1. Hiking (pronounced hee-keeng) through the sierras was really amazing because I got to see a totally different aspect of Spanish life. It was a strange experience because I had been in the center of the city for about two months, and I had almost forgotten what it was like to be out in the tranquility and solitude of nature. It was a morning hike so it was rather chilly, but the air was so fresh that it didn't matter. Tiny little farms spotted the hillsides, and every type of farm animal grazed freely on the pasture. All in all, it was a beautiful morning.
2. Flamenco is currently one of my favorite things, and it's suprising because I had a bad experience with flamenco classes when I was 15. Thank goodness the flamenco in Spain is nothing like the flamenco they try to teach in America--we're to rigid and uptight to really appreciate flamenco the way this older coulple is appreciating it...
Anyway, the night after the hike, a couple of my friends and I went to Triana (which is actually the city where flamenco originated), and found this little whole-in-the-wall kind of bar with people lined up around the block to get in. We figured we had better check it out if it was that popular, and it turns out that it was so much more than worth it. There were about 200 people crammed into the bar, and, out of all of them, only 4 of us were American. This place was owned by a woman who reminded me of the Spanish version of Paula Dean... so obviously much better. She was short and chubby and loud and boisterous, and she didn't charged an entrance fee, but she made sure that everyone in that whole place had something to drink. Then the music started. I used to stereotype flamenco music as being harsh and dissonant, but the songs I heard were beautiful even though they spoke mostly of the pain of lost love. Oddly, most of them were upbeat, and the whole crowd almost always sang and clapped along. The best part was the dancing--of course. But the reason it was so great was because the people from the audience were the one's to get up and dance. It didn't even feel like a performance; it felt like a big family get-together where your quirky Aunt Mildred and your crazy Uncle Fred dance togther and the rest of the family joins along in the merry-making. For the first time, I genuinely felt like I was experiencing another culture, and it was beautiful.
1 comment:
"it felt like a big family get-together where your quirky Aunt Mildred and your crazy Uncle Fred dance togther and the rest of the family joins along in the merry-making."
hahaha i LOVE this.
you MUST teach me everything you've learned!!!!! I WANT TO FLAMENCO!!!!
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