Flamenco With AYA

Last night Patricia invited me to go to a Flamenco Show with the new group of AYA Study Abroad Students. They were going to Casa Patas, literally blocks from my house, so it was really convenient for me! I got to meet all 5 of the students (Well, I already knew Sonia); the group is really small this semester! I'm thankful that when I studied abroad there were thirteen of us--and six of us from Ripon! I think the group of students definitely impacts your semester, and I know that my experience would have been dramatically different had the group of students been so much smaller.

I had been to Casa Patas once before, when my mom and my sister came to visit me when I was studying here in 2009. It is a nice place and they put on a good show. We had stage-side tables and I knew right when we sat down that we would be sprayed with sweat...I warned the girls next to me to enjoy their drinks before the dancing got really heated up! And sure enough, they got to twirling and stomping and the sweat came a' flyin' (mostly from the guy)!

Flamenco is one of the Spanish traditions I really enjoy. It is just an incredible amount of passion--you can see it in both the singer's and the dancers' faces and it just draws you in. It's so beautiful. I really need to see live Flamenco more often. After the show was over, a group of Spaniards invited us to go to another bar with live music off of Huertas, but I can't remember the name of the place. We didn't go with them, instead, I showed the Riponites around my barrio (Lavapiés) and we ended up getting dinner at a little place on Calle Argumosa called La Pimienta. We were kind of disappointed with their selection (granted, it was almost midnight), but the only things they had available were tostadas. So we ordered Berenjena a la Miel, a Cheese Tostada Platter, and some lovely red wine. The food was great, but I wish they had more choices available!