Edward Cullen AKA Javier from the Spanish version of the Lexicon Crepusculo wrote up this chronicle and La Tua Cantante AKA Laura polished the translation. There are also plenty of links to pictures found here.
I’ll begin this chronicle from the previous days to the interview that Tuesday 13th we were able to do with Stephenie in the cafeteria of the Hotel where she was staying.
We decided to meet some days before to prepare the questions we wanted to ask her, trying to make them original and new in order not to repeat the ones she had answered before to her American fans.
Surrounded by delicious muffins and cups of Starbucks coffee, we prepared the complete questionnaire that we dictated to Laura (La Tua Cantante) while she translated it right on the spot to English, that’s why she wants to study translation and interpretation that I know that hahaha it must be said that she’s a professional and that she does her job quite well When we finished, we had dinner and then went home to type up the questions on the computer.
Apart from the questions for Stephenie, the previous week to the Crepusculo week, we met with Mayte (from La Casa del Libro) and María (from Alfaguara) to organize the games for the party that was going to be celebrated on Friday 16th: chose the words for the pictionary, saw which words were the most appropriate for the tabu, prepared the questions for the trivia, the hours when Stephenie would come, what would be the prizes, that is EVERYTHING
Some days after the interview with Stephenie took place. It must be said that since the very moment she arrived, she went from interview to interview mornings and afternoons, answering to all the questions the journalists asked her (both TV and written press).
On Tuesday 13th we met two hours before the interview to organize for the last time the questionnaire and divide the questions that each of us was going to ask. We had talked to Imogen, (one of the administrators of the Lexicon, that came all the way from England to meet Stephenie) so she could come with us to interview Stephenie. At 11 o’clock (and after having gone to “El Corte Ingles” to buy batteries and a tape for the recorder) I arrived to the Starbucks where I met with Laura (La Tua Cantante) Clara (Marion in crepusculo-es), Carlota (Bella in crep…), Keko (John Proctor in crep…) and Imogen.
Again while having some coffee; we finished the last details like “how do you say this in English?” Or “ok I m making this question, I think it’s very funny”
At 12:30, we left Starbucks to meet Stephenie.
We arrived at 1:00, only a couple of minutes before her and Maria, who was accompanying her. Sincerely, my first reaction was “Oh my gosh… she’s here, I can t believe it shall I give her two kisses? The hand? A hug? Do I jump and begin to scream like a hysterical fan??? All of this in just a couple of seconds, but it was her who approached, asked for our names and when she recognized me, we shook hands and she said she was pleased to meet me, and then she did the same with the rest.
During the interview, we passed from the most nervous situation, to the most relaxed in which we laughed, she told us anecdotes and we would laugh a lot…. until she had to leave for lunch because she had an interview with the radio after.
We went to eat to a restaurant in La Gran Vía, to buy the t-shirt for Friday and home, but that same afternoon we had to suffer desperately because she wouldn’t appear on the radio at the hour everyone thought she would, we had to listen to the whole program, we’ll have to wait till Monday.
The next day (Wednesday 14th) we met with the group of fans from crepúsculo-es in “la Plaza Callao” in order to go together to la FNAC where Stephenie would sign the books. When we arrived the queue was huge (we’re sorry guys..) but we had a great time laughing and making photos and watching the pedestrians stop and ask what was happening there or who was Stephenie Meyer (uncultivated ha-ha) Some of them would even go to the shop, where they would buy the books and wait patently in the queue in order to get their books signed too. There came people from all of Spain ¡That’s what being a good fan means!
When we got in, they gave us apples and roses and to those who didn’t know English, they would give them earphones where they could listen to a translator telling them what Stephenie was saying. Thanks to María, the webmasters of crepusculo-es and some other lucky ones were able to be on the first row ^^. The presentation was really funny and the questions the fans asked were very interesting. After that, Stephenie signed the books she was given and posing for zillions of photos.
Some of us stayed till the end and apart from answering Lucia’s questions (one of Alfaguara’s editor) about the web, we were able to take some more photos with Stephenie now with not so many people as before, and we were able too to arrange a meeting for the following day and show her a little bit of how Madrid looks like
On Thursday 15th we met with Stephenie and Elisabeth (her publicist) at the Retiro’s main gate, just in front of La Puerta de Alcala, where we began our promenade. While we walked, we told her the little we know about the park (at the beginning there was just Clara and I. Luckily she was there and she knew a little bit more, because Stephenie and I decided that the statue that was in front of the lake with the boats was king Arthur with Excalibur hahaha) it was really, really funny, we decided too that there were mermaids under the waters that would only go out from time to time and that the anchor next to the lake belonged to an antique ship that that ran aground when the tie came down Look Madrid on a map and you’ll how crazy we went with our deductions.
A while after, Elisabeth had to leave because she didn’t t feel well and Laura united us. The four of us (Stephenie, Laura, Clara and me) we continued our promenade towards the Crystal palace that made us think it would be a perfect place to shoot the crepsuculo trailer: the Cullen mansion, a pity they wouldn’t t let us take photos while being inside. Then we crossed to the other side of the lake, where there were the statues of the mermaids, place where we took loads of photos with them and with other statues.
