My First Protest

Rocío and I went out tonight. I don't know if I am helping her at all with her English because when we are together, we mostly speak in Spanish, it is probably 20% English and the rest Spanish. At first we just walked around Granada arm in arm while she told me how she passed her weekend. Ah, to be young and have three boys in love with you all at the same time. Poor Rocío! We were taking pictures of ourselves with her laptop in front of Fuente de las Batallas in Puerta Real. This old man kept trying to talk to us over and over and finally Rocío told him that we were very busy studying. 

We went to Café Fútbol to have churros and chocolate. When we first walked in, Rocío told the waiter behind the counter that he had beautiful eyes. It is true, they were very large, very blue eyes. (Everyone here loves light eyes and blond hair because it is so rare.) We sat by the heater because it is finally cold here. The churros and chocolate at Café Fútbol ARE the best in Granada. On our way out, the blue-eyed waiter totally winked at Rocío, but she was too busy talking on her phone to notice. She was totally swooning over him afterwards. We'll probably go back there next week so she can ligarse with Señor Blue Eyes. One of her friends called and said that he was at a protest outside the Ayuntamiento (government building) and did we want to come? I was curious, so we went. The government is trying to pass a law forbidding people to eat, dance, play music or perform in the street (among other things). If they pass the law, you could be fined for eating sunflower seeds and spitting the shells in the bushes. Street music, flamenco and dancing are totally part of the culture here. To me (and obviously to the other protestors) the law doesn't make much sense. At the protest there were tons of people, mostly hippies holding signs that read Free Art, Color Your Mind, and If You Suppress Free Expression, the Plazas will Die. A lot of protestors were holding candles and there was a space the size of a room on the ground in the plaza filled with candles stuck to the ground with their own wax. There were several people jamming on instruments together. I saw two men sitting on caja drums which are used in Flamenco music, a saxophone player, two accordion players, countless guitar players, a strange instrument that looked like a small piano with a tube to blow in on one end, and several people were banging on pots or cookie tins. It was kind of wild. Rocío held onto my hand so we wouldn't get separated in the crowd. We danced a little to the music, very conservatively--mostly hand clapping and swaying. There were some women who were REALLY gettin' down, but not to the beat of the music, probably to music in their heads. I'm fairly certain that ALL the hippies in the area were gathered there, many smoking marijuana. There were more dreadlocked heads in the crowd than not. What a bad day to leave my camera at home!

Rocío introduced me to a few of her friends from school, one of the guys who likes her. I went home after about 20 minutes since I have to get up at 7:30 am tomorrow to get the kids ready for school. It was interesting to be there people watching, but wasn't really my scene. Plus, now I have a headache from all the smoke. The life of an old married lady is not the life of a 19 year old, but I don't mind. I like being at home with my family much more than partying/protesting in the street.