We've been settling in to regular life in the marina and in Rota. Except for the feeble flamenco scene, we are loving it here. One of the high points has been the cuisine. We've been shopping in the local markets, especially the open-air market and with all the right ingredients, the food really tastes right. Andrea just keeps coming up with one delight after another. It's wonderful. And of course, going out to eat is fabulous.
One of the things that has been pleasing is that shopping here is probably less expensive than in the US. I didn't expect that, but even the Euro has been dropping against the dollar, ($1.41 to the Euro this morning) so we may not be quite as worried about money as it seemed before. With a little care, restaurants won't kill the budget either. When I filled the gas tank the other day, it took 26 Euros. that's about $38 which is a lot less than I spent filling the tank of the van in North Carolina.
We took a road trip the other day to the Feria de Utrera. A feria is an annual fair. Almost every city has one. They go back to the old days when traders and caravans would come and set up outside the city. Animals and goods got traded; there was food and entertainment. In the last few centuries, the Feria has become a unique part of the Andalucian (the southernmost "state" in Spain)tradition and gives opportunities for socializing and for the "horse people" to show off their horses and riding outfits - both of which are gorgeous.
Here is a carriage and driver. Notice how beautifully turned out the carriage is. 
Here is a typical feria street. It is early in the evening still - by 11PM there will hardly be room to pass through the streets. On either side of the street are "casetas" which are basically tents with bars and kitchens. Some of the food they generate in simple kitchens is amazing. The casetas all have loud sound systems and play sevillanas at a deafening level. If you want to talk, you have to find a quiet one. In this particular feria, we visited the caseta of Inez and Luis, gypsies from the same family as Fernanda and Bernarda de Utrera, two legendary singers who we had the good fortune to know. Most casetas are all about Sevillanas, but this one is all about flamenco. They had a regular performance set up as well as the unofficial "fooling around" that we participated in. We're including a little video here that shows a few seconds of the performance. Unfortunately the singer wasn't singing at the moment. The artists were singer/dancers Javier Heredia and his wife Fabiola, and guitarist Antonio Moya. Unfortunately, Blogger seems to be constipated today and I can't upload the video. I'll try again. (After 4 days of trying, here is a still)
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