Had a little play around with a new program I downloaded the other day... turned a photograph of a dandelion clock into the above sphere... would look great as a poster wouldn't it?
Today I went to a friends funeral, here in AlhaurÃn, he was too young, taken too early... He had a great many friends, and the church reflected that.... When you live far from your home of birth and so many of our friends and family are 'over there' some funerals are lonely sad places with only a few new friends or acquaintances... This one was full of the life of our friend, sad but full of good memories and color... he wanted people to wear the colors of our town; pale blue, purple or green... and most people did....
I had to go on my own, Franco had a previous appointment, we met up afterwards and had lunch in town, where can you get a plate of fresh hake and fries, a burger with fries and salad, a basket of bread and two coffees for €9.50? Arh yes, Bar Cruz!
Some photographs from the Feria! Above, a ram crashing into the crowd near us! Looks a bit scary actually... and the little babe in arms was scared, from then on in!
A giant chicken, you would not want in a basket later with fries!! Luckily the American Indian nearby kept us safe from him!
Lots of fun giants, the larger ones run by men in machines underneath.... turning the giants this way and that, dipping and diving into the crowds, the King and Queen at the lead.... the Queen had the hairiest legs and trainers on... for comfort probably!
Wednesday night we went into town and there was no where to sit at all at Bars Cruz or Rosa, so Franco and I took a seat at the little bar on the corner on the other side of the street, we were the only ones... to start with! Watching people hanging over tables and standing like vultures for a table to free up at the other two... It really wasn't going to happen, because for the next three to four hours everything was happening at the Cruz roundabout!
One by one people came over and took the tables near us, our friends came over, they didn't see us and had gone to an inside table over the road, I ran over and got them! This little corner bar has recently been taken over by new people and the food smelled lovely, after the parade had finished, we ate, must have been about 10pm, not a great time to eat but we were so hungry...
Not only were there the giants, there were the bands, and a train!! The train took people to and from the feria ground, it was strange seeing one here, it was like the ones down on the coast we are used to seeing, down on the coast!!
The lights over the streets hadn't come on and about 10:30pm a cherry picker came along and a man tinkered with the electrics over by the bars and voila! We had lights!
On Friday day we ventured back into town again... Met up with friends down on the lower road; our town was alive and kicking! All the bars had their bars outside in the streets, nothing went up in price, the food was cheap, the cars gone, and we were all on the streets, everyone happy, laughing, dancing to the music coming from different bars and DJ's... This is the best time in the town, and even with all the people, all so close, you don't see any drunks, don't feel any danger or worry about who might be bumping into you and why.... you feel safe and the whole town feels happy and is buzzing!
Its such a great atmosphere, we had a couple of drinks in two different bars, and then went up and sat at Plaza Baja... there was a mariachi band outside of the purple church, a boat full of hot coals with sardines cooking... from the very young to older girls in flamenco dress' everywhere.... One poor girl was too hot in her dress and her mom was kneeling on the ground with a fan... trying to cool her down from the ankles up!!! lol... so no photograph for that but you can imagine I'm sure!!
We went from there down into the town, Bar Rosa and then to a small bar near the Correo, the post office, and finally a Dutch bar right up the far end of town, everywhere, every street, every table chair and piece of pavement was full with happy smiling dancing people, of all ages and all countries, wonderful, beautiful...
TTFN
Marian
