a warm fuzzy feeling if i ever knew one

I have so much to share with you guys...what an amazing weekend :)

So Saturday, we took a day trip to the beach! ..or so we thought. The town Huelva is about an hour away and according to some website "nestled in the branches of the ocean." So naturally we thought we would be soaking up the sun in lovely little Huelva. So we get there and the tourist stand with maps is closed. We walk around for a while until it opens back up. The town was small, not very pretty, very average looking and had no "attractions" in sight. So naturally, we anxiously ask the tourism guy "which way is the beach?!" and he goes "well, here's the bus station" (ie where we just came from) "you have to take a bus to the nearest beach, Punta Umbria." Me- "Seriously? There's no beaches in Huelva?" Guy- "Nope, the coast we have here is all industrial." So we laughed about it and I felt extremely bad, cuz I was the one who encouraged Huelva as a destination in the first place :/

No biggie though, we got on the 2 euro bus ride to Punta Umbria and frolicked on the beach for the rest of the day. It was neat to touch the ocean from this side of the world.

Then comes Sunday. The day we've all been waiting for. Drum roll please.........This was the day of Gracia and her granddaughter's big family birthday party. Gracia turned 75, and Ana turned 1! Here's how the day went:

Fali (Gracia's 40-something year old son) picked me up to head to the party at about 11. Tally and I were supposed to be in the same car ride there, but plans got changed around and we ended up going there separately. We picked up Fali's kids from the "real campo". I was under the impression that the party was AT the campo (farm). Little did I know, there are 2 different family places she talks about.

        About an hour away in Rocío, Fran (Gracia's son-in-law) has a vacation home. Not looks-wise, but feeling/usage wise...this is the Door County, WI of Andalusia, Spain. Year round, the town has an extremely small population. However over summer break, holidays and weekends, families flock to Rocío to celebrate. All of the streets are paved with sand. There are just as many horse and buggies as there are cars. In a very stereotypical way--it fulfilled all of my "old fashion Spain" clichés that I had made up in my head. We lucked out with the weather too. I swear the sky was just screaming "Look at me, I'm freaking awesome." >>>
      When we got there we met all of Fran's family and the random other family friends who were there. Gracita was so excited to see us! There were maybe about 40 of us total. And then add 10ish kids to that. The house itself has 8-12 rooms, a roof top patio, a hang-out/tv room, outdoor dining room, kitchen, a stable for horses, and a porch out front.
     They started barbecuing when we got there and literally everywhere I turned, someone offered me a sandwich, cheese, a beer, tinto de verano, random slabs of grilled meat, and egg salad. It felt so warm and fuzzy (if you will) to be so very included. As Tally pointed out, this was a full day of not "seeing cool things" but just BEING. and I loved it.
      Fali took us out to the roof. We wandered to the back of the house to see the mules and the big cart they carry. One of "our aunts" told us we could take a ride in the cart later on. eeeeeeeeeeeekk! While we were hanging out visiting on the front porch, adult Flamenco dancers walked by! Apparently there were shows all throughout the day to celebrate "Día de Andalucía." We had fun playing with all the little kids, from ages 4 months, to 11 and then 15 and then 18 years old. 2 of our girl cousins are 19 and 21...they're very nice, and I hope they want to hang out with us more :)
     After a small sandwich and many different kinds of grilled meat came the paella in a huge pot. Literally this thing could hold 2 small children. Not that you would cook 2 small children but you know what I mean. The next 'course' was just drinks. Along with the drinks came lots of singing and dancing. 3 little girls were cute and brave enough to show us some of their flamenco moves! Then came the coffee, then they served up 3 cakes... 1 chocolate, 1 creme of some sort and one apple. Whew..my stomach's tired just thinking about it!

    The song and dance didn't end until we said goodbye at about 8:30. One of the uncles was drumming away while everyone else sang along to traditional spanish songs. They saw how much fun we were having and asked us to show them an american song or dance. We thought about it for a while and were nearly stumped with what to teach them! We eventually plotted with the 5 and 11 year old girls to do the bunny hop. It was a hit. we had a line of 15 kids and adults bunny-hopping around the table. Now why can't we party like this in the U.S.?!
      There is so much love in this family (and in Spanish culture in general) and they are not afraid to show it. For instance, cousins will ask each other for kisses randomly. The nephew gave his uncle a piggy back ride through the hallway. People were hanging all over each other for no reason but to show love. And for the babies--they cant go 5 minutes without being clobbered with kisses!

    Just when the sun was starting to set...time for the mule ride! We hopped in with the 10 kids. Gracia, 2 aunts and an uncle also joined. Like I said before...the sun was perrrrrfect. The town and the atmosphere of the weekend was just awesome. People were out on their own porches singing and drinking. We ended up by a branch of the ocean, where there is a gorgeous, famous church. Next to the church was another building to pray, filled with candles. One of the aunts explained to me that when you touch the virgen's (<<click this link, this virgen del Rocío is apparently very famous) blanket, you make a wish and its supossed to be a big deal. I touched it :) The candles were gorgeous. Yet another warm and fuzzy feeling of the day. It's hard to find words to describe it...the hotness of the room, the smell of burning wax and people's hopes.
    The only little bitty thing that was frustrating about the day was the language barrier...since I only have a limited rwepitware of words to work with, it was hard to tell them how MUCH I really really appreciated everything they did for us. They stopped our mule ride just to show us the famous parts about the town. They wanted to learn an American song. We sang "Happy Birthday" in english too. I am indebted in thanks to them. I feel so comfortable here, and I'd like to 'officialize' how I now have a second family in Seville.

The birthday girls! Gracia (75) and Ana (1)

That day will be one I remember for a looooooong long time.