Spain Life in Photos: SIMOF

February 5, 2011 by · 3 Comments

Do you ever have any of those, “How the HELL did I end up here?” moments? I do frequently. They usually happen in the morning when I see how teeny my counterparts are. How did I go from being set on pursuing a serious journalistic career to wiping away snot and entertaining with the Hokey Pokey?

But recently I had a good one of those moments. Kelly and I went to SIMOF, the Salón Internacional de Moda Flamenca, a yearly exposition of flamenco dress fashion held in Sevilla.

The lights dimmed and Kelly and I sat up in our seventh-row seats. A singer broke out into a copla dedicated to the designer’s hometown and the stage flooded in red. The silhouette of a flamenca, peineta perched on her head, appeared in front of the screen and the lights went up. Kelly and I let out a collective “Ahh!” and continued to marvel at the designs Loli Vera presented. We turned to each other frequently as if to say, “How did we end up here?”

Pastels, brocade and lace took the place of the ever-present lunares, though the models looked bored and talk on stage. Always true to Sevillana style.

here’s a bonus:

Filed Under: fashion, Feria, flamenco ·

Revuelto de Abril

April 26, 2010 by · Leave a Comment

Pues, VAYA MES! Between Semana Santa and the Language Village came Branko’s visit, barbeques, azahar, springtime’s quick transition to summer and, claro, the April Fair. Menudo primavera que hemos pegao! I haven’t had two moments to sit still, so I’ll just leave some photos at the moment, as well as a link to my ode to Feria on Matt’s travel blog.

churros at 6am with my visitor and our beers from the churrero.

dancing Sevillanas con Josito

Twilight on C/Gitanillo de Triana at the Fairgrounds

Love Love LOVE these two

quick trip to Granada with the girls

Branko’s visit to Sevilla and our trip to the Alcazar

BBQ on Christene’s terraza with the Cathedral behind us

Saying goodbye to Marta from Heliche

A que parezco una gitana de Triana!

Mis ninas en Feria: Now it’s time for caracoles and the beach!!

Filed Under: Andalucia, Feria, living abroad, Seville, spring, travel photography · Tagged:

La Feria en Crisis

May 3, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

I recently took one of those Facebook quizzes because it honestly called my attention (there goes my English getting more Spanish!) The result was feriante – someone who loves the April Fair, six straight days of dancing and drinking. I like drinking and dancing is something that happens when I drink too much, so this holiday was clearly invented for my own enjoyment.

The fair origins go back centuries, but in Andalucía the first was in a town just east of Sevilla called Mairena del Alcor. La de Sevilla started in a park with a few marquees, known as casetas, and has since grown to include over 1000 of them in a new location south of my neighborhood. The casetas are owned by businesses or families, whom are known as socios, and every year they must pay hundreds, if not thousands, to maintain their caseta.
Feria begins every year with a pecaito frito, a dinner for the socios. At midnight, the main gate to the fairgrounds is lit up in a ceremony called the alumbrado. It’s wonderful to watch the different parts of the fairgrounds light up, with people botelloning underneath. Then the party starts – flamenco music begins to drift out from the casetas and people begin to dance in the street. Most of the casetas are private, but there are about 50 public ones for political parties, neighborhoods, etc. We spent most of the time in public casetas that night, drinking rebujito (a half liter of sherry mixed with 7up) and dancing sevillanas, a four part dance.

The following day was the celebration of Sevilla’s patron saint, San Fernando. The Real de la Feria was hasta las trancas with people, many of them dressed in typical flamenco gowns or riding suits. Horse carriages and horses march in and out of the portada and to the bull ring, where there’s a corrida daily. I went with Kelly to a friend of Kike’s from his village, where we danced Sevillanas and drank rebujito. I right away felt welcome by Fabian, Carlos and Julian. We did our normal caseta-hopping, going to see Melissa’s friend, Carlos, Susana and Alfonso, Jessica’s boyfriend. Dressed up and dripping Spanish from my tongue, I danced and drank and had a great time.


And it showed the next day in my face. Vaya cara de sueno! I spent the whole day craving a nap, but decided instead to follow some of my coworkers to the fairgrounds. After a quick beer at Serafin’s, we went to the portada by day – white with yellow accents and looking like the front of a Feria tent. Against the blue sky, it was beautiful, and it was fun going to the fair with first-timers like Raul and Lourdes. After a quick walk around, we went to one of the nicest casetas I’ve ever been in – it looked like a home with its mirrors and fancy dining room flanked with bull heads. We ate croquetas, tortillas, puntas de solomillo and other Andalusian foods for less than six euros a head. In this caseta, there was a raised dancefloor and there was a little girl not older than seven in a short pink traje who danced better than all of the women aorund her.

