Cold days and hot nights.

Our one day in Cordoba turned out to be a cold one, but the night was hot. We had spent most of the day trying to stay warm, so I fully expected our night of Flamenco to be cold as well. We went out in the rain at about 10:20 pm, rarely heard of in our house, and took the very short walk to the ancient hall where the little man who hawked the tickets welcomed us with open arms. We were ushered to table 11, "A wery good seat, a wery good seat." At 10:30 sharp the lights went low and a short stocky man with a guitar took the stage and began to play easily recognizable Spanish music. Soon a very large man came on in near darkness and began to wail along . He had very strong lungs. Then another singer joined in and the lights came up on a pair of the dancers. From then on a steady flow of clacking castinettes, clapping hands, stomping feet, strumming guitars and wailling voices filled the air. The show lasted almost 2 hours, it was very professional and they did not try to sell drinks every 15 minutes. It was an experience that we agreed was wonderful. The people, the setting, both perfect. A hot night after a cold day.