Sunday it rained and was cool-ish in the evening so we thought we’d take Basil out for a walk (it has been too hot recently) and that we’d stop in Bar Tuna for a drink on the way back. Bar Tuna is the bar by the Pillar (water troughs) at the Llerena end of the village – so we could have a drink and so could Basil. Our new drink of choice is ‘Tinto do Verrena” which is ‘red wine of summer’. This is red wine and lemonade served with lots of ice. Basils drink of choice was water with fish in it. When we walked back at around 10, the streets were blocked by alters and lined with plants. We’d only been out for about an hour and there had been no sign of anything when we went. Anyway, we were a bit nervous about walking through the alter-blockades so we walked around the village and came back the other way, only to find the streets strewn with petals. Apparently it was a celebration for Corpus Christi, not sure where the petals came in though.
Monday, being Spain where people are very clean (not satified with just washing their own floors and their door steps, they also wash down the pavements outside their houses), there were little piles of petals swept up ready to be taken away.
Monday also was Spains second football match. They started off badly 1 down to Tunisia. Ian is doing a bit of bonding by watching the football matches. Sport is a good way to break down language barriers as it is quite easy to communicate about what you are watching, so it is a good way to meet people. I said I’d come up to the bar towards the end – however it was still 1 – 0. The village was silent when I walked through – until a sudden uproar which echoed around the place. Spain had scored – phew. When I got to the bar Spain was winning – double phew. There were two televisions in the bar, all the men were watching the big one, and there was a small portible which some others were watching. I kept having to check that the same game was being shown on both, as there was much cheering and shouting and table banging and whistling… coming from the big television, when the little one just seemed to show a few footballers stood around. Goodness knows what it will be like when (if?) they get into the next round. After the football a huge mound of fish came out and the tables were pulled together whilst they tucked into a pretty horrendous amount of things with eyes.
England play tonight. Ian is going to watch it at Pepes. This is our favourite bar, but it is difficult to talk to people, in Bar Tuna there are some people who speak a bit of english so we can communicate, in Pepes it is all Spanish speakers so it is less easy. So anyway, the England game will be a good way for Ian to exchange some words with the clientele which is largely our neighbours.
People keep telling us about the three day fiesta this weekend. It starts ‘quietly’ on the Friday, ready for a ‘big’ day on Saturday with a quieter day on Sunday. Oh dear…