Another Monday morning

 

 

Ghouls and Gas Bottles


It's Halloween here ín Álora too. Most of the young children went to school dressed as witches, demons, monsters and ghouls and tonight some of them will be ringing our bell. I've bought a bag of 'Halloween Truco Trato' caramelos (sweets) from Mercadona. I hope they don't expect cash.

Tomorrow is El Día de los Santos' (All Saints) which is very important here. Families go up to the cemetery with flowers to visit the niches of their dead relatives and then have a bit of a do afterwards. Many will be eating huesos de los santos (saints' bones) which were on sale at the bread shop today. El Dia de los Santos is a national holiday so the shops will be shut.
Trick or Treating is an imported thing as it is in the UK. Eloisa at the library asked me what it was all about. I don't really know. 'Truco Trato' is a mistranslation too . 'Un trato looks a bit like 'treat' but it means 'a deal'. 'Un gusto' would be closer. That is unless you take to 'treat' to mean to 'deal with' (as in 'treaty') and then it's all OK.

This is our neighbour. He's a Real Madrid supporter...

It's getting colder now and I had to change our first bombona (gas bottle) for months. We have no mains gas supply here, only the big cities do, so in the winter it is a common sight to see people lugging these big orange gas bottles around on their shoulders or on little trolleys. You can exchange bombonas at garages and some shops but most people in town wait for the the Repsol lorry's weekly delivery (Wednesday afternoon on our street and make sure you have the right change!). Bottled gas is cheaper here than in the UK (16€ at the moment).
Periodically we get a letter telling us to arrange an inspection of our gas appliances. This usually costs between 50€ and 150€ and as there have been numerous bogus companies doing 'inspections' most locals ignore the letters, tell the 'tecnicos' to clear off and renew their own tubing. I went to the Repsol office in the Plaza de la Fuente Arriba to buy some official (dated) tubing this morning. The office is tastefully decorated with original oil paintings.

We had three trick or treat visits but lots of caramelos left for me.

31/10/2012





 

Another Monday Morning

 

 

María José who is in charge of the Museo Municipal de Álora is very excited about a special exhibition at the museum. It is about El día de Santos and a history of burials in Álora.The museo is at the bottom of our street next to the 'Iglesia Parroquial Nuestra Señora de la Encarnatión' (the parish church). I am interested in funerals at the moment anyway but she promised that we could go up the belltower too. (A very rare treat, apparently). We turned up with some friends and a couple of young perotes (Áloreneans) at midday and a smiling  María José gave us a tour of the exhibition. The building  is old  (16th. century) and looks like an old crypt and was  actually part of the site of the second town cemetery. They found lots of old  bones and bits of a candelabra when they were digging it out to make the museum seven or eight years ago.. The exhibition consisted of the bits of candelabra, some gravestones or nicho (niche) ends, a coffin on a stand covered with a dark purple cloth and a couple of information panels. It was atmospherically lit.
The old graveyard  was transferred  up Calle Ancha to the castle in about 1820 and remained there until it was full in about 1998  It is now on the hillside opposite our back wall .
It says on the information panel that the bodies were carried up to the castle on 'lomo de burro' a donkey's back. 'Lomo de burro' is also one of the many names for a speed hump. Calle Ancha means 'Broad Street', which it is not. My friend Antonio told me it got its name because of the large number of corpses which have had to carried up there.

We climbed the spiral steps up to the belfry just before 1.00pm. (4 clangs followed by 1 more). Safety measures have not yet been installed (and no ear protectors).  Both bells have at thick coating of pigeon shit which dulls the tone a little.

I was anxious to get up into town to buy some pigs feet and a tail before the carnicería shut at 2.00pm. They had none on Friday as it's 'callos' season now. Soups and stews are in vogue now that the weather has turned cooler and callos is my favourite

Ingredients for Callos

Callos (tripe)
Pig's feet
Pig's tail
Pig's ear
Pig's tongue
Pig's ear
Chick Peas
Chorizo
Morcilla (black pudding)
Onion
Tomato
Garlic
Paprika
Parsley
Bay leaf
Cloves
Nutmeg
Cumin
Black Pepper (ground)
Water
Salt
Añejo (Idon't know what this is but it looks like a piece dried  salty pig skin)

I called in at Bar Madrugon (see next post) where Pepe Rojas was having a beer. I proudly showed him my bag of goodies.'For a callos' I said. 'look at this then'. says he. In a bag he had about ten pale oval objects.
´Huevos de oveja' Sheep's testicles.

05/11/2012