La versión en español está después de la versión en inglés.
Ms. Moon has been talking recently about body weight and that made me think of this. When we lived in San Diego, which is when San Geraldo first put on some extra weight, he had a regularly scheduled doctor appointment and the nurse called him in to be weighed first. SG told the nurse he’d give her $50 if she knocked 15 pounds off his weight. She raised an eyebrow, but said nothing while writing the correct weight on the chart. When the doctor came in a few minutes later, SG told him what he had offered and that she turned him down. “Yes, she told me,” smiled the doctor. “You know, she would have done it for a hundred.”
Tynan and Elena were here from Fuengirola Friday for two nights. We had dinner Friday and Saturday, breakfast Saturday and Sunday, and I got to take in the fair with them. I say “take in” because “enjoy” wouldn’t have been truthful. It was fun to see. Córdoba’s fair is beautiful, well-organized, enormous, painfully loud, and, this year, hot. We went during the day because, had we gone after dark, it would have been louder and so crowded we would barely have been able to make our way through it. So, although I’d love to see the spectacle of it lit up at night, I think I’ll just have to get those images from the news.
We thought we’d have a drink inside one of the air-conditioned casetas lining the fairgrounds, but the music was deafening when we walked by. We wouldn’t have survived inside. I’ve been in some loud discos and bars in my lifetime, and even an early Bruce Springsteen concert, but nothing can compare to the volume of the music at any Spanish fair I’ve visited. I’ve shared a video of one of the rides (we did not go on). Paula texted the next morning to say she went on them all with her friends. She’s 22. She gets carsick. Go figure. Oh, never mind. As I said, she’s 22! After having coffee with Tynan and Elena Sunday morning, I went back to bed and only arose for lunch and dinner.
La Sra. Moon ha estado hablando últimamente sobre el peso corporal y eso me hizo pensar en esto. Cuando vivíamos en San Diego, que fue cuando San Geraldo engordó por primera vez, tenía una cita médica regular y la enfermera lo llamó para que lo pesaran primero. SG le dijo a la enfermera que le daría 50 dólares si le bajaba 7 kilos. Ella arqueó una ceja, pero no dijo nada mientras anotaba el peso correcto en la tabla. Cuando el médico entró unos minutos después, SG le contó lo que había hecho. “Sí, ella me lo dijo”, sonrió el médico. “Sabes, lo habría hecho por”.
Tynan y Elena vinieron de Fuengirola el viernes por dos noches. Era justo lo que necesitábamos para distraernos del calor. Cenamos el viernes y el sábado, desayunamos el sábado y el domingo, y pude disfrutar de la feria con ellos. Digo “disfrutar” porque “disfrutar” no habría sido la verdad. Fue divertido verlo. La feria de Córdoba es preciosa, está bien organizada, es enorme, escandalosamente ruidosa y, este año, calurosa. Fuimos de día porque, si hubiéramos ido de noche, habría sido más ruidosa y estaría tan llena que apenas habríamos podido pasar. Así que, aunque me encantaría ver el espectáculo iluminado de noche, creo que tendré que buscar esas imágenes en las noticias.
Pensamos tomar algo en una de las casetas con aire acondicionado que bordean el recinto ferial, pero la música era ensordecedora cuando pasamos. No habríamos sobrevivido dentro. He estado en discotecas y bares ruidosos en mi vida, y en un concierto de los primeros Bruce Springsteen, pero nada se compara con el volumen de la música en las casetas de cualquier feria española que haya visitado. He compartido un vídeo de una de las atracciones (no subimos). Sin embargo, Paula les envió un mensaje a Tynan y Elena a la mañana siguiente para decirles que había subido a todas con sus amigos. Tiene 22 años. Se marea en el coche. ¡Quién lo diría! Ah, no importa. Como dije, ¡tiene 22 años! Después de tomar un café con Tynan y Elena el domingo por la mañana, volví a la cama y solo me levanté para comer y cenar.
• Mirando hacia atrás a la portada. Es una estructura temporal, construida solo por una semana.
• Tynan fue tomado por sorpresa.
• La calle central, llena de casetas. En dos horas, apenas podríamos movernos.
• El escenario del concierto.
• Adolescentes disfrazados para la feria.
• Al salir, antes de las 9 p. m., la gente de la noche estaba llegando en masa y no tuvimos que esperar un taxi.
Click the thumbnails to enlarge.
Haz clic en las miniaturas para ampliar.
