What a night!

I know I'm behind (again) in my posts when I just finished packing to go home and I still haven't told you about the last 2 weeks...

Tomorrow morning I'll be headed home after a wonderful and adventurous three months in Europe. I've been so busy the last two weeks visiting everyone that I've found no time to write. So I'm gonna play a bit of catch up to let you know what I've been up to.

Let's start w/ NOT being on an island and back to the mainland...

After getting back from Mallorca, I pretty much turned around, packed up my bags and headed to Cordoba. I was visiting my friend Niki and it couldn't have been better timing. Starting around the second week of May is when all the festivities start happening there and I was right on time for all of it. There's so many things to do in May in Cordoba but the one thing we were counting on doing was visiting the FERIA.

the girls heading to the feria

Now, feria literally translates to the fair...and that's what it is. A spanish fair. There are rides and food stands all filled with people BUT there is quite a difference between any fair I've gone to in the states and the ones in Spain (or at least in Cordoba)...It's pretty much a HUGE party. They have tents for everyone to go into and visit. Inside are live bands, food and LOTS of drinks. Many Spanish people dress up in their traditional outfits and dance a traditional dance from the afternoon all the way into the early morning. In case you don't know...early morning here means 7-10am. yea...that's a lot of dancing. I mean people do come and go but there are literally people around at all times (except for maybe between 10am and 2pm, but that I'm not sure since i wasn't there until the evening).

the spanish women are sporting the traditional Sevillana dresses

Here they're dancing Sevillanas

The whole idea when you go is just to stay out all night, drinking fino (sherry wine), dance and enjoy the company. If you're not careful, however, you may end up drinking too much fino, dance around a toaster with a group of friends and get a ride home in an ambulance after falling down...and that was my night. Lesson to be learned? Be careful with the fino!

We and Niki got some beautiful flowers to show off

Ya gotta have a few of these for proof of a fun night

One of the live bands in one of the casetas (tents)

This was right in front of Juan 23, a frequently visited caseta by our group

 j







This pretty much describes Feria in a nutshell...














Some of the people in "our group"

Heading to another caseta

We all got home at the "normal" time...7am. That meant we were all exhausted and dedicated the next day to rest and relaxation. And took FULL advantage of it because the next day I'd be headed to another town...this time to visit my friend Paul on the beach in Fuengirola (coast of Malaga).