Feria del Caballo

The sky was pink behind ornate lacy structures that I walked under for a distance. I should have caught the 8:48 train back to Sevilla, but Yoshimi came to meet us and we had to have some deep fried, chocolate filled and sugar sprinkled things. There were a few large drops of rain, just as I was leaving the dustbowl that is the Feria grounds.

I get the Feria now. It is about horses. Sure, there are a lot of ruffles, there is dancing Sevillanas, and there are rebujitos (sherry mixed with something that gets you drunk fast). Indeed the Feria de Jerez is actually the "Feria de Caballo", Jerez being the center of Andalucian horse breeding and equestrian training. Of course the original idea of the Feria was to show off and sell/trade horses, in Jerez anyways. The Feria in Sanlucar de la Barameda was to show off manzanilla, as that is where it is made.

I was going to make all my meals at the hostel but I couldn't help myself - I went to the old man bar down by the Teatro Falla, and ordered a cafe solo and a mollete with tomate y aceite. I can't get those in Sevilla. They are my favorite breakfast ever. I got to Keiko's house and hung out for several hours till Yumiko showed up and then Nuriko. Nuriko is impresionante; the first Japanese flamenco singer I've met, she's been singing for 10 years and makes part of her living doing it. What I don't understand is how she has managed to do this without speaking as much Spanish as the dancers that come here regularly. Anyways, whatever she's missing in language, she makes up for in personality.

When we got to the Feria grounds we were all starving and Keiko headed us towards the "tent for seniors" which was full of everyone of any age. On the way, Nuriko had to keep making sure I didn't get lost.
 

What has happened to me here has caught me off guard. There is not a lot of difference in my responses these days from the dramatic “ooohhhh, a hoooorse!!!!” that came from my section of the bench seat of the orange 1974 Ford where my family was squished in, heading out of the city.

I might have sounded annoying back then, but it wasn't all that dramatic. The sight of them pulls on my heart/soul in some way that it doesn't with most people.  None of the rest of them had to stare like I was, and just about lose the others, or keep commenting or having practically pained feelings. It is like being a dog lover and not being able to go up to dogs you see and pet, hug, and making smoochy noises at them.

The Feria consisted of rows and branches of lanes with "casetas" - places belonging to various groups, where you can go sit, dance, eat. In Jerez you can go into any one you want, I believe, whereas in Sevilla they are all private. The grounds is covered in yellow dust. (Keiko tells me it is actually made with or of chemicals and that after several days at the Feria people start having headaches and whatnot.) The Feria consists of a massive parade in all directions, of horses. About half are horse teams pulling carriages of all types, all old and beautifully kept up or refinished, the other half are just single horses and riders. The riders are mostly men but there are women and little kids too. 

The horses in Sevilla are beautiful. The ones at the Feria in Jerez even more so. They are extremely spirited, even though well trained. They really do look like they are nearly dancing. One guy's horse did a lot of prancing sideways and almost reared. Even one or two that were attached to carriages were getting slightly out of control.

Everywhere is also a grand parade of women in unbelievably fancy dresses with huge combs in their hair and a huge rose right on the top of their head. Women of ALL ages dress like this, including the wrinkled old ones who at home don't dare to dress up like that any more (okay, nobody dares to dress like this). The youngest had her ruffles and a soother sticking out of her mouth. The men's riding suits are quite formal. All of the men riding wear a tilted, wide brimmed and flat topped hat. Some of the men accompanying stunningly dressed women are wearing suits and others wear jeans. 

We ate serranitos (sandwiches with grilled pork, jamon and a grilled pepper) and tortilla and had beer, then went to another caseta and got rebujitos and danced Sevillanas. The caseta started to fill up just after we came, and a large group of guys came in and danced up a storm with each other, and tried to impress Yumiko and gave her carnations (which everyone was buying from ladies hawking them). There were several more tents and more dancing after the girls left and Yoshimi joined us.