We went to Calle del Infierno, a huge amusement park where gypsies sell carnations and toys, kids play drop the crane for prizes and two gigantic ferris wheels spin on either end. We walked through the stalls and hamburger stands, marveling at girls in trajes riding on the rollercoasters without managing to mess up their hair (LACA’d up!).

Although I didn’t notice it so much until the weekend, it was clear that the financial meltdown affected the fair – there was a sign in most casetas called “A Feria Goer’s Manual Against the Crisis” with a guide to saving money (I didn’t bring my horse this year because they wouldn’t allow it on the metro, etc.) On Saturday especially, the fairgrounds were empty and the casetas half full. It’s odd to think about how the crisis has affected everything here, and I experience it every single day. I’m really happy to have a job because of it!

My companeros de trabajo – Serafin, Manuel, Lourdes, Raul and I at C/ del Infierno

I am sick of writing about this because I’m still so tired from Feria and this weekend, so I will just include some more pictures. I pretty much spent the week running in and out of casetas, drinking rebujito but being more careful this year to stay sober and alternate with beer or pop, dancing sevillanas (I even succeeded in getting Kike to dance, though I’m sure he did only because he was drunk) and hosting Jeremy and Isabel, two friends who teach in Madrid, for the weekend. I really enjoyed myself, and I think now I’m able to stand on my own two feet here. I impressed people with my musing of saying I was from Chicago de la Frontera (a take on a town called Chiclana de la Frontera), firing off Spanish puns and dancing with mucho arte. Even though Kike was only down for a few days,I had no problems entertaining my roommates and coworkers and friends.

Que viva la Feria!! I’m already thinking of the color complementos I want for next year!

Tocando el cajon y cantando sevillanas en la caseta de Alfonso
Kike’s brother, Alvaro, and I, along with Victor’s head. I love Victor. He’s from Vdoid.
Twilight (crepusculo, thanks to the book) on C/ Pasqual Marquez
My roommate, Melissa, and I como gitanas
In one of the more memorable episodes of Feria, I stepped on a toothpick and it started bleeding, so a nice waiter patched me up with a bandaid and some food. Buena gente.
Me, Kelly and Sara at Sara’s boyfriend’s work’s caseta (and this is an easy relation!)
HORSIES all over the place (followed by a street sweeper)
Kelly and me
vaya pareja mas guapa!

Filed Under: Feria, holidays ·

¡Vámanos a la Feria Cariño Mío!

April 12, 2008 by · Leave a Comment
My friend Kelly and I in a caseta, “Las Gitanas de Chicago”
Two women dancing Sevillanas on the streets outside of the casetas

Finally, the most anticipated festival in southern Spain has come and nearly passed. Since Monday at midnight, I have been eating, drinking and dancing (in the rain) at the Feria de Abril, or the April Fair. Imagine a fairgrounds large enough for a state fair, full of colorful tents, with the smell of fried fish wafting from each one. Inside, women in flamenco dresses and men in suits are dancing a lighter version of flamenco, toasting to each others health with a glass of fino sherry. Outside, horse-drawn buggies parade through the streets (all named for bullfighters, of course) and men dressed in a Jerez-style riding suit trot along as a women dressed as a gypsy swings her feet over the horse and rides side saddle. It’s sensory overload, especially after a few glasses of rebujito.Feria started a few months ago when I bought my flamenco dress. Many dresses I’ve seen cost upwards of 300E (more or less $450 USD), plus shoes, plus alterations, plus accessories like gigantic earrings, shawls, bracelets, a flower for your hair and hair combs that could often poke someone’s eye out. My dress and complementos, all together, was about 170E. I picked something simple I could wear next year, too, as the styles change from year to year. I kept getting more and more excited seeing the tents go up on the recinto, seeing trajes hang in every laundromat and watching more and more publicity on TV.
Traditionally, Feria starts on the Monday two weeks after the completion of Semana Santa. The whole of Spain seems to come to Sevilla to celebrate – most of the roads are blocked, prices for just about everything are adjusted, and there is nowhere to park.
Feria begins every year with the pescaito. Pescaito is fried fish, and it’s eaten in a land locked city like Sevilla more than anything else! The socios and deunos of the casetas all eat fried fish to kick off the festival. Dájame explicar: Casetas are like makeshift houses of all sizes that are owned by a family or group of friends, a business, a political party, or whoever wants to pay a lot of money each year (in one, each family paid about 750E a year for the caseta). There are presidents and socios, or pretty much people who pay. They construct the caseta, decorate it with pictures of bullfights or fans or Sevilla, contract a restaurant. There’s usually two rooms in a normal caseta owned by a family that occupies just one restaurant – one with the bar and bathrooms, and another with the tables for eating and room to dance.
I gave a lesson and met Kike and some of our friends Monday night for a beer or two before we went to the Feria. At midnight on Monday, the portada, or the main gate, of the fairgrounds lights up. We got there right as it was happening. It’s STUNNING at night, take a look below:


Kike’s friends Susana and Alfonso have had a caseta for years, so we started out there. I immediately forgot about being tired and having to work the next day, or that I was wearing ratty pants and ratty sneakers (most people dress up for Feria). Kelly and I knocked back a few jars of rebujito, which is a half-bottle of sherry and two cans of sprite, and I met alllllll the socios of the caseta. Waking up for work was super hard the next day, and it was an indication how the rest of the week would be!

Women on horseback, a common site in the Feria

The weather was awful – rainy and cool – so most people hid in their casetas. It wasn’t until Thursday, when the rain subsided a bit and people were starting to come in from the pueblos, that the fairgrounds came to life. Horses with elegantly dressed riders paraded on the streets, along with carriages carrying women and kids dressed in flamenco dresses. People started to dance Sevillanas on the street and young kids just got big bottles of alcohol and drank outside the caseta. Lucky for me, I have Spanish friends who invited me to their casetas, and other friends of mine had their own invites. One of the socios we met introduced us to his nephew, and he took us out all night to all kinds of casetas. When Kike was working, his two little brothers took us out. I learned to dance the Sevillanas, I spoke a lot of Spanish, and tourists were taking pictures of me as if I were actually Spanish. Super fun. I can’t wait for next year!


Top: Kike and me somewhere…this is probably about 4 am
Bottom: Kelly and I did a photo shoot at Plaza de Espana. People were taking pictures of us!

Filed Under: A Few of My Favorite Things, Feria, typical Spanish ·

Is it Feria yet?

February 2, 2008 by · Leave a Comment

A few weeks ago, I was telling Kike that I wanted to buy a traditional gypsy flamenco dress for the Feria de Abril. But, given my body type and budget constraints, I didn’t know where to find one. He enlisted his friend Susana to help me, and she assured me that I’d have no trouble at all finding something.
Last night, she picked me up at 6pm and we drove just outside the city to a huge factory specializing in flamenco dresses. The wide space was crammed with dresses in every color, style, length, pattern and material imaginable, from traditional trajes, or one piece, to skirt and corset sets. Susana and I spent 20 minutes scouring the racks, not knowing my size. Like a good shopper, I picked out anything that I might remotely be interested in (thank you, Nancy Gaa) and soon both of our arms were piled with flamenco dresses. All of them were for me. I picked out a pink one-piece dress with white polka dots. Very traditional, yet stunning. For the first time ever in my life, something fit me so amazingly that I didn’t want to take it off. Nothing has to be done to the dress – it needn’t be taken in or out nor lengthened. I gasped when she zipped it up and I turned around.
Despite having a lot of body in many places, the dresses was snug around my butt, around my hips and around my chest. It actually made me look really thin and curvy. I was just about decided when she encouraged me to try on other skirts and dresses, but nothing fit me like the pink lunar (pink with white polka dots). The price tag, at 99E, was much more favorable to the 500E trajes I’ve seen elsewhere. Susana told them woman helping us to get me complementos to try on – big white hoop earrings, a white shawl, a pink and white flower for my hair. All together, I have to say I looked Spanish. And all Susana could say was, “Kike va a flipar cuando te vea” – Kike is going to go crazy when he sees you. He asked later about whether or not the trip was successful. I said yes, but you’ll have to wait until Feria to see me dressed up like a Sevillana. For now, I’m off to Cadiz for the Carnaval – a full week of drinking, singing, partying in the streets and fireworks.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Filed Under: fashion, Feria ·
«Previous Page