On riding in Feria

You know, I think the hardest things for me to blog about are the things I enjoy the most. Granada, going to Lisbon with my mom, riding a horse in Feria (Sevilla's biggest festival). I don't know why. You would think it would be easier to crank something out about it, but nope it's not. There too much stimuli, you do so much and are so happy you can't describe it. For example, here's my description of yesterday:

*Rise and shine early, catch up with the crew, and braid Neptuno-the horse I took to feria.

*After hours of prepping, get dressed, make friends with the local men (I'm one of the few girls, and from what I saw, the only blonde girl riding in Feria, so making friends is super easy), mount up, take pictures and ride into the city.

*Get to the Feria grounds. Stimulation overload. Everything smells so good and people are singing and laughing and screaming and playing guitars; the whole place is one big kaleidoscope of bright colors, smells, and sounds. I'm excited, my horse is excited, we're all dressed and ready to go.

*Basically when you go to Feria on horseback you saddle up for a minimum six-eight hour ride. All you do is walk to friends' or family's casetas, big tents people/associations own, and the hostess brings you out tapas and rebujito. Rebujito is a delicious drink made out of 7up and manzanilla. It's really sweet but really strong. You drink a couple of glasses at each caseta and you're in for a long, fun ride. You meet lots of new people and make new friends. There was one kid amped up on something-life, he says, who wanted to stand up on his horse. Sidenote: Did you know the police fine you if you're riding a horse in the wrong attire?

*That's it. You have the best view in the place--perfect for seeing all of the beautiful dresses and people dancing. But also the best place to be viewed. Sums up Spain--See and Be Seen.

See, writing about it doesn't do it justice. And it doesn't even begin to describe the chaos:

*The four year old riding a la crupa who fell and her dad, on the horse on her side, caught her midway through the fall and held her one hand until he could place her back on the horses butt.. Scary ten seconds!

*The fight that broke out in Parque María Luisa. All the riders go there around 8 or 830 to rest the horses and get a drink. So you're packed in with a bunch of stallions and mares touching sides, then add in the amount of rebujito everyone has been drinking. Thankfully I was off the horse when it happened. I was holding the baby stallion and Neptuno while Manu got drinks. It started with yelling and one horse rocking back on its hocks, then suddenly horses were kicking, people punching, other people falling off horses, others yelling "suelto!" which means loose, the loose horses trying to gallop through all of the others, people tossing their glass drinks so they could control their horses, police sirens (which are great for spooked horses)--Chaos. Luckily no one in our group was hurt

*General chaos of trying to walk through the masses in Feria. Not only are there lost tourists, but people in flamenco dresses, people wandering without cause, pushy horse carriage drivers, crossing the intersections was almost impossible.

But all this just added to the excitement and adrenaline of Feria. We rode from 130 until 1130 and I was pooped at the end! I didn't bring an extra set of clothes, so when everyone went back to Feria on foot after, I got a ride home and crashed to bed. If it doesn't rain Saturday, we'll go again on horse and I'll definitely bring an extra set of clothes then!