Spanish night out. Mmm.

Saturday night. We were invited to Cristina's friend's birthday. I had no desire to go clubbing in Seville but I decided for one night to follow Cristina and see how a Spanish night out was like.

Firstly you get ready for about 3 hours. Minimum. The Spanish are  immaculate when they go out. Boys as well as girls. It is the opposite of France where it is best to look as if you have not even tried to dress up but look stunning. No. Here it is all about who has the most talent at doing her make-up and hair. So they take ages. In 30 minutes I was ready. And therefore bored. So I chit chat to Cristina and she told me her sister was worse than her. Her sister would rewash her hair if she wasn't happy with the end result. And do the whole thing over again. They are very chilled nation and just like taking their time at doing everything... It's nearly an art. We went to have gazpacho next door, it was so fresh and delicious.

I convinced Cristina at 1130 to go for a drink because the evening was already feeling long. She agreed. Thank god. We went to our local little bar. I think it is the worst service I have ever seen. It's so bad it's funny. They are lovely but so so slow. I mean you have to wait 10 minutes for them to ask you what you want to drink and another 15 minutes for your drink and then the bill... 20 minutes.. But since there is no hurry for anything here it's not a problem...

Then we were meeting up with some of her friends. We walked for about 15 minutes to Plaza Alfalfa. I lively Plaza in Seville. We got there at around 1230 and there were dozens of children still playing and running around. Crazy huh? After waiting for quite a while for her friends we went back to one of the girl's house. Apparently we were having before drinks there. One of the girls when we got there was still not ready. It was about 0100. Crazy.

So we had drinks in the flat. Most people were from Malaga and there was one tortoise called Manuela in a tub full of water. Literally. I am not the worst pet owner.

Just a quick description of the flat, more a studio actually... I have never seen anything like it. The walls were covered in poster size pictures of the girl who lived there, called Mai posing as if she was a model. Her face and her striking a pose in a bikini or dressed up was on every wall. I just could not keep a straight face. I told Cristina and she found the whole thing hilarious... I guess this is not common then in Spain. It was crazy. I mean even family pictures all over the walls is weird.. and friends too I find but of yourself?!!!

Mai finished getting ready at 0130. She finally came out of the bathroom and after a tiny bit of encouragement (she did not need much pushing) she started singing. Flamenco. She had a good voice, to be fair.. But the whole thing was so cliché! I couldn't believe it. Then this guy Ricardo starts singing too. They clap hands and  dance Sevillana (which is similar to flamenco but a little different). The whole thing was a little surreal. I was just thinking what on earth am I doing here. But I guess in it's own way it was fun and more importantly soso Spanish.

But a guitar was missing. So they all decide that we treck to this other girl's flat who has a guitar so that they can do the whole thing properly, singing, dancing, clapping, guitar before they could go to the girl's birthday.

So at 0200 we leave again to this other girl's flat. They do the whole thing with the guitar... We got chit chatting to a couple of people. One of the girls had lived in Birmingham... We had something in common! Mmm.

At 0330 they were starting to think about going to that club... I guess the fact it was already so late saved me and we managed to fly off before getting there. I just could not do it. But I guess I got a very good feel at what a Spanish before party was like... An interesting experience.

So we went to Calle Betis in La Triana for a chilled drink next to the river. We discovered that it was la Feria de Santa Ana. This means pretty much the whole population of Seville was there. There was a very good lively mood and with the fresh air coming from the river it was lovely. Much nicer than going clubbing. By miles.