13 August, 2007

Back from the Gipsy Fiesta and then some...

Whew what a weekend!!!
Well, it started Thursday night...... Long weekends are pretty cool when you share them with your Amigos and Amigas... Thursday we headed down to Virginia for a concert with the Gipsy Kings... The concert wasn't until the next day but we decided to get the fiesta started a little early... Besides Mi Amiga de NOLA was heading in and I had to get down there muy pronto!!!! Okay I was 45 minutes late picking her up but.. We stopped for lunch and there was trafic.. If you don't know me by now when I give a time add at least a half an hour to the specified time...
At any rate... We picked her up and headed to the hotel.... Got settled and decided that we would take a drive into DC to grab a bite to eat... Well, we get there and there was a Byonce concert tying up all of down town DC and there was no parking to be found anywhere.... Scratch that idear... ooh a little aside.. At first it looked like maybe we had driven by the Hooker's ball or something...
All of the Hoochies with their silver shoes and minnnnnny skirts.. Oh la la... After we got out of the mess of down town we did a little drive by monument seeing... Honestly if you wanna see all of the monuments in DC... Just do a drive by..... Beats the hell out of doing all of that walking...... Anywho... We drove back to the hotel and found a place to eat there... After that we made it back to the hotel and decided that rest was in order...
The next day we spent the morning yakin and doing our nails... oooh how girlie...
Then we headed off to the Mall... oh la la... At the mall we met up with some chicas that i had been yakin with online.. It was good to finally put faces with names I am just bummed that we didn't get to spend more time together... We wondered around for a while then headed back to my room for a little R&R... And we met up with La Amiga De Gypsy Soul... Woo hoo... It was awesome to see each other out of France....
We left for the concert fairly early.. Met up with another bunch of chicas that I had spoken to online... It was pretty cool meeting up with them as well..
Finally the Concert rolled around... I was a litte anxious yet a litttle disapointed.. I knew Pablo wasn't going to be there so... But I went to see the rest of the band.. The show was fun... But the band seemed to be lacking energy? I guess that's how you can put it.... It was hot and muggy first of all thus making it look like a really bad Gitano wet t-shirt contest up there... tee hee. The music was amazing as always.. And Nicolas was in top voice... Besides all of the sound problems... oof one of these days they'll get a friggin sound guy who can actually make them sound good... The show was good... but flat... and i would have to say that 99% of the people there didn't really care but there were those of us who knew better...
After the show we went back to my hotel had a bite to eat, talked with Canut for a little while and hung out with Pacheco and a bunch of other folks in the lobby looking at some of his photographs.. He's a doll...
Finally at about 1:30 in the morning we headed back to my room where the yak fest continued... It's amazing to sit and share things with your friends who have the same passion for this stuff as you do... Finally at about 3 in the morning the fiesta was over... and i fell asleep..
the next morning i packed up my stuff and headed downstairs for a cup of tea..
I met up with three amigas from the night before it was cool.. At least we had a little bit of time to at least get to know each other before we all had to take off again.. Thanks girlies!!
My ride arrived and as I am walking out the door of the hotel the two amigas are chatting it up with Mi Primos de Gipsy Kings... Ale!!! These two broads yakin with Canut and Nicolas.... Hmmm i see how it is... tee hee...
I am glad I caught them, they were on their way to the airport and i didn't want to miss saying hello to Nicolas..
Caught him!! Whew!!
I can't say enough about these guys... when i stepped out of the door the welcome look and the sheer joy i saw in both he and Canut's eyes.. is priceless... oof..... Seeing these guys in a concert situation is iffy at best I never really get to sit and have one on one time with them... But I am used to it...
We catch up on family and make plans for dinner while we are in france and that's really all we have time for but hey it works for me...
After the Gitanos boarded their bus and we all blew kisses and peed our pants laughing at each other.. We took La Amiga De NOLA to the air port... BOOOOOO
Ya know!! Honestly we need to spend more time together other than just these little weekend thingies.. FRANCE ANYONE!!
After we said our hasta prontos and see ya laters... We headed back to DC for the NMAI Nation al Pow Wow
It's a little known fact... I have been so wrapped up with the Gypsies that I have almost neglected this part of my life... I have a great interest in Native People's Art, Music, and Culture... So perfect the National Pow Wow was also this weekend so we decided to check it out.... It was one of the most amazing events I have ever witnessed.. 1000 dancers from all over the Americas and 12 drum groups from through out the country... WOW!! I will post some photographs from the event as soon as I can... It was overwhelming at times to see these people living their culture and expressing it through song and dance...
For me it was the recharge that my soul had needed...
okay that's it for now i'll post pics as soon as I can
~Mel~

6 comments:

LL said...

Hey Mel!!!
I had a FABULOUS time!!!! Wow, it seems like just a dream! Being pickpocketed by Canut was such a blast!!! He and Nico made the day...Not to mention seeing Nico sprinting at the airport, bringing up the rear as they were holding up the flight for these guys! I thought I had seen it all!
You and Alexa were great as always and I am already planning my next weekend getaway whether it is another GK fix or a Frankito fix!
Friends like you are priceless and I will always love reliving my gitano adventures with you thru your pictures and writings!
All the best!
LL

~Mel~ said...

GIRL!!
Ya gotta get those pics developed!!
Canut picking your pocket?????
ALE!!! Gitanos have great hands no???
;-)))))))
I am glad you had such a great time chica!!!
Send me your pics and we'll throw them up on here.... with your permission of course!!!
Love ya toots!!
~Mel~

Anonymous said...

Hey Mel!!!!!!
It was a great weekend. You, Liz, the guys and all. Can hardly wait til we do it in France. And the the Indians,it's amazing how 2 cultures so far apart have so much in common. LOL
Take care all and yak at ya later.
As always love ya, Alexa ;-}

Shay (Pesha) said...

Canut picked your pocker LL
Awwww thats ma boy ;-)
Great pics Mel sounds like you all had the best time.
Pesha x

LL said...

Yes, Pesha, I had a great time! I also enjoyed reading you on Canut's blog. Hopefully, that will come back. I told him I was LL from the blog and he remembered AND handed me a card with his picture and email address. Mel can publish the pics and you will see from my expression that he was up to no good!!
LL ;-0

Gigi said...

About those hands, I think the word here is 'skillful' hahahaaa :) it was good seeing you woman! [and Alexa and your other friend too!] wish it could have been longer, but it was still nice... and I know it's been a while but I'm glad everybody made it home safely...