This weekend in Mallorca, you could either go to a snail race or a Grand Prix of horse trotting, all depending on your mood, your need for speed, or your stomach.

The pueblo of Sant Jordi in the farther outskirts of Palma, near S’Aranjassa, will today and tomorrow stage a Fira del Caragol (Snail Festival). There will be snail races, dances, a slingshot competition, a cooking contest with snails, a snail sale, a cooking contest of dishes made with snails, and plenty more than you could ever think of with the theme of snails.

In Palma’s Hipòdrom Son Pardo, on the other hand, the 77th Gran Premi Nacional de Trot will be staged, also today and tomorrow. Apart from the speed of the two races, the difference between the two events will probably be that the snails will be eaten irrespective of the outcome of their competition. I believe that last year, some 200 kilogrammes of snails were dished out in Sant Jordi. The horses, one should hope, will survive.

The photo was taken in Felanitx, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: May 14th, 2010. The time was 12:03:45.