(no subject)
written last night. updates about real madrid versus bilbao, shopping in el rastro, and flamenco. :)
spain is just.
i feel like i have so much to say about the past two days, but i also feel like nothing i could say could do any of it justice. yesterday was the real madrid-athetlc bilbao game, and it was a completely unforgettable experience. the skies in madrid opened up yesterday, just a little into the actual game itself. before the game, rey, leah and i went to a cervecía across the street from the bernabéu and the atmosphere all around the stadium was just amazing. it was that madridismo, that magic, just a hum and a buzz and people were singing and toasting and cheering and chanting and god so beautiful. hahaha we got "mini" cups of beer which is actually like a KEG of beer and even though i do not like beer, this beer wasn't terribly terrible. it was estrella damm. and i was just that nervous that i required such a thing. i felt a little looser after finishing it and i met up with michele since we were sitting on the same side of the stadium (i was one section over from where i was during the osasuna game, one section closer to the corner, in the 5th row) and i promptly lost her. :( the boys came out and warmed up and they played like FIVE SECONDS of "se parece más a ti" and michele and leah and rey and i, all in different sections on different sides of the stadium, FREAKED OUT. hahahahahah. anyway so the game. ohgod the game.
i thought the penalty/red card against bilbao was incredibly rash and harsh to be quite honest. but i didn't really see the penalty since it was across the pitch, but it just seemed... really sudden and like. i don't know. i mean, i'm so glad we got the goal, but it was so strange. and then fucking yeste scored for bilbao and it all felt so shaky. but it was so wonderful to see guti starting as captain. (oh god. guti.) oh before the game, they announced that metze was leaving and he came out and waved to everyone and it was sad. :( the whole game, the fans were singing to guti and i just knew. you could just... godguti.
aldjfa anyway so the skies opened up and i just had a tiny scarf to hide under so i did. OHOH iker before and while cris was taking the penalty was the CUTEST FUCKING THING EVER. as soon as it got called he brought his hands up to his mouth and he was fumbling and gnawing on his shirt and he had his hands over his mouth the entire time and even when cris easily scored, he just kinda shakily walked back to his goalpost and tapped it like he always does. i love when iker is on my side because it feels like i'm getting to watch him when no one else does. i love watching him when he's off the ball. he's the most precious creature in the entire world.
sergio ramos is the love of my life and the sun in my sky and the bop in my bop shoo bop shoo bop etcetc. um. i'm going to race ahead here to his goal because it was kind of a life-changing moment for me. it all happened in slow and fast motion simultaneously. because... AHHHHHHH okay. i saw him with the ball and i was clapping to myself like a retard and he just kept going and i was like "...yes." and he got past the halfline and i was like "...yes!?" and he KEPT GOING and got up to the box and by this time i'm like. hahaha god i'm so glad i don't know how stupid i looked. his run. his run. he was fucking fearless. when he kicked it and it got blocked and deflected back to him i knew he had it. i knew. and i was all "ohmygod he's going to score he's going to score he's going to fucking score in front of me ohmygod he's he's he's" and he DID and he did and al;sjkfalsdkfja;idjfaljsdgl AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. i lost my mind. i LOST MY MIND. i was trying to take pictures to SAVE IT but HE WAS RUNNING STRAIGHT TOWARD ME TO CELEBRATE and he was pulling his shirt up and doing his somersault and he was JUST BEING SERGIO FUCKING RAMOS SCORING A BEAUTIFUL GOAL IN FRONT OF ME and ohmygod ohmygod i was nearly sobbing. i cannot believe that happened in front of me. i can't believe i got to see him score a goal. and not just ANY goal, THAT goal. that amazing fucking goal that wasn't a header, it wasn't from a set piece or a corner, it was from a beautiful run that was just his, and a play that was just his, and a moment of beauty and brilliance that was just him and i cannot believe i got to see that. i cannot believe that i was so lucky. i will never ever forget it. not ever.
