I was lying face down in two inches of water wondering if I could could get up; if I'd broken anything; if anyone had seen me fall in. Yes, yes and no. I couldn't move my left arm but was able to crawl up and out of the fountain. Water continued to gush from the two iron pipes and there was no-one in sight. I carried on with the job of filling my twelve 5 litre plastic containers with 'spring water' single handedly.
La Fuente de Canca
My mistake had been to stand on the very slipperly stone slab. Water gushes out of these pipes onto the slab day and night. I don't know where it comes from but it's free and doesn't have the taste of fomaldehyde that the tap water often carries. Sometimes a 'no potable' (undrinkable) sign is put on the wall so we knock it on the head for a few weeks. In the few seconds that passed as I lay in the shallow, litter strewn muddy water I questioned the wisdom of this routine. Where does the tap water at home come from anyway? Is it safe to drink that stuff? It's clearly much safer than diving onto concrete. Sometimes the drainage hole gets blocked and there's a few feet of water in there along with the abandoned plastic containers and giant, noisy frogs. I could have drowned.
I loaded the water into my car, wishing I'd bought an automatic. My left arm wouldn't work so I drove back in 1st. gear, parked on the street (no mean feat, I can tell you), went in and reviewed the situation.
As you approach Álora by plane you usually fly over 'the lakes'.
These are the Guadalteba Embalses (reservoirs). They are about 20km. from Álora and hold enough water to supply most of the Costa Del Sol hotels,(986) apartments, restaurants, bars, houses and golf courses.(60). People here call them the pantanos, (easily confused with platanos (bananas)). You can swim , fish, paddle a pedalo and canoe in the lakes, but you can't drink the water if you live down the road in Álora. I found out this interesting fact as I wandered from bar to bar seeking sympathy and information yesterday. Nobody seems to know where their drinking water comes from. The most popular guess was 'From the deposito (tank) by the football ground.' 'And how does it get to the deposito?' Blank looks. The ayuntamiento (town hall) , even the abastamiento de aguas department (their guess was 'El Chorro') sent me to the oficina de urbanismo where I was given a 'Why do you want to know?' look before the chap said una captación' (something for collecting water) and would not be drawn further. The barman in Los Caballos Dos (recently reopened under new management and serving good calamares tapas) said he was from Pizarra so he didn't know. He didn't know where the water came from in Pizarra either. Several people suggested it came from the river (also known as the sewer) and wells were mentioned more than once. Boring or what?
Eventually I ran into Pepe Rojas in Bar Azahar (Candelaria's). What Pepe doesn't know about Álora....
Pepe Rojas
Where does the water come from? La mesa. Where's that? El Chorro. Where abouts? By the Hermita de Villaverde and La Iglesia de la Virgen de la Medalla Miraglosa. (The Church of the Virgin of the Miraculous Medal) An authoritative answer at last.
La Mesa
I don't believe that either.
What did Pepe think about the two main 'water fountains' ;La Fuente de La Higuera and my recent nemesis La Fuente de Canca?
'Too much fertiliser and urine in the water. Go the La Fuente de Pedro Sánchez (no relation) up on Monte Hacho.'
'Where do you get your water?' ' Bottled'. I should have seen that coming.
No sign of rain yet. Feel free to ask if my injured arm is getting better.
2nd. October 2013
Hello Mr Sanchez ... came across your blog the other day when I was googling info about the romería. I like your stories and I've learned new things about Álora.
ReplyDeleteSorry about your arm and I hope it is getting better.
Don´t feel like trying the water from the Fuentes now. We have a well and I have been trying to find out where to have the water analyzed. So far I have found out I will have to go to Málaga to have it tested.