Feria de Jerez

As I have just missed the Feria De Sevilla by a week, I felt obliged to join my flatmate to his parents house in Jerez de La Frontera, and visit the Feria de Jerez. Rafa’s parents live in the most beautiful spanish house I have ever visited, with a swimming-pool most people can only dream of. They are such nice and generous people, I hope we can one day return this favor by letting them stay at our place in Ophoven. We got a good size bath-tub?...
At our arrival to Jerez, I learnt that the Feria de Jerez is also called the Feria de Caballos, which means that apart from tens of thousands of people, there are also thousands of horses. Now, for those this does not ring a loud alarm-bell to, I have the worst allergy to horses; put me next to a horse for 15 minutes I will be ill for the next 48 hours, turning completely red with horrible respiratory problems. Not an ideal condition to go party I’d say... Therefore the last-minute change of plan was to head out to the beach during the day, untill the horses would be gone from the Feria at night. Although its only May, the beach of Puerto de Santa Maria feels like mid summertime. The only disadvantage is that the oceanwinds are so strong they carry alot of sand with them, hitting you in the face constantly. The water temperature is perfect though, best swim I had in a long time.


So with a nice tan, and the danger of horse allergy largely gone, we made our way to the Feria around 21h. Its very common for Spanish people to make a ‘botellon’, basically get a good alcohol shot before heading to the actual party. Tradition, fed by the louzy economic situation most young Spanish people are in. So we had a few glasses of rum, but mind me saying pretty darn good rum! I was hooked on the stuff the rest of the night, getting slightly more tipsy than I planned. We didnt stay in one place, rather went round the ‘casetas’, which are little houses, bars, built especially for the feria. There is a very strong competition to build the most beautiful caseta, the jury must have an incredible tough job on picking the best one! The whole site is decorated with millions of lights, and people wear traditional clothes. Women wear a beautiful dress, whilst men are in perfect suits. The ladies usually wear a giant flower in the hair, whilst the men save a more modest sized one in a chest pocket. They then go into one of the casetas and dance sevillanas. Like me, barely 3 weeks in Andalucia, dressed in Miss Sixty jeans, who had never even seen a Sevillana in life before! When a circle of friends forms around you in the middle of the caseta, and people start clapping and encouraging you, all you can do is trust on your feeling for good rhytm, and hoping the spanish rum might add in a bit of help. Once I got the taste of it, I did not leave the Feria anymore untill after 8am the next morning, reborn as the new Queen of Sevillanas. Or was that the rum...