i cannot believe that game ended 5-1. it didn't feel like a 5-1 game. it was a very tough game and a very scary game until the last fourth of it and god i just can't believe i got to see so many goals. cris is so wonderful. he is an absolute joy to watch. his power is something that needs to be seen in person. his passion for playing just thrums all around him and i swear to god you can feel it. i swear. i didn't want the match to end and it seemed like it ended so quickly. they all clapped and applauded us and we applauded them and even though barca won 3-2 (and kanoute didn't get a penalty call that he deserved, thanks again, refs), everyone left satisfied because our boys were spectacular and we did all we could. i tried to get down closer to the pitch because sergio was the last off because he's an amazing person and he clapped to us the longest and then he got stopped on the side of the pitch for like five minutes because he was doing interviews and then he disappeared down into the tunnel. :( my last glimpse of him. ah sergio. :(
and then the ultras kept singing the guti song they'd been singing the whole time, the one they'd gotten louder singing toward the end of the game. they were singing and waving their flags and i know the ultras aren't the best people, but politics aside, they love real madrid. they love that team and you can feel it the whole game and they drive the team on when all the other fans are being quiet. i love them just for that. anyway. the ultras kept singing to guti and he came back out. well after the game, well after everyone else had gone into the tunnel, he came back out and went over to them and they sang even louder for him and you could just feel it. god i can't even type it out. i haven't let myself think about it. he walked away from them after several minutes and applauded those of us who were still there and we applauded him right back and then he went back down into the tunnel and i could not stop saying to myself "last time for the last time for the last time." he's our guti. how can he go anywhere else? how could he want to? how can he wear any other color. god my heart hurts. i can't think about this.
god anyway so, i left and i just felt really empty because of guti. full of love and full of happiness and pride and madridismo, but just so... he's ours. blah.
michele had texted me and said "nadal's here" and i KNEW he would be. i knew he wouldn't miss this game. i still didn't realize he was going to be playing in the madrid open, but i knew he'd be here regardless. and i was walking around the stadium to find michele, and i see the VIP exit door and i was like "...hm." so i hover. and linger. and move around. i move away from the throngs of people near the barriers set up and stand in the street. all of a sudden, a white lexus suv that said "mutua madrileño 2010" on the side pulled up RIGHT NEXT TO ME and i was like "hahahah oh fuck ohmygod." and i look up and out of the VIP door comes uncle toni. UNCLE. TONI. and i like. spaz out BECAUSE IT'S UNCLE TONI and i was staring at him giddily and people started to just FREAK OUT because rafa comes out and everyone just. pushes forward and i'm like RIGHT AGAINST the lexus waiting for him because i've been shoved into it and then all of a sudden rafa was right in front of me and he's just being mauled and i'm like "um is this life??????" and so i reach out and just. touch him. hahahahaha. I KNOW IT'S LAME AND RANDOM AND WEIRD BUT IT'S RAFA AND HE WAS IN FRONT OF ME. i've touched rafa nadal. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
THEN THEN THEN i walk around the stadium to find michele and i don't so i call her and i'm like "where are you?" and she's like "gago just drove by me." and i'm like "......................where are you?!" and so i RUN back around to the other side of the stadium where i just came (the stadium is huge btw hahaha) and right as i'm walking up i see albiol drive right by me and i'm like WHAT JUST HAPPENED TO ME and then i cross the road after his car and XABI DRIVES BY ME and i'm just. hahahahahahaha like seriously what. so i'm standing in the path of the cars-ish so that i will have to move back just enough to let them through and therefore be right next to them and RUBEN DE LA RED DRIVES BY ME and he was beaming and waving at everyone and ohmygod RUBEN. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. ruben. :( oh and marcelo drove by! by then i find michele and we scramble around to an even better location and we proceed to see/touch the cars of: arbeloa, higuain's entire family, perez (HAHAHA), garay, IKER CASILLAS, GUTI, diarra (ohmygod his car blew our minds), arbeloa, CRIS (ohmygod, the mayhem when he drove by. the mayhem. it was like the beatles plus michael jackson plus the queen of england or something idk). it was amazing because when i touched guti's car my fingers got dirty and i was like heeee guti car dirt! and then i touched iker's car and his car was wet so it washed off my guti dirt. :( but it was iker water, so! (ohmygodi'msolame.) so we're standing there and this kid says that raúl left first so :( and you know, it's michele and i so we're waiting for our baby. we'd decided that we were going to kiss his window when he drove by and we waited and waited and waited. ...and waited. we were out there for at least an hour. everyone left that was waiting for the cars to pull out. everyone. michele and i are standing there in the middle of the road and they're sweeping and cleaning up and fixing the inside of the car garage back to normal and i'm like "....michele. i don't think he's coming." and she's like "yeah. i think you're right." and i was like "i want you to realize how completely typical this is of the two of us that we're standing here REFUSING TO BELIEVE that we are not going to see sergio ramos." hahahahahahahaha. it was TRAGIC and we were major sadface and we walked away slowly and kept glancing back but no sergio :( some kid said he thought he left around when raúl did but SINCE WHEN IS SERGIO RAMOS READY QUICKLY. that kind of hair doesn't just happen! :(
OH and llorente left in a cab! the cab drove by and we were like "LLORENTE HOLAAAAAA" and he smiled and waved and heeeeeee so adorable. THE ONLY BILBAO PLAYER I LIKE.
