Viene LA FERIA

=Here comes the fair

April 24, 2006 marked the beginning of one of the craziest, busiest, and most fun week I´ve had since coming abroad. Henceforth it has taken me a week to write my blogs. But now I am back in Sevilla and back in action. So let´s begin describing the first day of one of the best weeks of my life.

I woke up, worked online, ate lunch just Maruja and me since Stacey was running around town buying stuff for the next day when her boyfriend would come to visit (I honestly can´t remember what we ate; so much has happened that food memories have been completely wiped out), then María del Mar came home (she had gone home to Cádiz for the weekend) and then finally at around 5 I got off of my lazy ass and went to the gym. When I got there Mtv was playing music videos so Román and I did a little dance together. I love Román! I asked him if he was going to Feria that night because the Feria would officially begin at midnight that night. Let me quickly describe Feria again; it´s a week-long Sevillano party which involves everyone getting dressed up, a lot of eating, a lot of drinking, a lot of dancing, and more. I had yet to see and couldn´t wait to see what all of the hype was about. Plus, Feria was to take place right in los Remedios, literally down the street from my apartment! All week I had seen the tents being set up and such. So exciting. Román said that he would be there getting drunk and dancing and I told him that I hoped to run into him. Román always talks about beer. Once at the gym, perhaps it was that Monday, he had a long convo with some guys about the best way to drink Cruzcampo. Ohhhh Román. I got a really good workout in, then went home and showered. Stacey came home with lots of goodies and such and she was in good spirits--very excited for Ryan (the boyfriend) to come up. Stacey had told Maruja that she wouldn´t eat at home that night, but she hadn´t reiterated with a note and wasn´t sure if there would be food prepared for her or not. She wanted to eat at home, and was happy to find a huuuuuge Spanish tortilla and a plate and silverware laid out for her. However, she was not happy about the gazpacho appetizer. Nevertheless, I was. I love Maruja´s gazpacho, and the Spanish tortilla was amaaaaaazing. For dessert we had fruit salad, I believe, or maybe it was a pear, I´m not sure. During dinner everyone was in a great mood because of Feria. I was telling María del Mar about how I was sad that I didn´t have a traje gitano (flamenco dress) to wear to Feria...just a rose. That night, at midnight, was the big Feria lighting ceremony (where they turn on all of the Feria lights and it officially commences), and María del Mar told me to dress in all black and wear my red rose. Yes! I was so in. You all know how much I love dressing up. After dinner I went out to the balcony to shake out the table clothe as per usual, and was blown away by the exorbitant amount of people on the street migrating towards Feria...I mean, on my street! I felt like it was football Saturday in Ann Arbor and I lived on South State or Hoover. Craziness! Seeing all of those people made me so excited! I hastened to get dressed: I wore black dress pants, a black shirt and sweater, put my hair in a tight bun, wore the rose, red lipstick, silver Spanish-looking earrings, and silver shoes. Perfect. Stacey and I made plans to meet up with everyone in front of the Puerta Principal--the main arched entrance to Feria. At midnight it would be brilliantly illuminated. Stacey and I walked the short 5 minutes to the Puerta to be caught up in a huge bustle of people. All around were people chatting, drinking, and dancing bailes sevillanos (traditional Sevillano dances that are danced all throughout Feria). It was packed...it felt like Times Square on New Year´s Eve. A news reporter showed up and started doing interviews and I was in perfect view in the background of one of them. I got on TV, yayyy!!! Easily amused? Yes, I´d say so. For the last moments of 11:59 the crowd started to count down from 10...just like on New Years. It was so exciting! Then, at midnight, the Puerta lit up, followed by the rest of the lights within Feria. Everyone cheered wildly. It was amazing! After countless photos, people shuffled through the Puerta Principal to begin Feria 2006. Stacey and I hung out outside botelloning and waiting for Jessica, Courtney, Scott, and Melissa. It took a bit of time, especially due to some miscommunication with Jessica (she ended up at Cadillac instead of the Puerta...long story). But finally we all met up, surprisingly in the huge crowd, and entered Feria. Feria was so cool--hundreds upon hundreds of tents colorfully decorated full of people dancing and drinking and socializing and laughing. It was Spain to the max. Let me explain the whole tent thing: they´re called "casetas" and most of them are rented out by families and clubs and you have to be invited into them. In the casetas are full tapas bars, some with live music, some recorded, and everyone eats typical Spanish tapas (especially pescadito frito--little fried fish), drinks manzanilla (a sherry-like wine made exclusively in Andalucía) and rebujito (manzanilla mixed with Sprite or 7up), and dances bailes sevillanos. They´re also guarded so that only those that are invited may enter. However, there are a good number of large public tents. There are also a bunch of fun kiosks selling many sweets and drinks, and men dressed up riding around on horses decorated with colorful clothes and bells. These men are typically drunk and drink rebujito consistently. On the farthest edge of the Feria is a huge carnival for the kids with any carnival ride one could ask for. Also, many street performers and venders walk the streets. We wandered basically taking in the sights of Feria...I mean, this was exactly how I had imagined Spain would be! So lively and colorful. A great time. While wandering we did a bit of drinking, I´ll admit it, but it´s all in the Feria spirit. Soon we found a public caseta with a large stage and lots of people dancing the bailes sevillanos. I was determined, from that point on, to learn the bailes sevillanos. They´re very gypsy meets cha-cha meets tango meets flamenco. Very intriguing. We ordered some beers and found a seat and watched the bailes. Soon the stage cleared out and, lo and behold, a group of drag queens walk on stage! I had come to the right tent. They did bailes sevillanos and lip-synched traditional Spanish music. Even sang some songs. The whole event was led by this drunk, raspy voiced, bulky drag queen whose name we learned was Esmeralda. I guess that we had wandered into the Esmeralda tent. Esmeralda, we learned later, had been around for awhile, even during the Franco years performing her drag shows. Well, Franco was greatly opposed to Esmeralda, but she kept on fighting and never gave up on her shows. Now she had her own caseta with her friends to back her up. It was awesome! They all wore the intense, fancy flamenco dresses that the women wear, and danced the female parts of the bailes sevillanos. Some men even came up and danced with them. It was awesome, and I was happier than happy. Oh wow. I was loving Feria so far. We hung out there for 2 Esmeralda shows and finally left around 2 or 3. It was so much fun! I was loving Feria already and could not wait to see what the next few days would bring!