Saturday evening Jaki and I had tickets to the Hippie Peace and Love party at Yemaya Beach Bar.
We thought lots of our friends would be up for this but it got as much support as the Norwegian Eurovision song contest entry.
But we still went and I have to say, those that didn’t go missed out. It was a good night with loads of money being raised for good causes locally.
Though I was a bit confused by the choice of band Glam Slam who deliver covers from the glam rock era of the 1970’s but i guess the Flowerpot men were busy that night?
We tried to get some Hippie clothes, first at the market in Garrucha and then from the Chinese supermarkets without success. As a last resort we trolled the shops in the commercial centre where they did have some ‘Tie Dye’ T shirts which I rather liked, but they were too expensive.
There was plenty of “Retro clothing’ available, but it’s being sold as ‘Current attire’ here in Spain, which is about 40 years behind in terms of Fashion. So they were asking current prices and that was way too much for some thing I would never, ever wear again.
Mens fashion here in Spain seem’s to be based on Harry H Corbett in Steptoe and Son.
We tried to find a few CND badges or some old ‘Ban the Bomb’ T shirts but all we could find from that era was a Bobby Charlton T shirt with a picture of the big man, with hair.
I did consider ‘Tie-Dyeing’ one of my old T Shirts but we didn’t have any Dye.
So I looked for some natural dyes like Beetroot or Curry. (Most of my clothing has a yellow stain down the front where I’ve spilt some thing) but we couldn’t find Turmeric or anything similar, so I looked on line.
I found a site that told me how to make dye from wild plants:
Geraniums (which grow here quite freely) are apparently good for making Dye. You pick the flowers and boil them for 8 hours, then you get a brown Dye. Or you can pick Rosemary, which smells better, boil that for 8 hours and you get…… a Brown Dye.
So I scoured our garden and managed to collect two geranium heads. Then I did the same to our neighbours, creeping around their garden in the dead of night I managed to salvage two more flowers which when boiled gave me a liquid that looked like weak Piss.
That gave me an Idea.
Sadly Jaki wouldn’t let me take that experiment any further unless I went out and bought a separate saucepan to complete the alchemy in. By then it would have been easier to buy the Tie dye T shirt in the Commercial Centre, which would have looked better but wouldn’t have smelt quite so authentic.
In the end we ran out of ideas and ran out of enthusiasm so we decided not to dress up at all.
We got there about 6.30 and there were a few Hippies already in there. Whether they had arrived early or were still there from the 1960’s when Mojacar was a bit of a Hippie mecca I’m not sure. I did keep an eye out for Tito though, just in case.
We exchanged our tickets for a wrist band and then joined the queue at the bar where we were advised to buy two bottles of wine, in an ice bucket for €20, which we did. Strangely they were two different bottles of wine. The first one was drinkable if a little coarse, the other was undrinkable and Jaki took it back to the bar where they replaced it without question.
We managed to find a small table at the back by the slide ( yes they have a slide from the road into the venue) but it was on a raised area and Jaki found it difficult getting up and down. She also found it hard getting up onto the stool provided. We felt like two parrots on a perch.
But we had a good view of events and we could watch as people came in through the door dressed in more and more elaborate costumes.
By 8 pm nothing had happened. There was no band and we discovered there was no buffet (well for €6 we should have guessed that) and I was starting to get hungry. One of the organisers was tucking into a large plate of chicken wings and fries right in front of us which was too much to bear.
I jumped the queue and asked one of the staff washing up glasses if I could order food, and she grudgingly gave me a menu. There was no way they could manage anything complicated so we kept it simple. Pizza and Chips. Not our favourite option but it would hit the spot.
It was a bit expensive to at €19 but by then we were past caring.
When it came it was edible. Not the best Pizza on the Playa but reasonable and the chips (frozen I suspect) were hot and nicely salted. We ate our fill but couldn’t finish the Pizza so we took it out onto the beach where an old friend from our camping days was sat with his Dog.
‘Rambo’ an ex pat, lived in an old lorry on the camp site at El Cantal for years. He has been living under the radar and now the site is closed, he has been forced to sell his lorry for scrap (€500 which he was very pleased about) and is currently staying in a Hotel till his money runs out. We spent some time chatting to him whilst he finished off the Pizza and his dog ( a truly Ugly Mutt) barked incessantly.
By Now Glam Slam had taken to the stage and were delivering their set much to the approval of all the Hippies , most of whom had taken to the dance floor and when that was full, were dancing on the beach. Like proper Hippies.
Further up the beach there was a large crowd of mainly younger Spaniards who were enjoying a Spanish Bad playing at El Cid one of the Chiringuito’s showcasing mainly Spanish music.
On the other side (where I went to use their Loo) Maui was playing some sort of Techno music to a very enthusiastic crowd.
The band took a break and that allowed the judging of the fancy dress, which seemed a bit biassed as a list of finalist was read out, some of whom didn’t look like they were in Fancy dress at all. I’m sure I’ve seen some of these outfits at Ankara on a Saturday?
By then it was starting to get cold and we decided to head for home.
For the first time we couldn’t decide when the next bus was running so started to walk.
As we neared the Commercial Centre Jaki announced she might need the loo, so we quickened our pace.
Pura Vida looked welcoming so we grabbed a table and ordered Coffee and Brandy whilst Jaki slipped off to use their facilities. The Coffee was good but I couldn’t finish my brandy, it was just too big.
By the time we got home, I was Knackered and ready for my bed.
In the 1960 I was all for Peace and Love, I even embraced Free Love, LSD and Meditation.
But on this night, this ex Hippie wanted nothing more that Horlick’s and an Alka Seltzer.
Funny old world.
Bill and Jaki go Travelling 