Orgullo 2011 en Madrid – The Lesmadrid Party

A promise is a promise so I’m back with infos about the 2011’s Orgullo (Pride) Gay from Madrid. This year, the parade was obstructed by some restrictions regarding the noise in Chueca neighborhood so the street music concerts and dj’s performances were all affected. The proposal was that all the people to wear headphones, but you can imagine what frustrating was not to be able to talk to your friends or to hear people whistling or shouting… so, no atmosphere at all. I can listen music at home too, I can even dance at home, but of course what makes a concert special is the atmosphere, the link between the band/dj and the public. A total mess, I hope this will be a lesson for the next years manifestations.

Otherwise, it was a wonderful ambient on Chueca’s streets all the past week (especially for the weekend, starting with Thursday), a lot of people wearing imaginative and sexy costumes and make-ups in a 0% tolerance for the intolerance. Haha, how did I wrote it 🙂 The 2nd July’s parade started at 6 PM (with a quarter hour delay) with some fireworks in a very hot atmosphere on the Puerta Alcala, following to Plaza Cibeles, then to Gran Via, Callao and finalizing its journey in Plaza España where there was one of the concert stages. Imagine 2 kilometers of wide boulevard massively compacted with people dancing, shouting and enjoying the Orgullo, despite the hot temperature of the Spanish capital. But, then, all this people went to bars, clubs or street stages to continue the party. Because I love the lesbian clubs atmosphere, I went with my lovely girl into Paddock, a chic club from Paseo Recoletos to continue the fun as the party here was set up by Lesmadrid, an organization made out of lesbian clubs and bars Truco, Escape and Fulanita de Tal. We enjoy very much the music, the design of the club, even the drinks, the only (for us) problem was with the ventilation that doesn’t worked and, as I love to dance, it made me sweat all the time. The good thing is that my makeup survived, the bad thing is that my love asked me to leave before the ending of the party.

Putting all together, it was a good Orgullo this year, but with some issues (that I hope the next year will be solved), so I think it was a little better last year. This should be a lesson for the next editions. But enough talking, let’s see some photos (I know you fervently wish). Click on them to see the full size.

So, what do you think about my head accessories ? Hehehe, I hope you like them

San Isidro – The Parade of Giants and Big Heads

San Isidro is the patron saint of Madrid and the public holiday. A range of varied events take place from the Friday before 15th when the Mayor’s speech begins proceedings and continue until the following Sunday when there is the cooking of an enormous cocido madrileño (Madrid’s most traditional dish, a soup with vegetables and meat). On the day of May 15th many madrileños dressed in traditional gear head for Plaza Mayor where there is traditional dancing and open air concerts. Casa de Campo, the large park to the south west of the centre hosts rock concerts during the fiestas and there are varied events throughout the city.

Around the streets of central Madrid you’ll see organ grinders (barquilleros) in their San Isidro costumes selling traditional sweet snacks called “barquillos“. Although San Isidro was historically a religious celebration of the generosity of San Isidro (a poor farmer) and his wife, Santa Maria de la Cabeza, in giving food to the poor, it is now a excuse for great festivities. This turnaround has been the case in most national festivals. ¡¡Viva España!!

Please excuse the poor quality of the pictures, I hadn’t the camera with me so I used my…phone to capture this event (“The Parade of Giants and Big Heads”)…

20 degrees Celsius

Everything that starts has an end. So does the bad weather (rain, wind) in Madrid. Yesterday were 20 degrees Celsius for the daytime and 14-15 for the night (at the time when the pictures were taken, around 10 P.M.) so it was a splendid day to walk and I took advantage of this. I went “a little” to La Gavia Centro Comercial, 27 metro stations one way – nice trip, isn’t it ? – to find some wedges (I didn’t) and then some walking downtown (with picky visits to some tiendas). But the shooting time arrived at the evening, after 2 hours of walking (you can easily understand my frustration due to the bad weather). I’m not proud for the quality of the picture, but I promise, I really promise to  shoot next set on daytime. I have in my mind a nice trip into a park or even further, out of Madrid. But let’s see what’s going on this weekend. My beloved photographer got cold, I hope she’ll be fine soon. I promise her a nice cup of coffee and a croissant (let’s be french for a day!), on my expense! 🙂 What about your weekend plans ? Would you include me too ? 😛

Click on the pictures to see full details.