Meeting Jookoo, and the best hat in Jerez

Peeking my head out from my pile of blankets the next morning.... I hear singing down the hall. I obviously have flamencos staying in the hotel with me. The cigarette smoke is also a sign. One thing that I've noticed here is how certain kinds of rules are completely ignored. The fact that I am a food-sensitive asthmatic is ridiculous here. The older night clerk who has FINALLY taken a shine to me , calls me "mujer mui nervosa" (I suppose technically he's right...but I prefer to think of myself as creatively high strung.)

I'm feeling introverted, cold and lonely today, but can't justify another day in bed , as Jerez is out THERE... not in here. I get dressed and put on my soggy cold shoes that are covered in that yellow muddy stuff that's all over the streets - hey - if these get REALLY wrecked, I'm going to need new shoes... hmnnn things are lookin' up!

I also am dying for some warm comfort food that isn't oily... I've been given good advice from friends at home about where to eat, but haven't seemed to crack that mystery of exactly where, and how to ask for the food I can eat yet. My language barrier is so profound. How do you sign no additives? I feel like an idiot. My friends all arrive tonight - and they've been here many times - they'll know!

Monica called from Gibraltar - she has reunited with her roots. She's had a fabulous time, and doesn't want to leave her family - she is talking in Spanish - her brain has switched over. The connection isn't great, but I get that she's not coming in to town till later.

Sigh... another day in the cold rain - YUCK.

So... I end up at the bar that I had too much wine the other day. It's cold, and the waiter asks me in a concerned way whether I want to sit inside, instead of outside. But I thought I would just listen to Camaron's alegrias on my iPod and take pictures of the people walking by all bundled up in winter clothing.

I wanted to find a decent hat in the crowd.

So far the only people wearing really good hats are the Gypsy men, and so far I've been too shy to walk right up to them and sign about hats. They'd think I was stark raving mad. I'm hoping to meet someone who can connect me so I can take pictures of them.

And that's when I meet Jookoo.

I have since found out that Jookoo knows everyone in Jerez. And some of you who have been here many times probably know him. He is a local fixture. I actually had seen him sitting in assorted cafés all week. He would either be sitting with the men in hats I wanted to photograph...or they would walk over to greet him. Everybody hugs and kisses each other when they see each other here, as if they haven't seen their long lost brother in years. Jookoo stands out even here, in his typical shoulder length hair, and always dressed in black. He stands out as well because he is always talking to people.



He sat beside me but didn't approach me in the way that makes you feel uncomfortable as a North American woman alone in a bar. I've had those approaches while here, and Jookoo was not pulling that number. What a relief.

I was tapping my feet in time to the alegrias... taking photos... and rubbing my now numb fingers to get warm. Jookoo laughed and said something about "frio".

I blurted out "Jesus Mary and Joseph - it's so damn cold- I might as well be in freakin' Canada!" He laughed and started speaking English! I was so relieved, I just couldn't believe it. Turns out his first language is actually Sanskrit. The ancient language. He has been in Jerez for about six years. His people are from northern Syria, Iraq... all those countries. He has moved all over the world, but his mother now lives in Chicago, so that's where he has spent a lot of time and where he picked up his Mac G4 - on which he is learning to use ProTools to make his music, and research the traditional singing of his people (the singing that he passionately talks of being one of the original roots of flamenco).

Like so many other people Jookoo is here for the Flamenco.

He has made a CD with the guitarist Maraito Chico called "Journey to the Roots of Flamenco". Check it out on "CD Baby". You can buy it from iTunes - I did today. Actually , I showed Jookoo that he had iTunes on his computer, when he showed me the footage he had taken in his relatives' villages three years ago, and he is wanting to transfer what he has on CD to DVD form to make a promotional DVD. Since that is what I'm learning to do, we had a blast playing around with our computers, while he generously made me a delicious home-cooked meal with a space heater blasting beside me -- yay!

As we talked about creativity art, music, family... my husband Richard of almost thirty years, and my grown children, my friends... We traded mother stories. His mother seems to be the constant woman in his life. He talked of how close they were. Yeah, I know - all you cynics out there - it was cool. Every person in this world has a sincere heart side.

Now speaking of that - and his mother... She made the GREATEST hat. There stands on Jookoos' table - a beautiful statue of the Virgin. On her head is a hat crocheted for her by his mother. Now what I find great about this hat- is that were it full size - it would be totallly cool! He said I could put her on my blog.

He then took me out to show where to buy a coffee machine, milk , coffee, and and computer stuff. He even told me how they change things around on the shelves all the time so don't expect it to be in the same place each time. There at the grocery store, we met up with my friend Pat who is here for three months. We then parted company , but not before Jookoo gave us tickets to an art show opening that night, and said bring our friend to a certain bar at midnight... as it was Memphis night.

As I sit here under the covers , warm in bed writing my blog with the coffeepot gurgling beside me, I am grateful to Jookoos' generous spirit.