting for 75 km/ph winds to die down. It was a night of no sleep as I tried to work out ways to secure my tent with rocks, eskys, bags of clothing. It was freezing and the winds hit the sides of my tent like a punching bag. It was very scary stuff and when I finally felt confident to leave my tent at 8 am in the morning my eyes could not believe the trail of destruction that the winds left. Aññ temporary fencing was down, toilet paper in trees, endless tents reduced to a blanket n the floor and people sleeping on top of them. Clothing, towles and li-los everywher. the main beer tent had lost all its walls and the showers had lost all water supply. It was a mess and probably the lowest point of my camping trip. We had all had it! exhausted and bewildered we took a walk round camp. Sections of the camp had been closed off by the police and campers were unable to access their belongings and fisrt aid had a line the length of the great wall of China waiting to be seen to.It became very clear to me that I was one of the lucky ones.
We cleaned up camp and had no other choice but to head to the beach. By 9am it was once again too hot to sleep in our tents and it was hard to believe that with such beautiful weather carnaige had taken place the night before. The beach, was our only chance to sleep and boy did I sleep. As the days went by I became accustomed too sleeping during the day, swimming in perfect degree water and eating chorizo which is basically a spansh omlette. The beach was always packed and it was a fight to the end for the perfect spot to lay our heads.
As the troopers that we are we returned to camp that afternoon and got ready for a night with Lily allen and Franz Ferdinand. Shock! Horror! Lily allen, the sceond reason I chose to attend the festival, also cancelled dur to sickness grrrrrrrr. BUT Franz ferdinand were awesome and we placed ourselves centre of the mosh pit, ready to jump to our hearts content. Ithought that things could not get worse after Kings cancelled and Cyclone Beni had struck but while I was in the mosh pit my camera seemed to dissapear. YES MUM! the one you brought me for chrissy! Stolen or fallen out of my bag it was gone, along with some great shots of paris and the week that had been Beni. I was devasted and stayed back after the show to do a search through the endless empty cups of beer. We found a wallet but no camera BOOOOOOO HOOOOOOO. Needless to say I have no photos. Only the few I took, or should I say Steve took on the morning after cyclone Bene. As soon as I get back to london I will get all the photos from everyone else and add them to this entry. I had another sleepless night in disbelief that my camera was gone and got up early on sunday to scope the losr property sections of the festival. I eventually lodges a report with the Bene police so that I can at least claim insurance But when I asked if a camera had been handed in the people just laughed! How rude!
My time at Bene had now come to an all time low and I was really looking forward to getting out of there but decided to stick it out for the final night and a great band- The Killers. They were well worth the wait and our egroup stuck together to enjoy the final night. It wad so funny when Jyles put me on his shoulderts and I was above the crowds singing the classics but not so fun when he was holding my leg right where I had scored the biggest bruise of my life from the train fall OUCH! We ended the night in the dance tents at about 4 am but I was soooooo tired from so many nights of minimal sleep I could not last the distance aand headed back to camp early. We were up early to get packed for our 2 pm train and I could not wait to get out of there. After 5 days the smell of the toilets and wearing a bikini while showering had worn a bit thin. The showers wrre calling me. We were so hot while we waited we seeked refuge in a grassy park under a tree until the train arrived and then we were onto Valencia. It was a very short 1 hour ride and we had arrived. I left the others who were heading back to london in search of my hostel and very excited about the 6 weeks ahead. This was only the beginning! Thing could not get worse! REALLY!

Although I did not say proper good byes I would like to thank Jenny for organising our trip to bene and my fellow travellers Clare, Emma and Steve for an interesting week. I hope we never re-live such Carnaige ever again and I have officially decided after all this time- I REALLY DO HATE CAMPING!

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