It was madness I tell you!

But it really had to be done. I couldn’t come to Málaga during Feria and not take part at least a little. So I wandered over to the centre of town around midday yesterday and took in the festivities. Málaga has a different way of celebrating their Feria. They do set up a big fairground, but this normally doesn’t get going until sometime after about 9.30 pm … so during the day the fair actually takes place in town. Boy, does it ever. Hoards of people were milling about, music was blasting and blaring … I took it all in for as long as I could stand to before deciding I had to get the hell out of there. And then I remembered a recently opened bar called La Reserva del Pastor that Victoria had told me about, so I headed over there hoping it wouldn’t be like many of the bars in the centre with their special “Feria menus”. And happily it wasn’t. In fact it was an oasis of calm in the madness that is Feria in Málaga. So I dragged my weary self up onto a bar stool, introduced same weary self to the owners and then was thoroughly and most pleasantly spoiled beyond belief…

I mean, okay, they knew that I know Victoria and that I was taking photos to put on teh internets, but sheesh. I was wined and dined and then wasn’t allowed to pay for most of it. So what was meant to be a quick “self defense” pit stop turned into a couple of gorgeous hours in very pretty surroundings with Belén and Luís constantly checking up on me to see if I needed or wanted anything else. Oh, and there was a biznaga seller, of course. Note that in the daytime the jasmine buds are still quite closed up … by the evening they all open up and turn into a big puff ball of heady fragrance. But I digress. After “dessert” (a complementary glass of Victoria #2) I had a pleasant stroll through the gardens on my way home and wanted nothing more than to take a long shower, put on something comfy and take a siesta. But it was not to be.

Manolo had told me his cleaning lady would be showing up sometime during the week and there she was. So I parked myself in the livingroom and got some work done while she finished up. I finally got my shower a couple of hours later, but by then it was too late for a siesta so I decided to “tough it out” until bedtime by watching DVDs and eating popcorn on the sofa, with a gentle sea breeze wafting into the room and my lovely view of the port.

But today is a real work day. Victoria will be picking me up sometime this morning and we’ll head out to the bodega. Not sure if we’ll make it to the vineyards. In any case, I’ll have my laptop and camera with me and reckon it should be quite an interesting day. Stay tuned…