In between trips to Ibiza, I had the chance to enjoy Barcelona La Merce, which is the 3-day festival held in honor of the Patron Saint of Barcelona. The festival, which first took place in 1902, "bids goodbye to the summer with a bang and welcomes in the cooler months of autumn." It was so much fun to see the entire city come together to enjoy the its traditions. I went to Plaza de Sant Jaume on Friday night to watch Toc d'Inici (The First Note), the opening act which involves giants and mythical figures taking to the streets to celebrate the start of the festival. The night ended with Los Diablos running through the Plaza with loads of fireworks and torches. 
Saturday night was more fire and devils! Correfoc (Fire Run), "is one of the most exciting and representative events of the Festival, where more than 30 groups of devils from all over the city and its suburbs come together, along with dragons and other fire beasts." Literally, it's like The Running of The Bulls only with fire. At first, we couldn't understand why many of the spectators had their faces covered... but by time the faux beasts ran by us, we realized it was to protect themselves from burning. Spain is not a litigious society - they allow anything here! After Correfoc and a few hours spent drinking beer and waiting out the rain, we made our way to Parc del Forum for BAM (Barcelona Accio Musical), a huge live music and DJ event held in conjunction with La Merce... even MTV Espana was there! There was a wide range of musical acts (including Juan Atkins, which I didn't realize until afterward!) and a monster carnival with all sorts of fun rides and games. We hung out there for 4-5 hours, watched the crowd build to many thousand, took our turn on the biggest rides in the park and then finally made our way home.
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