Farm to Seville July 10

Sorry for the long pause! Trying to blog with my Ipad is not working out the way I had hoped. I have to write the blog, and then find an internet cafe in order to insert pictures and video where I want them…. Argh.

We capped off our time at the farm with a big 4th of July party. At first it felt strange to be celebrating 4th of July with Brits in Spain – but then Azish reminded me that we celebrate Cinco de May in America and I started to get used to the idea. Even with my new found acceptance I still couldn´t have prepared myself for this 4th of July celebration. It was already feeling surreal, but then started to feel even more like a strange dream when a van waving the confederate flag pulled up. Party time? The country music came on and cowboy hats came out. There was line dancing, paintball shooting, a pop quiz and even a costume change where two normal looking Brits were replaced by American Indians (whuh?). We had burgers, hot dogs, french fries – and my personal favorite New York style bakewell tart. I’ve never heard of bakewell tart before, but I’m a fan now! Especially with the cream mine was swimming in.

After the party we spent the next day cleaning up, and finally made it to the fountain/pond in the village. Much bigger than the stream we dipped our feet in, and freezing cold!!

Followed that up with a stop in the village for lunch. By this point it has become a kind of tradition for us to go looking for lunch during siesta when the village closes up. We settled in for bocadillo, olives and beer at a bar in the square where it was practically empty except for our party of 3. By about 5pm a single old man shuffled out and sat at the table next to us. He seemed like he might be half asleep as he sat there and stared off into the distance while sucking his teeth. We were fully relaxed by this point and silently smiled as we looked him over and then stared off into the distance ourselves. We were sitting like that for a while I’m sure when the sound of sucking teeth somehow seemed to multiply. I looked over at the old man who was still in a trance, and sucking away exactly as he was the last time I looked at him. Then I looked over at Azish and Zach who had somehow transformed into old men in training as they stared trance-like at the mountains and sucked away on olive pits….. That broke the spell and we started laughing and talking again. Then another old man emerged and sat down at the table with the first one and had a coffee. Then from a different door another old man came out, and another and another. By about 5:30 there must have been a dozen old men sitting next to us having coffee. You could tell this was probably their daily ritual and we had interrupted, but they barely seemed to notice. I wish I had taken a picture, but didn’t want to be disrespectful….

The next day we said our goodbyes and headed out for Alicante before we left for Seville. Alicante Chocolate factory!

We got to Seville Saturday and have spent most of our time wandering around, eating and drinking. We are staying in the Macarena neighborhood. Yes, Macarena like the song. Our hotel is a mix of old style Spanish with beautiful tile work in the common areas and a courtyard, contrasted with contemporary hotel rooms. Strange combination, but it kind of works.

It is almost impossible not to get lost in the streets here. They are brick and super narrow. If there is a car driving through you practically have to squeeze up next to the wall. You can’t see over the buildings on either side, and there is a bar, a church and some unopened shops on almost every street so they all look almost exactly the same. Especially in the heat of the day when you’re starting to lose your grip on reality a bit anyway. I totally understand siestas now. Come about 2 o’clock you don’t really have much of a choice – your body just starts going in slow motion until you’ve stopped completely. Hopefully you’ve made it home by then. He didn´t.

One night we went to see a Flamenco performance at the Flamenco museum. That was by far the most beautiful and “Spanish” thing I’ve seen since I’ve been here. Totally controlled, but kind of violent and passionate. I tried to take some pictures, but my camera was no match.