NOW that the Fallas fiesta is getting under way in the Valencia region, those who are some distance from the action can send their friends fireworks and firecrackers via WhatsApp.
A new mobile phone App, iPetardo, lets users send mascletaes - strings of firecrackers let off in one go - as well as rockets and bangers via the free-to-use text-messaging network.
Creator Luis López of Leynet Consultants, a Valencia-based solicitors' firm, says the App was designed to allow those who are not within ear-drum-splitting distance of the traditional mascletaes to join in.
Several friends via messaging groups on WhatsApp can experience the sounds of the Fallas in one go if they let them off all at once while they are all online together, López reveals.
The App also has several practical purposes, says the solicitor.
Firstly, it lets young children set off fireworks without any risk to their safety - currently, there is no lower age limit for using these in the street - and secondly, it helps cure people's fear of firecrackers and fireworks, especially children and the elderly who may find the noise level during the fiestas disturbing.
"Kids and adults who are in hospital, or away from the Valencia region, can still join in the fiestas using WhatsApp," Luis López explains.
