The girls get to wear the prettiest dresses, the boys looking smart in their suits. I just love people-watching during Feria (EN: Fair; NL: Kermis) I stopped loving Feria in my country since I was 14 and at that time it was the 'cool' thing to just stand at the bumbercars, riding them once in a while. Turns out that never changes, neither here in Spain.
They split Feria up in two parts; one for the grown-ups, the other for the youth. The youth is mainly at the fairrides, and so is grandmother and their grandchildren. However the grown-up part isn't shy of having their fair share of grandma's and kids too. We all hang out in big plastic stands called "caseta's", standing shoulder to shoulder, and each with their own name or number. Usually colorfully designed with red and white stripes.
In Sevilla, each familia or group of amigo's have their caseta rented, so you are assured of a spot to hang out in. Their is a bar, loads of uncomfortable tables and chairs and a podium where the dancing and performing happens. The floor is mud or sand if your lucky which btw ruined the bottom of my dress -thank you very much-!
And really all you do is hang out, eat, drink, dance and converse. It's just a great excuse to go crazy, I guess.
I had the best time, we were so fortunate to stay at a friends house, that only lived a metro-ride away from the Feria, but since the WHOLE of Spain decided to go, ended up more in taxi's than the subway. Gosh, I never saw people getting so crazy, not even in NYC, so you can imagen. There was just no room to fit everybody in, but still we stopped at every stop and people yelling there was just no room for more travellers. Aahh the horror!
Feria is like Disney World (I even saw something that resembled Winnie the Pooh!) and you are in a magical place, just ignoring the real world for a few days. No wonder everyone wants to come! I just loved wearing my wonderful dress, that happened to be incredible heavy and the ruffles hurting my shins while walking, but it was worth it. You feel like you are contributing to the magic.
The magic also included that my American friend Paige -who came back for the event- and I got so happy with our Rebujito, a mix drink of Manzanilla (applewine) and Sprite, that we got seperated from the group. My boyfriend Miguel came to find me, got very angry about this, me not understanding the big deal. Things ofcourse worked out quickly, because we were drunk and your personality changes with it. Other things like our friend Jaime falling down the subway stairs, breaking his shoe and him not remembering it with, but being angry that his shoe fell apart for no reason.
Paige got kinda lost on the last day, running off with our friend Saber, and Miguel and I waiting for her, catching a cold. We found her again, being semi-annoyed with the semi-abduction and we all got to go home again. I think there was even some falling to the floor involved and misterious bruises showing up the day after.
Just the usual.
But that's what I love of having friends and doing stuff together. You get to experience so much; you laugh, you cry, you get over it. These are the memories you will never forget. And when you are 80, you won't ever regret these great times you had. The only regrets you will have is the things you never got to do.
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