so that was my night. amazing. absolutely amazing. magicmagicmagic real madrid is magic.
and this morning i dragged myself out of bed and went down to el rastro which is like. a huge outdoor market they set up every sunday in la latina and it was so amazing. ahhh i cannot wait to go back next week. i bought two skirts and a pair of earrings and two rings and a scarf and keychains and stickers (real madrid and spain and madrid) and a camarón de la isla flag and it was so so crowded and there were so many stalls but it was wonderful. i love la latina SO MUCH. absolutely my favorite neighborhood in madrid. it's wonderful. so much atmosphere and so many bohemians and great little restaurants and shops and balconies and i just love it. i didn't want to leave.
i went down to sol to el corte inglés to buy a curling iron because mine won't work here for whatever reason and i ended up going to h&m which was FIVE FLOORS TALL and just terribly terrible in a wonderful way but i finally got a hoodie!
then i met rey and leah at dubliners to watch premier league, but they weren't playing liverpool. :( we watched manchester united and chelsea and holy fucking shit chelsea, 8-0!? jesus. we watched them get their trophy and blahblahblah and ohmygod there was this group of guys there for a stag party (all english boys of course) and they were so HILARIOUS. the husband-to-be was dressed like batman and was so so funny and they kept listening in to my and rey and leah's conversation and they turn around at one point and were like "you girls know your football" ahahahahha. three random american girls in madrid. so silly. so we start talking to them and i talked to batman about liverpool and tottenham (he's a spurs fan ahahah) and arsenal and etcetc and he told us the story about how stevie's first little girl isn't his but some hotel doorman's named pancake HAHAHAHA. ohmygod. so i defended stevie and got picked on about not hating jt and etcetc and they were just so funny. we also talked about pepe reina and he was like "oh god such a great keeper" and i was like "yes!" and he was like "what i don't understand is how the fuck del bosque can start casillas over pepe reina. reina is such a better keeper" and he went on this rant about iker and i go "...iker casillas is my favorite keeper in the world." and he pulled his batman mask down over his eyes and was like "...i'm just gonna shut up now." hahahahah. another one of the guys was in a dress (???) and they played some weird english tiebreaking game to see who won the €100 for betting on the game and hahaha oh sigh. so funny.
then we went to some place called foster's hollywood i think? leah wanted something mexican and this was a pseudo-american restaurant and ahhahaha it was so funny. it was a spanish interpretation of american food. then rey and i went to lavapiés to find this flamenco show from a flier that i'd gotten at el rastro that morning and we finally found it and we were immediately skeptical because there were like. no spaniards there. but we pay the €10 and get our wine and sat around for a bit and the amount of english being spoken around us was depressing haha. then we were led back into a little darkened room in the back of the building with chairs set up in front of a stage and just.
the flamenco was amazing. the singer defies all the words i know. he had duende, that's all there is to it. he was heart-wrenching and passionate and beautiful and rey and i both were just so taken by him, by his voice and his love. the guitarist was really amazing and the three girls dancing were so beautiful to watch. the first girl was my personal favorite because she was so graceful but the second girl stole the show. the singer couldn't keep his eyes off of her and her joy at what she was doing was tangible. she was just alive and passionate and entrancing. it was a fantastic show and i was so glad we found it. the only thing was like... all the tourists there? and they were all young kids, kids that were probably at el rastro this morning like i was. but they still watched it like tourists, you know? and maybe they felt something, but they were talking throughout and taking pictures and flamenco is like going to church, to me. it demands that level of respect? i mean, it's a spectacle, but they're not to be made a spectacle of. i hate that they have to put on shows for tourists. i hate that i'm a tourist. but i watched it as a lover of spain and a lover of flamenco and their passion and duende. i don't view them as caricatures of themselves, of spain. it's hard to watch flamenco around people who aren't moved by it. ahh i just don't know.
so i listened to my camarón the whole way home on the metro and it's nearly 3a and i'm exhausted and my fingers are getting numb from typing so much. i'm so sorry for the rambling. i've just had a really amazing weekend and had to share. :)
photographs will be forthcoming in their own posts.
