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[Music]
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Welcome to a Spain Poco Poco. Our very
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first one. So excited. Very excit. So
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exciting. So what did we decide to do
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first? We are going to talk about the
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Harind del Toria or the garden of the
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Toria or the Toria Gardens in Valencia.
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And as the Valencianos who live in the
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city call it the river. Oh, I'm outside
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of the city so I call it the Toria
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Gardens. Is that incorrect? Start there.
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No. No, that's correct. But it it took
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me a while when I first moved here.
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Everyone's like, "Oh, we'll meet you at
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the river." And I'm like, "What? Oh, the
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park. There's no river anymore. There's
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there's nearly a drop of water to be
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found except in a fountain." Well, and
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if we go back in history, it wasn't ever
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really a river, was it? I mean I mean,
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it's it's a river, but it wasn't, you
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know, let's go down to the river and
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like float around in it. I don't think
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it was that type of thing. They they
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weren't they weren't navigating the
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river with uh with sails and ships.
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Well, that's a good point because most
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port cities that are have a river and
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that is a big part of the port and the
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and getting things from the port of on
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the sea in land and stuff. So, if if
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Valencia didn't have that, that's
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different. Yeah. Our river is or what
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was the river was was always more of a
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rivered. It was a a waterhed. Is that
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the word that you're looking for? That
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you know when the rains come that was
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the natural riverbed that would take the
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water out to sea. Are you making me fact
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check immediately on the very first
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second of our very first PACO on what a
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waterershed is? No, I'm gonna go with
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waterershed. I'm going with the water. I
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feel like a waterershed is a larger
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area, but let's just go with that for
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now. Well, this is cuz it goes all the
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way in where it starts. It starts up in
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the Montes universalis
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where the river is where the it starts.
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And um to teruel province, that's a
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really hard um town for me to pronounce,
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I have to say. I'm sure I butchered it.
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It's a beautiful town. Um the uh the my
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daughter did a trip there from school
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and learned all sorts of amazing things
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up there and it's definitely a place
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worth visiting. So up from that area all
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the way down to the Mediterranean,
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right? So it collects all the water,
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hence the water shed all the way down.
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But by the time it makes it here, a lot
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of the water is I guess disappeared
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because um it doesn't rain a lot in
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these areas. So, but um they also would
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use in history had been using that water
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they had diverted the water as well for
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irrigation and stuff. So, that's true.
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Never had a chance. Yeah. So, there's a
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there very much was a riverbed. So, they
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would there were it was had multiple
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purposes like you could go down and
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maybe wash your clothes in a little bit
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of a stream that might have been going
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down the middle or they had it as like a
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place to to sell animals or have have
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maybe even shacks. People might have
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lived in certain areas around it. I
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mean, it was an active sort of town. It
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was part of the city life. Yeah, it was.
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I mean, I've seen pictures of it and
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it's pretty cool. You've seen like these
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horses grazing down there and and people
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kind of like living their lives in the
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riverbed and then unfortunately when it
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would rain, I think they I hope they got
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out quickly. Hope they got out. Speaking
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of which, and that was how it became a
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park, which was um a massive flood. I
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mean, that came in what year was that?
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1957 was the was the great flood of
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Valencia. October 14th, 1957. And that
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changed the course of the river.
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That was and the course of history. And
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the course of history. Yes. So what
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happened is that 81 people lost their
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lives. Tons of buildings were destroyed.
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If you see pictures from that time too,
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the whole city is underwater.
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Devastating and devastating. And so they
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wanted to divert the the river south of
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the city so this wouldn't be an issue.
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So to to be clear, it overflowed and
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flooded that part of the main part of
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the city right there. Right.
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And pretty much all of the city that was
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was a much smaller city. Yeah, that's
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true.
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And so they decided to divert it. And so
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that was in the 50s and that was
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completed in 1969. the diversion of the
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of the the of the river of the water,
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but the park was not on the drawing
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board. They wanted to originally make it
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like um a transit corridor, a
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thoroughare to like put a highway
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through and trans seems logical, right,
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to use it like that because it's like
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it's there waiting to be a road
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basically, isn't it? Yeah, exactly. But
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then I guess there was in you know
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during this time they the the community
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was fighting and they they said it was
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theirs and they wanted a green space and
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this city doesn't have a lot of green
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space. So it was a wise protest movement
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I guess and and what a beautiful green
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space it is and it runs through the
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whole city. So no matter where you live
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in the city you're and Valencia is quite
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a small city if you're you're in in
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walkingish distance to to it I would
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imagine. Yeah. Yeah. And it's a and it
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what I love about it is that it winds
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through the city. So it's accessible by
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so many neighborhoods, right? It's like
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it just it works its way through so
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you're always near it and it's really
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utilized by the city. I mean any day of
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the week it's it's busy. People are they
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are utilizing that park. Yeah. I mean
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there's a lot of um there's a lot of uh
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cultural and activities um elements
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there. You have the city of the arts and
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sciences. You have the um the
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oceanographic right there as well. Um
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museums I mean the music I think it's a
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what's the music um well there's the
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Palao music which is further up which
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isn't part of the city of arts and
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science which is like the symphony hall
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and then the city of arts and sciences
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is that whole structure that was
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designed by Kalatraa
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um that has the science museum
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oceanographic
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um the hemisphere the opera house. Yeah.
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And Santiago Calra was was a
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Valencianborn um designer and he also
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designed some of the bridges across
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Victoria. And also you have the which is
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probably the one of the most famous
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bridges I think really is the is the
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Pente de Flores which is the the um the
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bridge of flowers. That's your favorite.