I’ve never seen a ride like that. I’d probably take a spin on it, and then regret that I did.
wickedhamster:
I don’t know that I ever would have gone on that, although my rule is only “no backwards and no upside down.”
Also, I’ve been meaning to ask:
— is there a name for those tight dresses with the flouncy bottoms? (off-color comments about “flouncy bottoms” are invited)
— how old is that style?
— how the heck do they take them on/off???
Lube, it’s not just for sex anymore.
Deedles:
I don’t know if you watched friends but in one episode “The Leather Pants,” Ross tried getting out of his using body lotion and then talcum powder. The dresses have zippers.
wickedhamster:
Those are called flamenco dresses and can be traced back to the 1847 cattle fair in Seville. It’s credited to gypsy culture at the time and is also known as the gypsy dress (vestido or traje de gitana). By 1929, it became official and flamenco adopted it. They have loooooooong zippers down the back.
That temporary structure is magnificent! Such attention to detail in portraying the Mesquite in “miniature” – I can’t believe they’ll just tear it down. Shame it gets so noisy and crowded – but that’s Spain for you! Jx
Jon:
It amazes me that they build a special portada every year for the one week of feria.
I love the idea of the fair, and your always-excellent photos, but not the reality of the noise… why why why is it considered a good thing, to blast thunderously pounding music, at any time, anywhere?
So glad you had a great visit with Elena and Tynan!
Judy C:
I have no clue why the music has to be amped up that loud. We saw Paula and her friend for breakfast Saturday and they had both lost their voices from yelling to be heard while they partied. You’d think officials would have learned. Jeez, Bruce Springsteen now wears hearing aids!
Lots of neat stuff to see, especially before the crowds arrived. The giant flowerpots are cute! I would still ride something like that, even at my age.
Kelly:
My rule was to never ride something that goes backwards or upside down. I’d add that ride to my rules.
Those shawls! So beautiful, so hot. On top of a tight dress, too. But seen from my cool, quiet, house, it looks like fun. I wonder if there’s a lot of hearing loss in older Spaniards.. Boud.
Boud:
The hearing loss will show up in the soon-to-be-old Spaniards. The real old Spaniards had live music with no amps.
Tynan’s face sort of says it all. I bet everyone that passed that fountain longed to jump in.
Glen went on a ride a fair here with my brother once and I swear to you- they both got concussions. It was late, the operator was determined to break them, and he did. I do not think either one of them has ever taken another fair ride since.
It is lovely how people dress up but I do not know how they stand the crowds, the heat, the noise.
Ms. Moon
Ms. Moon:
I understand why there are so many fountains all over the city. Just sitting next to one is cooling. We were in Disneyland with a couple of friends in 1993. I went on Space Mountain with one friend. The other, who was 6’4″, would not go. It’s inside and in the dark and he said there was one spot where anyone over 6’2″ got decapitated. Our other friend was 6′. At one point he said, “Uh oh, this is where Jim said he’d get decapitated. I was 6’2″ and immediately slouched in my seat. He really got in my head.
Oh my god. Can you imagine if that were true? Think of all the heads Disney could collect.
Ms. Moon:
They never turn the lights on inside, even when cleaning the ride. The bottom of the building is filled with skulls.
The attempted bribery story made me laugh! No size of bribe could get me on that fair ride, though. Yikes! Too scary for this old gal.
Debra:
I’ve never liked rides like that. It amazes me that I used to go on the Tilt-a-Whirl and plenty of roller coasters. My favorited were log flumes, like Splash Mountain. The water lessened the effect. But backwards, upside down, and spinning sideways never did it for me.
I love all the traditional dresses, and the guys dressing up and yet still trying to look cool. That ride looks vomitous. It’s a bit like the Himalaya, which I used to ride as a kid, except it went backwards!
Steve:
Never backwards for me. Nor upside down. I have never been on the Himalaya.
Festive indeed! Looks like a lot of fun.
Jim:
I love watching the rides. I have three other videos.
The fairgrounds are quite lovely, even if impermanent. I like the fact that the younger people dress up; all looked cute.
As for the noise, I might have been able to withstand it, at last long enough for a cool drink.
And I would ride that ride! I love carnival rides of all sorts!
Bob:
Just walking by the casetas we could feel the music pounding in our chests. There was some rides there you probably would have loved, wild child.
Been a long time since I’ve been on a ride like this. I might need oxygen afterwards.
Kirk:
I’d need a bucket and mop if I went on one of those.
That ride made me feel ill just watching it!!
Frances
Frances:
That’s exactly what we said!