Our next destiny was the statue of the artichoke and then the Fallen Angel’s one. Along the way we didn’t t stop talking about Disney about the soundtracks, books, about Orson Scott Card (Hurray for the Orsonists!!!) and about Jane Austen (here I stood aside as I don t like it very much, sorry girls 😛 And then Carlota arrived (our salvation as a touristy guide, but it is to be said that Clara and Laura did it rather well and much more compared to my explanations, there is no doubt about that, if not, ask Stephenie lol.
When we were the five of us, we went to the subway to take Stephenie to the opera so she could see it along with the Royal Palace, she was really impressed by its beauty. She told us we were really lucky to live in a city like this, and she told us that she’d come one day with Pancho and her children ( we ll be waiting for you!!) From there we went to the Madrid de los Austrias where we showed her la Plaza Mayor, and there we got some water ( we were so thirsty!) and we showed Stephenie a recording of ourselves so she could listen to what we do when we are bored lol! And we continued in our way to Sol, Callao and the Gran Vía again. Once there, before leaving Stephenie healthy and safe in her hotel, we took a photo in front of the shop window of La Casa del Libro where you could see her book in a very beautiful arrangement (a very kind man took it and then congratulated Stephenie when we told him she was the author ^^)
The most awaited day, the day of the party in La Casa del Libro, began with a little bit of stress when we found ourselves without some of the most important things we needed for the games: a dice for the trivial, blue tack for the cards for the trivial and some more words for the tabu. But as we always do, the managed to solve it before the beginning.
Half of the groups came with me and Angela to play the Crepusculo tabu, while the other half stayed with Carlota and Clara to play pictionary. Sincerely I had a great great time watching how the groups tried to guess the words, some of them would get stressed and remained white staring at their companions with their eyes shouting “guess it at once!” like any of those present could read their mind like Edward lol…
When we finished, and to untie an inexistent tie, the two winning groups had to do a race carrying an apple between their heads, it was funny to see them move over there doing wonders in order not to let the apple fall.
The two winning groups (2 from the tabu and other 2 from the pictionary) fighted against each other to be the winning group. I stayed with the rest to talk about the typical topics that we all worry about : how will the series end? Will Bella ever become a vampire? And it must be known that I was able not to say a single spoiler from New Moon, not a single one. We played with all the suppositions you all made
A while after, and after finishing the trivial, Stephenie arrived. We gave the prizes to the winners ( a box with New Moon, a T shirt and a poster) and then Stephenie began to sign one by one all the books the fans had brought. There were a lot of people there, and the queue ascended over the stairs. An hour later it was finished and the Crepusculo-es team approached to have our books signed and to give her our own souvenirs: an apple with the nicknames of the 80 top users on the crepusculo-es forum, a picture of the managers of the web disguised as vampires, the DVD of High School Musical (this has a story ha-ha) and a T shirt. The director of La Casa del libro gave her a bottle of wine and a bouquet of flowers. Then the farewell hour came and to get in our way to go to the dinner Alfaguara gave to three fans.
Along the way, we stopped in el Corte Ingles where Stephenie asked the salesmen how the sales were going. The restaurant where we went after was inside the hotel Bauza, Goya street, and the table was arranged in a spectacular way. A while after, the lucky fans that won the contest arrived and then we began the dinner. The food was delicious, but there were some courses “nouvelle cuisine” like that we didn’t t dare to taste (above all Stephenie ha-ha) but the rest was absolutely delicious: jam, pâté, cheese… and as second course fish during the dinner we talked about a thousand things always among laughter and we learned English some, and the other Spanish, mythical was the story of “estoy caliente” (I’m hot) that has been forbidden to tell, sorry, maybe another time lol!
Then they brought us the dessert menu and most of us chose the lemon cake, with which we had some funny problems: the exterior cookie was as hard as stone and you almost had to use a hammer to be able to divide it ( you could see that Stephenie after so many writing had her wrist string because she was the only one able to cut it without any problem ha-ha, the rest of us had to use almost both hands to divide it into pieces, I asked to help me with mine, but she told me I had to do it alone.
When we finished our dinner, we got out and said our farewells to Stephenie and Elisabeth among some tears and a lot of sadness we hope she comes back soon, we ll miss her a lot.
Although I ve said this before, I wanted to thank Alfaguara for how good the dinner was and the opportunity they gave the fans to get to know the how wonderful it is the sensation to hear Stephenie behind a micro or in a table signing so all those books.
My best regards, Javier
PS: From the shadows, Elisabeth(Stephenie’s publicist) is an amazing woman, you can’t stop laughing with her.
PS2: Stephenie almost became blind because of all the flashes she had to stand.
[And now the last note of the translator, who’s going to make a shorter chronicle than the one before translated: I think I speak for all of us when I say it has been one of the most special and wonderful experiences of my life , to meet you, Stephenie (and Elisabeth too), because of your kindness and how warm you are, you have the ability to fill us with happiness with your jokes and laughter, both of you are light, and for a week, Spain has had ever more light than usual, thanks for coming and I really hope you come back someday, we ll be waiting for you with our arms open]
(And to all of those who have read aaall of this, you really deserve a prize)
Follow Us!