Aracena weekend

Saturday dawned wet and windy. We trooped into Cortegana at about midday to have lunch with the rents and then set off to Aracena to play at the Casa Noble. This time it was both Simon and Fran. A Spanish audience is far far more interactive than a Canadian one! We were playing in front of the bar,that gave us about 3 feet clearance, which was filled with 3 rather drunk guys who were trying to chatup the group of women from Seville at the next table, and who were having a whale of a time. They clapped, they danced, they shouted, and at one point, one of them sang the most extraordinary fandango. What was really funny was that a little later on, a guy came in from one of the other rooms. He wanted to congratulte Simon on he fact that he sang an excellent fandango. He was amazed that as Simon seemed to speak very little Spanish, he had a wonderful grasp of the fandango. When we finally worked out what he was saying, everyone had a huge laugh at the fact that it was actually the other guy, who had sat down behind Simon. There was also a couple from Seville who kept phoning everyone they knew and telling them to come down to the bar to hear us play. It was Melanie's birthday on Saturday and so we all toasted her with hibiscus flower infused Veuve Cliquot, never to be turned down, and had a very merry evening. We wandered back to the Manley's though crowds of turistas standing about in the road and enjoying the 'ambiente' of rural life. Sunday morning was even more rainy and foggy. Mum and Dad Light picked us up at 1 to go and have lunch with Peter and MJ, a great couple who have a small holding in Alagar. They are very good cooks and have rebuilt their own house, so we are hoping to pick their brains on all things homestead. They have a magnificent garden that produces most of what they need for vegetables through the year and are very handy people. After a wonderful lunch of handmade ravioli and garden fresh soup and salad, we all trooped into Aracena for the night's gig. Obra was packed that evening and we got to meet a whole bunch of expats who are all living and working in this area. Thankfully they are all people who are in Spain to live the Spanish life, mostly teaching and farming, and are a really nice group. The couple from Seville also showed up again, Reyes and Alejandro, and we got their contact information for the city. Alejandro has a contact at a bar in Seville that he thinks we would be a hit at and would like to show us the city next time we are there. In all it was a very good networking weekend. We returned to Cortegana to discover that the key wouldn't open the front door, which rather put a damper on things. Mum went and asked various neighbors for help, and as we were waiting for the carpenter to finish his dinner, Simon had the bright idea of climbing up to the balcony and trying to see if he could get the sliding door of its rails. We solicited the help of Angela,who lives next door, and her step ladder, and with some scrambling Simon was up and over onto the balcony. This is not easy as the balcony is probably 13 ft off the ground. He managed to get the door of the rails and minutes later we were inside. Unfortunatley, we weren't able to get hold of the carpenter before he left home and he showed up minutes later with 3 old guys in tow. We thanked them profusely and promised to buy them a drink next time we were in the bar. One of the great things about life here is that people are always willing to help out and if they can't fix it they probably know someone who can. We packed up the bags, grabbed our keys and trudged over the hills back to the finca. A nice hot bath, a glass of vino tinto later and we were snuggled up warm in our own bed.