Peace and Quiet

Chris and I enjoyed the peace and quiet last night, now the village fiesta is over for another year. Miki and Foxy were back out in the dog-house in the yard, though Chico continues to sleep indoors, as he has done since his accident. We had five nights of heavy-bass dance music blaring out until 8.00 each morning, and this year they had moved its source a bit and it was a little louder than last year. We again closed the windows and shutters and put the air-con on all night and we did sleep through most of it, but it was quite trying during the evenings when it drowned out the television or our own music. We didn't go over to to join in quite so much this year because on Wednesday night I came down with the dreaded tummy bug that afflicts everyone here from time to time. It really only lasted for 24 hours but it left me feeling very tired and lethargic, with no appetite for a proper meal let alone fiesta food. But we did go over to the plazza on Friday night for the big open air mass. The fiesta is in honour of our patron saint the Virgen de la Carmen, and her statue was carried to the plaza and all the villagers surrounded her with bunches of beautiful flowers. You can see them all around the statue and piled onto a special trestle next to her. We have a nice young priest in the village who led the mass with the help of an older priest, and all the music was done by the village choir who sang beautifully as ever. Then everyone collected their flowers again and took them up to the church and the usual fiesta night life began. There was a very good fair this year with bumper cars, roller-coasters, roundabouts and a big area of children's rides. There are bars set up all around the plazza selling beers and wines, and serving tapas, and the streets are lined with little stalls af all description. I invited my friend Sylvia to come over and we walked around together. Chris kept popping home to check on the dogs. They were very frightened by all the noise and lights, particularly the volleys of loud rockets that sounded more like gunfire, which went off at random times throughout the days and evenings. We had them indoors with us for most of the time but they are not used to being left indoors, so we wanted to check on them regularly. When Sylvia went home, we had half an hour sitting on the plazza just watching everyone enjoying themselves. It is a very good-natured time and the atmosphere is great. Although the music was playing until 7.00 on Monday morning, when Chris took the dogs out that morning, many of the rides were dismantled and loaded up ready to move out, and apart from the strings of light still spanning the plazza, everything is now back to normal.