To sleep, or to hang about eating and drinking...

Listening to Paquete and Duquende relentlessly again. This particular piece of music is like Kim-drugs.
Have already eaten a huge number of aceitunas. And white bread.
Got up at 8 am this morning. Sat around till 1 pm doing nothing. Then went shopping at Dona Aceituna ("Mrs. Olive" as I understand it). I was in a daze not quite realising where I was. Then I passed the shop full of only olives - all in open jars, to be tasted - and I suddenly came to and realised I am in Sevilla, in Espana! And I was kind of overjoyed.

Que fantastico sitio no hay better place en todo el mundo. I do actually need my sweater, light jacket and boots, but it is completely comfortable to sit outside and everyone was doing so this afternoon, if they weren't already snoozing. How can you beat these two options for a weekday afternoon: sleeping or hanging out with people in a little alleyway drinking a little bit of beer and eating a little bite? I was quite sleepy but I sat down at a high table and ordered a coffee and then something I'd never tried before: flamenquin (something like that) con cheddar y canela. If I'd had such an intro to Spanish food last time, I may not have pronounced it all bad. It was just a morsel, but a beautifully presented one: ham with cheddar and cinnamon inside it, breaded and fried to melt the cheese, with lovely stuff all around and beside it.

I lazily crossed the bridge but saw some sort of Calle de Cristoforo Colon (think that's the Italian name sorry) with tons of cars on it which was kind of a shock, so I stood by the river on that side for a few minutes and read some graffitti on a board: "Tus ojos son mi conjuro contra la mala jornada, te quiero por tu mirada...", the rest was unreadable.

Back on the quiet side of the river, I slept from 4:30 till 7:00, and then found the high-end grocery store with huge advertisings for legs of ham on the doors. I stocked up with incredible marmalade, along with some cheese and chorizo.

Like Sichuan, the previous place I chose to live for a year, Sevilla slows you down. I think this place would have a calming effect on anyone. You'd have to be disconnected to the point of being a machine, not to sense the relaxation.