Sleepless in Sevilla

I showed up in Sevilla a week and a half ago with no place to stay, fingers crossed that there would still be walk in space or couches available at the hostel there. I mean I arrived at 7 a.m., how could I possibly get scooped?
Walked into the hostel to see people sacked out all over the place, bags all over the place...even that early in the morning it was a bit of a madhouse. When I responded no to the question "do you have a reservation?" a pained look crossed my questioner's face and he told me they didn't have any space. But if I liked I could get on the waiting list for the couch, there was only one person ahead of me for it. Aaaargh.
I stashed my bags and set out looking for a hostal (cheap hotel) with rooms. I checked in at about 8 or 10 of them with my bad spanish "buscar una habitacion for la noche?". The response was inevitably "completo!" which means "we're full! too bad for you!".
Finally I walked in to a place where I noticed the proprieter was speaking english with another harried looking young woman and pointing her in the direction of another hotel. So I asked him if he had a place, received the expected "completo" response, and then asked if he knew of any other places that had rooms available. This guy was so amazing, he got on the phone and called three or four places but all were full. Finally he asked if I was willing to stay out of town ("yes!") and called a place in a town about 12 km outside of Sevilla. They had a room thank god and so I was booked in for three nights at 25 Euros a night...not too shabby,
The reason for all this madness is the Feria de Abril which takes place every year. This is a huge fair that takes over the city for about a week and features daily bullfights, women all over the city in fancy flamenco dress, huge combs in their hair, men in suits and not a mullet in sight (I have finally located all of Spain's hot men. They are in Sevilla.), people riding through the city on horseback or in carriages, all on their way to the massive fairgrounds. The fairgrounds themselves are amazing, street after street of private tents that people and their friends party in, impromptu flamenco in the street, mothers and small daughters in matching dresses dancing, horses and horses and more horses and large water trucks spraying down the streets. Trying to get across the street becomes an exercise in 19th Century common sense...I mean do I get the right of way or does the horse? How close do I want to get to one of those things? You can't exactly dodge between them like they're Smart Cars can you?
It was really cool to see although I always had to catch a bus back to my hotel town so could never stay for the real party late at night.
I very seriously considered going to a bullfight (I know I know, but I want to try to understand) but discovered they were more expensive than I thought and so gave up on that idea. Probably for the best.
I met an old man at the bus stop who didn't speak any english and knew a few words in french...there wasn't anyone else to talk to so he talked to me even though he knew I couldn't understand him. He decided to give me Spanish lessons using French and Italian as a base. We went through "Toi? es Tu!", "Nino? es Petit Garcon!" and finally "Nina? es Petit Garcona!". Ahhhh....claro! Gracias. When we got off the bus we walked as far as the bull ring which was his destination and he pointed me toward the Feria grounds. I think he was trying to make a date to meet up again but I kept saying "huh?" and finally he gave me up as being too stupid.
On Monday the fair was over and I was able to get a bed in the hostel where I stayed for 5 nights. As usual I met a bunch of great people and we spent too many nights staying up too late. I was thoroughly trounced at chess and finished reading Don Quixote. Took a day trip to Cordoba to see the amazing and massive mosque with a cathedral built in the middle of it. It was incredible and I will post photos soon.
I responded to some stress on my last day there by getting stinking drunk and making an ass of myself in various ways involving cameras and falling down (I maintain I was pushed) and then sobered up sitting by the river listening to people play bongos in the distance until the sky got light at 7 a.m.
I came to Cadiz a couple of days ago and met up with some cool people here as well...we're planning to rent a car tomorrow and head out on a 5 or 6 day road trip up into Extremadura and then back down to the Costa del Luz and Tarifa. We're going to sleep on beaches where we can and in the car where we can't and just go until we smell so bad we can't stand it anymore. I can't wait.