By Maggie Lancaster

Just when I got comfortable and familiar with Alicante again, we were off to a new place. We didn’t stay in Alicante very long. We were only there for two nights. Despite missing Alicante, I am very glad to gain another bathroom in our AirBNB.

The start of the day wasn’t terribly early. We tried to leave at 9 am and ended up leaving much closer to 10. Thankfully, it was a much shorter drive to Valencia than it had been to Alicante (only 2 and a half hours instead of 4 and a half). We also had stops planned along the way this time.

Our first stop was a bust. We tried to go to Cañón del Mascarat, but sadly there was no parking, and instead of getting to explore, we got a close-up view from our rental cars on the road. The second park visit, however, was a very successful venture. I would call it a very successful venture, in fact, because we got to see flamingos.

Seeing flamingos might not have been the original purpose of the visit to Parque Natural de la Albufera, but I am most definitely glad that it happened. Going to Parque Natural de la Albufera was originally intended to be our introduction into the culture behind and important products in Valencia. Mrs Kiland and Mr Robb did their best to lead us to rice fields contained within the park (that we ultimately ended up not being able to find.) Since paella (a dish made up of a lot of rice and some mix of vegetables, meat, and seafood) relies on rice as its base ingredient, rice is very important to the Valencian culture. In fact, it is even showcased in some of the ninots, or the statues made to burn in the festival of Fallas.

However, despite the promises of rice fields, I was more focused on the flamingos. I was hypnotized, really. I haven’t seen flamingos since I was much younger in a situation that I consider to be one my core memories. One thing was odd to me, though. Unlike most flamingos I have seen in the past, these flamingos were white.

I do understand that the pink color in flamingos comes from the shrimp that they eat. The logical conclusion would be that these flamingos are white because they are not eating as many shrimp as the typical flamingo you might see in a zoo would. Despite knowing this, however, seeing white flamingos was still shocking to me. It did make me think, though.

Sometimes I feel like a white flamingo. I feel like I don’t quite fit in, or I don’t exactly fit the normal standard. I am not a pink flamingo. However, that is okay. After seeing the flock of white flamingos, I realized that they have a place, too. I have a bunch of friends and family and cats who I love dearly and who love me too. While it may have been a very small part of a much larger journey, seeing the flamingos in the park helped to realize that it is okay to be a white flamingo in a world full of pink ones, because eventually, you will find your flock, as well.