spain is just.
i feel like i have so much to say about the past two days, but i also feel like nothing i could say could do any of it justice. yesterday was the real madrid-athetlc bilbao game, and it was a completely unforgettable experience. the skies in madrid opened up yesterday, just a little into the actual game itself. before the game, rey, leah and i went to a cervecía across the street from the bernabéu and the atmosphere all around the stadium was just amazing. it was that madridismo, that magic, just a hum and a buzz and people were singing and toasting and cheering and chanting and god so beautiful. hahaha we got "mini" cups of beer which is actually like a KEG of beer and even though i do not like beer, this beer wasn't terribly terrible. it was estrella damm. and i was just that nervous that i required such a thing. i felt a little looser after finishing it and i met up with michele since we were sitting on the same side of the stadium (i was one section over from where i was during the osasuna game, one section closer to the corner, in the 5th row) and i promptly lost her. :( the boys came out and warmed up and they played like FIVE SECONDS of "se parece más a ti" and michele and leah and rey and i, all in different sections on different sides of the stadium, FREAKED OUT. hahahahahah. anyway so the game. ohgod the game.
i thought the penalty/red card against bilbao was incredibly rash and harsh to be quite honest. but i didn't really see the penalty since it was across the pitch, but it just seemed... really sudden and like. i don't know. i mean, i'm so glad we got the goal, but it was so strange. and then fucking yeste scored for bilbao and it all felt so shaky. but it was so wonderful to see guti starting as captain. (oh god. guti.) oh before the game, they announced that metze was leaving and he came out and waved to everyone and it was sad. :( the whole game, the fans were singing to guti and i just knew. you could just... godguti.
aldjfa anyway so the skies opened up and i just had a tiny scarf to hide under so i did. OHOH iker before and while cris was taking the penalty was the CUTEST FUCKING THING EVER. as soon as it got called he brought his hands up to his mouth and he was fumbling and gnawing on his shirt and he had his hands over his mouth the entire time and even when cris easily scored, he just kinda shakily walked back to his goalpost and tapped it like he always does. i love when iker is on my side because it feels like i'm getting to watch him when no one else does. i love watching him when he's off the ball. he's the most precious creature in the entire world.
sergio ramos is the love of my life and the sun in my sky and the bop in my bop shoo bop shoo bop etcetc. um. i'm going to race ahead here to his goal because it was kind of a life-changing moment for me. it all happened in slow and fast motion simultaneously. because... AHHHHHHH okay. i saw him with the ball and i was clapping to myself like a retard and he just kept going and i was like "...yes." and he got past the halfline and i was like "...yes!?" and he KEPT GOING and got up to the box and by this time i'm like. hahaha god i'm so glad i don't know how stupid i looked. his run. his run. he was fucking fearless. when he kicked it and it got blocked and deflected back to him i knew he had it. i knew. and i was all "ohmygod he's going to score he's going to score he's going to fucking score in front of me ohmygod he's he's he's" and he DID and he did and al;sjkfalsdkfja;idjfaljsdgl AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. i lost my mind. i LOST MY MIND. i was trying to take pictures to SAVE IT but HE WAS RUNNING STRAIGHT TOWARD ME TO CELEBRATE and he was pulling his shirt up and doing his somersault and he was JUST BEING SERGIO FUCKING RAMOS SCORING A BEAUTIFUL GOAL IN FRONT OF ME and ohmygod ohmygod i was nearly sobbing. i cannot believe that happened in front of me. i can't believe i got to see him score a goal. and not just ANY goal, THAT goal. that amazing fucking goal that wasn't a header, it wasn't from a set piece or a corner, it was from a beautiful run that was just his, and a play that was just his, and a moment of beauty and brilliance that was just him and i cannot believe i got to see that. i cannot believe that i was so lucky. i will never ever forget it. not ever.
