Sunday, April 27th "Bar Fights; Betis; Roast Chicken"

In the last few days we were witnessed some interesting behavior around Sevilla. On the street yesterday we saw a man and woman pointing at each other and screaming. A few other women stood by, yelling policia. As often happens here, everyone else stopped to watch the scene. After a minute more of screaming the man walked off with the woman following. The women standing around continued to shout for the police for another 5 minutes, but they were out of site by the time they arrived.

Last night we were in the Tex-Mex bar to watch the Betis game when a well-dressed (and drunk) fellow wandered up to the bar. The waiter quickly made his way to the door and told him he was not welcome here. The drunk fellow began shouting and the bartender (possibly the owner) came out to push him into the street. Soon 5-10 people from the bar were outside holding the drunk fellow back while he stumbled in circles, shouting and trying make his way to the bartender. One fellow who was next to us watching the game was able to move him away from the door and we had a few minutes of silence. I stepped outside once things calmed down and he started shouting again, throwing his helmet towards the bar. He jumped on his moto, grabbed his helmet and begin revving up the engine, trying to plow his way through some tables and a postcard stand. A fellow tried to convince him not to drive, and at least succeeded in having him turn around to leave in the other direction. I jumped back inside and out of his way as he raced past a few tourists and down the street towards the cathedral.

Later we found ourselves in El Perro Andaluz for a drink and witnessed an older woman and a younger man shouting at each other. She kept her finger about 2 inches from his face the whole time, while he glared at her from behind his beer, responding with many obscenities. After 5 minutes she left screaming, only to return 20 minutes later and scream some more. A bit later they were hugging and ordering more drinks.

I finally saw a Betis game where they deserved to lose 1-3 at Athletic Bilbao. Betis played horribly, with 3 goals scored against them in a 20 minutes stretch when they decided not to play defense. They now stand in 8th place, and it's looking more and more likely that they'll miss the UEFA unless they start playing better. Today we ordered pollo asado (a roast chicken) - a favorite of mine here. There are plenty of shops to choose from, even a place or two that will deliver one to your house. Prices are anywhere from 5-6€. I used Louisiana hot sauce and drank Nestea with mine, taking me back to the good ole South for a few minutes. The secret here: ask for as much sauce as you can get - it drips down into a bucket below the 20 or so roasting chickens, and makes it even more delicious. Links for today: Soccer-Spain Spanish fútbol page in English Roast Chicken 101 the basics