It was a bit brighter this morning and we could see Volcan Agua more clearly while we had our early morning coffee and bread. It was by no means a bluebird day and we were under no illusion that it would not get hazy later in the day.

There were a couple of processions today and we needed to find out the routes so we took a wander down to the Information Booth at La Merced. A children's procession was due to start at 2pm from La Merced and an adults one would be coming into town later in the afternoon.

We had been advised that the processions are always late and decided to turn up at the last minute...and we were still way too early. It's possible that everyone was watching the football on TV, Real Madrid and Barcelona were playing in the final of the Copa del Rey. There were a mass of kids dressed up in their purple robe with a white head scarf. It was chaos and we couldn't understand what was going on - some kids were heading towards the church while others were walking away.

Oddly enough, the procession started shortly after the final whistle of the football match. Dozens of purple robed boys walked ahead of the float carried by 60 boys. The band behind the float played sombre music as the float gently rocked from side to side whilst it inched slowly forward. A slightly smaller float carried by 40 girls followed closely behind with it's own band.

We went looking for 'carpets' on the route of the second procession of the day. We found a couple, one of them quite basic with just a base of pine needles and another very intricate using coloured wood shavings.

We stumbled across the restaurant La Cuevita de los Urquiza and given that processions are always late, we figured we had time for some dinner. There were dozens of clay pots filled with different meats cooked in different ways with an equal amount of side dishes. Our challenge was to pick a meat dish and two of the many sides - the easiest option was to ask the waiter and he pointed out the spicy 3 meat dish. The food was OK and one plate was plenty for us to share, but it wasn't anything special to write home about.

After dinner, we headed back towards to town centre and the procession route. The crowds were getting bigger for each new procession and it was getting difficult to get a good position to view it. The watching crowd and those actually in the procession seemed to meld into one and fill the entire street. We've been told it will just keep getting busier and the week goes on...