i cannot believe that game ended 5-1. it didn't feel like a 5-1 game. it was a very tough game and a very scary game until the last fourth of it and god i just can't believe i got to see so many goals. cris is so wonderful. he is an absolute joy to watch. his power is something that needs to be seen in person. his passion for playing just thrums all around him and i swear to god you can feel it. i swear. i didn't want the match to end and it seemed like it ended so quickly. they all clapped and applauded us and we applauded them and even though barca won 3-2 (and kanoute didn't get a penalty call that he deserved, thanks again, refs), everyone left satisfied because our boys were spectacular and we did all we could. i tried to get down closer to the pitch because sergio was the last off because he's an amazing person and he clapped to us the longest and then he got stopped on the side of the pitch for like five minutes because he was doing interviews and then he disappeared down into the tunnel. :( my last glimpse of him. ah sergio. :(
and then the ultras kept singing the guti song they'd been singing the whole time, the one they'd gotten louder singing toward the end of the game. they were singing and waving their flags and i know the ultras aren't the best people, but politics aside, they love real madrid. they love that team and you can feel it the whole game and they drive the team on when all the other fans are being quiet. i love them just for that. anyway. the ultras kept singing to guti and he came back out. well after the game, well after everyone else had gone into the tunnel, he came back out and went over to them and they sang even louder for him and you could just feel it. god i can't even type it out. i haven't let myself think about it. he walked away from them after several minutes and applauded those of us who were still there and we applauded him right back and then he went back down into the tunnel and i could not stop saying to myself "last time for the last time for the last time." he's our guti. how can he go anywhere else? how could he want to? how can he wear any other color. god my heart hurts. i can't think about this.
god anyway so, i left and i just felt really empty because of guti. full of love and full of happiness and pride and madridismo, but just so... he's ours. blah.
michele had texted me and said "nadal's here" and i KNEW he would be. i knew he wouldn't miss this game. i still didn't realize he was going to be playing in the madrid open, but i knew he'd be here regardless. and i was walking around the stadium to find michele, and i see the VIP exit door and i was like "...hm." so i hover. and linger. and move around. i move away from the throngs of people near the barriers set up and stand in the street. all of a sudden, a white lexus suv that said "mutua madrileño 2010" on the side pulled up RIGHT NEXT TO ME and i was like "hahahah oh fuck ohmygod." and i look up and out of the VIP door comes uncle toni. UNCLE. TONI. and i like. spaz out BECAUSE IT'S UNCLE TONI and i was staring at him giddily and people started to just FREAK OUT because rafa comes out and everyone just. pushes forward and i'm like RIGHT AGAINST the lexus waiting for him because i've been shoved into it and then all of a sudden rafa was right in front of me and he's just being mauled and i'm like "um is this life??????" and so i reach out and just. touch him. hahahahaha. I KNOW IT'S LAME AND RANDOM AND WEIRD BUT IT'S RAFA AND HE WAS IN FRONT OF ME. i've touched rafa nadal. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
THEN THEN THEN i walk around the stadium to find michele and i don't so i call her and i'm like "where are you?" and she's like "gago just drove by me." and i'm like "......................where are you?!" and so i RUN back around to the other side of the stadium where i just came (the stadium is huge btw hahaha) and right as i'm walking up i see albiol drive right by me and i'm like WHAT JUST HAPPENED TO ME and then i cross the road after his car and XABI DRIVES BY ME and i'm just. hahahahahahaha like seriously what. so i'm standing in the path of the cars-ish so that i will have to move back just enough to let them through and therefore be right next to them and RUBEN DE LA RED DRIVES BY ME and he was beaming and waving at everyone and ohmygod RUBEN. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. ruben. :( oh and marcelo drove by! by then i find michele and we scramble around to an even better location and we proceed to see/touch the cars of: arbeloa, higuain's entire family, perez (HAHAHA), garay, IKER CASILLAS, GUTI, diarra (ohmygod his car blew our minds), arbeloa, CRIS (ohmygod, the mayhem when he drove by. the mayhem. it was like the beatles plus michael jackson plus the queen of england or something idk). it was amazing because when i touched guti's car my fingers got dirty and i was like heeee guti car dirt! and then i touched iker's car and his car was wet so it washed off my guti dirt. :( but it was iker water, so! (ohmygodi'msolame.) so we're standing there and this kid says that raúl left first so :( and you know, it's michele and i so we're waiting for our baby. we'd decided that we were going to kiss his window when he drove by and we waited and waited and waited. ...and waited. we were out there for at least an hour. everyone left that was waiting for the cars to pull out. everyone. michele and i are standing there in the middle of the road and they're sweeping and cleaning up and fixing the inside of the car garage back to normal and i'm like "....michele. i don't think he's coming." and she's like "yeah. i think you're right." and i was like "i want you to realize how completely typical this is of the two of us that we're standing here REFUSING TO BELIEVE that we are not going to see sergio ramos." hahahahahahahaha. it was TRAGIC and we were major sadface and we walked away slowly and kept glancing back but no sergio :( some kid said he thought he left around when raúl did but SINCE WHEN IS SERGIO RAMOS READY QUICKLY. that kind of hair doesn't just happen! :(
OH and llorente left in a cab! the cab drove by and we were like "LLORENTE HOLAAAAAA" and he smiled and waved and heeeeeee so adorable. THE ONLY BILBAO PLAYER I LIKE.