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That's my favorite one. It's just so
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pretty. I see more photos of that one
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because it's so pretty. But obviously
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other ones are more architecturally
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interesting I think. Right. I mean, it's
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it is a gorgeous bridge and it's so
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beautiful to walk along with those
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thousands upon thousands of geraniums
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blooming year round. So pretty. Um, but
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my favorite bridge is I think it's Ponte
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Delmare I think is the name of it.
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That's the one. It's a walking bridge.
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So it's the one from like 1500 and
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there's these gorgeous statues on it too
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of like Mary and saints and religious
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things that I'm not really well versed
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on. So can't fact
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not my history. Now, this is a whole
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other episode if we're going to get into
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bridges, but they did design I think
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they gave so because the the the Toria
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park as I'm going to call it, the river
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is very very long. So, they gave I think
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they sort of put it cut it into sort of
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sections and gave each section to a
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different designer to build something.
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So, there's each part like there's um I
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there's place for kids. I mean, there's
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you could ride your bike all the way up
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and down it, but each section has
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different sort of elements and water
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features. And then there's Guliviver's
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Park which is great for kids. um which
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is this huge monstrosity of Golover
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laying down on the ground and you get to
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climb up like you're the liouch and it
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has and so he's kind of coming out of
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the ground kind of I mean it's really
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cool. It's got these massive slides. And
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those slides, by the way, do be careful.
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They're made is they're like they're
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like 80s metal slides, right? So, they
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get hot hot hot.
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Yes. Cuz it's also painted black and
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dark green. So, we've had some kids get
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some burns. So, if you're going to take
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your kids there, dress fully no matter
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the weather. No shorts. No shorts.
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Definitely jeans. It's a hazard, but
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it's so much fun. Just as long as you're
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dressed properly for it, so much fun.
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And so and and what I read is that it's
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like over eight kilometers long and it
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it where it kind of officially starts is
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where the biop park is which is the zoo
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of the city. My favorite place
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and that starts there and I guess the
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the sea level there is like 19 m above
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sea level and then when it gets down to
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the city of arts and sciences it's only
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1 meter above sea level. So it kind of
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for a very flat city there's there is
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there is an incline decline. There's a
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decline which so if you're going to ride
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your bike, start at the bottom and go up
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and then ride your bike down. Yeah.
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Don't do the reverse.
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Otherwise, you might find yourself at
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the arts and sciences and like I can't
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make it back. And right now the city of
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arts and sciences is the eastern
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terminus of the park, but they're
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actually extending it. So they're
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they're adding more. They want to bring
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it all the way to the port. That would
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be awesome. And I guess they want that.
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There's like 26 27 is they want like
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phase one of that done. And then there's
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a phase two which is still going through
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a lot of planning because it's it's like
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kind of reclaiming old farmland and oh I
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see dilapitated and then also kind of
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figuring out how they're going to make
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that area urbanize that area as well in
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conjunction with making the green space.
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That would be really nice because I feel
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like you know that's a it's a really
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nice place to ride your bike down.
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There's there's no cars or anything so
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you can ride your bike down. If you
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could get all the way to the water from
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there, that would be I can see how that
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would be like really really appealing.
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And there's tons of places um I mean
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I've gone down there and had picnics on
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numerous occasions. There's tons of
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green grass to sit and have picnics and
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you can I mean just watch your kids
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running around, take your dog for a
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walk, whatever. There's beautiful shaded
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areas. There's a pine forest in it.
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There's palm tree forest. There's an
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orange grove. And then there's all these
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like pools, different reflecting pools.
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And then under some of the bridges they
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have like built pools under there. So
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you kind of get the feeling of it being
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still a river, right? You get that kind
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of omi homage to homage. I was going to
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say an homage an homage to what was once
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there. Um but I think that's I mean I
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think it's pretty wonderful. Oh yeah. I
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think it's I've been there on several
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occasion and loved and and from
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different parts like popped in over here
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and down there and it's always it's
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always been like a really nice little
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getaway in the city I think.
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are I'm gonna I can just maybe end this
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little tidbit with my little fun fact.
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My introduction to the to the I'm going
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to say you're going to end this Poco
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Poco Poco Poco is going to endo o I
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don't know
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is that when we first moved here in July
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was July Fest which is a huge festival
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in July hence July festival. Yeah, fact
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check that one I did. and uh so smart.
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So there's all these activities and
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concerts around the city, but in the
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park they have the carnival which I know
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you've been to. Medieval one we've been
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to. Oh, you haven't been to the carnival
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carnival with the slides and the rides
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and the ferris wheels. I think so. Just
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the medieval one where they have the
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festival and the food and the little
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stands and things. They do a lot. No. So
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they have a carnival carnival with like
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cotton candy and haunted houses and
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bumper cars and all these things. And
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that was right when we moved here. like
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we walked around and we saw these like
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ferris wheels or some I don't know
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something that went Yeah, there was a
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ferris wheel and then some rides that I
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won't go on because it was carnival
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rides and um but so that was like we
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first moved here we moved to this
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magical place with this fair and it
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lasts all the month of July and it's a
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great way to escape the heat of the city
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and but what a great way to land and
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just feel like oh my god they threw us a
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party.
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It really was.
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Well, yeah, we went like five times and
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I've spent a lot of money for one stuff.
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Yes, but we all know how carnivals are.
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So, yeah, they do a lot there and I
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think Well, I think that pretty much
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puts a cap on on basically what we know
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about the the Toria Park or the river.
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Well, we hope you enjoyed this little
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episode and we're going to have more.
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We're going to do these every week. So,
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enjoy and we'll catch you next time.
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would. Till the next episode. Bye.
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