New Friends and Seen on the Streets of Jerez

I’ve met up with some other Flamenco dancers from around the world too, which has also been amazing. It has always fascinated me, in a good way, how easily dancers can connect and form community. As we’ve been wandering about the city these last couple of days, everywhere we have gone people have been friendly, stopped to chat with us, and answer out questions. It seems there is a chain of connections here, and once you make one connection, others just sort of fall into place. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced!

I’ve been running about a lot since the festival began. It’s one event after the other, interspersed with trips to the small grocery store and doing mundane things like laundry and dishes. Along my walks about the city center, here are some of the ore notable things I’ve encountered:

1. Buskers here sing and/or dance Flamenco, mostly, but I’ve also seen a bassoon busker.
2. An older woman (looked to be 70-80) corralling children (not related to her) on the street:
3. To a young boy picking his nose, she said, “Muy guapo!” The little boy immediately dropped his finger from his nose.
4. To a little girl lying on the ground, she said, “Dónde està tu mujer?” The girl’s mother heard and finally noticed her daughter lying on the ground.
5. Men walking about in matador costumes
6. A marching band parading through the square, which was cool, but everyone one the street was totally oblivious. Perhaps this is a common phenomenon here. Time will tell.
7. A blue van with a huge Sex Pistols poster in the window
8. A sign condemning the US and Israeli actions in Gaza