FERIA DE MANILVA AGOSTO 2008

Thursday 7th/ Friday 8th August.

First thing in the morning we called into the local doctors in the village and signed the papers and acquired a doctor,so now we are fully into the Spanish system! Friday turned out to be a “ Helluva ” day that we had not planned,In the morning we went to the hypermarket in Estepona as usual and came home and packed everything away,just as Mano called in with Fabio and asked us out for lunch.He had decided to take the day off and switched off his phone at the same time,Anna is away in North Wales till next week so he had brought Fabio out for a walk and then took him back to his Spanish grandparents for lunch as both Carlos and Ana Mari were working at the Aparthotel.We called into a couple of the local bars and then went down to Sabinillas to a beachfront Chiringuito for a “ Frituria de Pescado” Octopus,Squid,Hake,Sea Bream and baby Whitebaite all cooked in a very light batter with chunks of Lemon on the side and served with a salad starter and accompanied with Baby Clams,washed down with the local Tinto de Verano,sat by the beach overlooking Africa on the hottest day of the year so far! What a life! We then came back up to the village and stopped for a couple more drinks in Bodega Augustine before we called into to see Carlos and Anna Mari in their new house and watched the opening of the Olympic games on their new large screen TV.We then came home for a siesta as we had decided to go down to the Feria as Mano had got us tickets to go and see the concert later in the evening.The Feria ground is down in the valley below us and is now a purpose built area for all sorts of avtivities including the local weekly market as well as a large car park for Sabinillas during the summer.The Feria is a very large Spanish festival and also has a very noisy fairground with all sorts of big rides for us adults and small one’s for the children.As in Spain the whole family goes out together from Babies to Great grandmothers! There are all sorts of food outlets and restaurants serving fast food to typically Spanish Tapas such as Whole Baby Grilled Rabbit! The Feria ground is covered in bright fairy lights and starts to get going as the sun goes down and carries on till 4/5 o’cock in the morning from Wednesday to Sunday.On the open air stages there are all sorts of music and dancing as well as local Samba bands and the concert on Friday was a very popular Spanish singer called “ El Arrebato ” who hit the stage at midnight and went on till past two o’clock in the morning,Every body was there to see him and the show was on live on ManilvaTV.The pictures below give you just a taste of it,the blonde in the new sparkled top,Brenda with the latest hair by Gissy,El Aarrebato on stage,who was very loud and got the place rocking,Mano giving Fabio a ride on the small horse’s,our next door neighbour’s son with his wife and new baby son Pablo all dressed up,the family picture is of Rafael,Marjoleine and their six month old daughter with Rafael’s mother and father and Pablo’s mother,They are all related as our next door neighbour is the sister of Marie Luisa,Rafael’s mother!! The last picture is of Juan and Amelia who are Anna and Mano’s best friends and who live in the village and who we have become friends with over the past eight years since we first came to Manilva in 2000.