so that was my night. amazing. absolutely amazing. magicmagicmagic real madrid is magic.
and this morning i dragged myself out of bed and went down to el rastro which is like. a huge outdoor market they set up every sunday in la latina and it was so amazing. ahhh i cannot wait to go back next week. i bought two skirts and a pair of earrings and two rings and a scarf and keychains and stickers (real madrid and spain and madrid) and a camarón de la isla flag and it was so so crowded and there were so many stalls but it was wonderful. i love la latina SO MUCH. absolutely my favorite neighborhood in madrid. it's wonderful. so much atmosphere and so many bohemians and great little restaurants and shops and balconies and i just love it. i didn't want to leave.
i went down to sol to el corte inglés to buy a curling iron because mine won't work here for whatever reason and i ended up going to h&m which was FIVE FLOORS TALL and just terribly terrible in a wonderful way but i finally got a hoodie!
then i met rey and leah at dubliners to watch premier league, but they weren't playing liverpool. :( we watched manchester united and chelsea and holy fucking shit chelsea, 8-0!? jesus. we watched them get their trophy and blahblahblah and ohmygod there was this group of guys there for a stag party (all english boys of course) and they were so HILARIOUS. the husband-to-be was dressed like batman and was so so funny and they kept listening in to my and rey and leah's conversation and they turn around at one point and were like "you girls know your football" ahahahahha. three random american girls in madrid. so silly. so we start talking to them and i talked to batman about liverpool and tottenham (he's a spurs fan ahahah) and arsenal and etcetc and he told us the story about how stevie's first little girl isn't his but some hotel doorman's named pancake HAHAHAHA. ohmygod. so i defended stevie and got picked on about not hating jt and etcetc and they were just so funny. we also talked about pepe reina and he was like "oh god such a great keeper" and i was like "yes!" and he was like "what i don't understand is how the fuck del bosque can start casillas over pepe reina. reina is such a better keeper" and he went on this rant about iker and i go "...iker casillas is my favorite keeper in the world." and he pulled his batman mask down over his eyes and was like "...i'm just gonna shut up now." hahahahah. another one of the guys was in a dress (???) and they played some weird english tiebreaking game to see who won the €100 for betting on the game and hahaha oh sigh. so funny.
then we went to some place called foster's hollywood i think? leah wanted something mexican and this was a pseudo-american restaurant and ahhahaha it was so funny. it was a spanish interpretation of american food. then rey and i went to lavapiés to find this flamenco show from a flier that i'd gotten at el rastro that morning and we finally found it and we were immediately skeptical because there were like. no spaniards there. but we pay the €10 and get our wine and sat around for a bit and the amount of english being spoken around us was depressing haha. then we were led back into a little darkened room in the back of the building with chairs set up in front of a stage and just.
the flamenco was amazing. the singer defies all the words i know. he had duende, that's all there is to it. he was heart-wrenching and passionate and beautiful and rey and i both were just so taken by him, by his voice and his love. the guitarist was really amazing and the three girls dancing were so beautiful to watch. the first girl was my personal favorite because she was so graceful but the second girl stole the show. the singer couldn't keep his eyes off of her and her joy at what she was doing was tangible. she was just alive and passionate and entrancing. it was a fantastic show and i was so glad we found it. the only thing was like... all the tourists there? and they were all young kids, kids that were probably at el rastro this morning like i was. but they still watched it like tourists, you know? and maybe they felt something, but they were talking throughout and taking pictures and flamenco is like going to church, to me. it demands that level of respect? i mean, it's a spectacle, but they're not to be made a spectacle of. i hate that they have to put on shows for tourists. i hate that i'm a tourist. but i watched it as a lover of spain and a lover of flamenco and their passion and duende. i don't view them as caricatures of themselves, of spain. it's hard to watch flamenco around people who aren't moved by it. ahh i just don't know.
so i listened to my camarón the whole way home on the metro and it's nearly 3a and i'm exhausted and my fingers are getting numb from typing so much. i'm so sorry for the rambling. i've just had a really amazing weekend and had to share. :)
photographs will be forthcoming in their own posts.