Saturday, January 22 -- Mercadillo y Fútbol
Mercadillo. ¿Qué es? Well, according to our culture teacher, it's where people make a living by selling goods... goods that were at one point owned by a company or store... and then were "misplaced" (read: stolen) and now are being sold on the black market. So really the mercadillo is a giant marketplace full of illegally obtained crap sold at a tenth of its retail value AKA - a bargain hunter's dream!
The mercadillo sells absolutely anything and everything you could ever want. From the useful -- shoes, clothes, curtains, and watches... to the interesting - fresh pineapples and maybelline make-up... to the downright awkward - massive amounts of underwear. literally everywhere.
It took us an entire hour to walk from one side of the market to the other. There were stalls on either side just filled to the brim with STUFF. And all the while the vendors were shouting at the top of their lungs, "VENGA! SOLO CINCO EUROS! OCHO EUROS! VENGA VENGA!" There were so many hordes of people that I was glad I had heeded my señora's advice to wear my money belt.
The deals were pretty wonderful though -- there were entire stalls dedicated to 5€ shoes or clothes. Most of the pieces were incredibly comical - for example the silkscreened rihanna t-shirts or the reptile patterned pleather leggings. But if you looked hard enough, you'd come across a really nice piece. The whole time we walked I just pictured the spreads that InStyle magazine could create after a mercadillo treasure-hunt!
Eventually we were close to the end (and near the end of my energy and patience, as there is so much shouting and crowds a person can take) -- so I decided it was now or never to find botas. Luckily there was a great shoe stand right there and so after searching through countless piles of leather boots, I was able to find one that I actually liked -- hot black leather heeled booties. The trouble now was finding a pair in matching sizes. WOW. After a good five minute search, I finally found the matching size 37, paid the man a solid 8€, and then we were off.
Two minutes after I got back home to the apartment, my cell phone rang... it turned out to be my señora! Understanding her Spanish in person is rough -- but on a cell phone?! YIKES. I eventually got the gist of her saying she wanted to me to meet her to have tapas with her friends. Honestly, all I really wanted was a siesta, but I felt obligated to go. So I hit the streets (with a gigantic blister on the ball of my left foot) and met Carmen and her three friends at a nice tapas place. After an interesting salad that involved entirely way too many awkward cubes of ham (ew), they bought me a postre that was a creation of apple, cheese, and some sort of fruit soaked in honey. Not my favorite - but definitely fun to try.
After tapas, it was time for FÚTBOL!!! A group of us decided to go to the Granada match against ... maybe it was Huelva - it doesn't matter. Breanne and I, being conscious of the pick-pocketers that would no doubt attend this super crowded venue, decided it was a good idea to stuff our purses under a jacket. Breanne appeared to have an awkward growth on her hip, and I ended up looking legitimately pregnant.
Clearly taken prior to the Great Coat Stuff of '11
Our 20€ tickets were supposed to get us into the "party section" (Granada's version of Block-I/Orange Krush) -- but being clueless Americans, the 15 or so of us in our group could not figure out where our seats were... So we ended up sitting in the second row behind one of the goals. Maybe not the perfect perspective, but were basically ON the field.
Oh hi, I'm on the field.
my love Roberto, the goalie, works it in pink
And the game was so much fun. Beyond oogling at all of the athletes (#22 = love), we actually were able to enjoy a pretty exciting game! Shortly into the first half, there was some drama with Granada's goalie, Roberto. (he's like Cher or Madonna - only one name needed for this glorious hunk.) The ref ended up giving him a red card (BUMMMMER) and threw him out. This caused the crowd to go absolutely ballistic. If you ever want to learn how to swear in Spanish, just attend a fútbol match and you'll be covered.
drama in the stands as Roberto is thrown out
But even with our replacement goalie José Juan (RIP Roberto), we managed to come away with a 2-1 WIN! As soon as the final buzzer sounded, the crowd went CRAAAZZZYY! Confetti was everywhere and there were Granada scarves being whipped around in the air like nobody's business!
Although I lacked a true Granada fan's red scarf, I decided to get in the spirit of things... and ended up nearly taking Esteban's head off. For the love of the game, right?
So that's a random Saturday from awhile ago... Next up: Sevilla, Paris, Semana Blanca, Nerja.... oh man! So many adventures to narrate - so little time!
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