Álora la bien cercada. Tú que estás en par del río.
It's been a roller coaster ride since we left Álora at the crack of dawn on November 9th. last year. As we drove up through La Plaza de la Fuente Arriba, we gave a wave to Manolo at Cafe/Bar Madrugón and shouted 'Hasta lo antes posible!' We had no idea when we´d be coming back, but we left behind us a town where road blocks were already going up on the roads and roundabouts . For an undefined period nobody would be able to enter or leave 'without a valid reason'. The National 'State of Alarm' banned all but essential travel between cities, towns and villages. We were not even sure that we would be allowed to travel as far as Bilbao on the north coast of Spain to catch our ferry home to England. In fact, we were stopped twice by the Guardia Civil, who waved us on without a word when they spotted our British plates and bulging roof bag. They were only too happy to get rid of us. The second wave of Covid 19 was on the move in Spain.
That was nearly 8 months ago and after a series of dashed hopes we are crossing our fingers and hoping we'll be able to go back in four weeks. 'Ojala!'.
The last 8 months have seen travel restrictions imposed, withdrawn, changed and re-imposed on a regular basis. Sometimes we were able to leave England but could not enter Spain; sometimes vice-versa and sometimes we could neither leave England nor enter Spain. At least we knew where we were with that one.
The latest UK government 'traffic light system' keeps changing all the time too. Threre's 'amber plus' now and there's talk of an 'amber watch list'. They make it up as they go along. Meanwhile Spain's vaccination programme has progressed 'sobre ruedas'. Spain now has a higher percentage of its population with both vaccinations than Britain, Germany and the USA. There is no 'anti-vaccination' movement in Spain at the moment- the Spanish seem only to happy to have the jab as soon as they are eligible.
We have a ferry booking for Santander on September 1st. Mrs. S.has told me, 'If that ferry sails, we're on it!' You can't say fairer than that...unless, of course you've lost all your front teeth.
Mrs. Sánchez and I have
not applied for 'residencia' in Spain, so our 3 month long stays are classed as 'holidays'. A combination of the Covid restrictions and the effects of Brexit have made it very difficult for us to visit Spain as we used to. I have joined a few expat Facebook groups, such as 'Brexpats in Spain', 'Non-resident homeowners in Spain' and '180 days in Spain' and quite a few people are talking about selling up.
It's not been easy to keep connected to Alora. We haven't been away for so long in over twenty years, except for last year, of course. Lack of of practice in speaking Spanish has been the biggest worry. 'Use it or lose it'...how true. I'll be a gibbering heap the first time I go up to the 'top square' in Álora.
I found a language sharing app on the internet called 'Tandem' which was very useful for a couple of months. You just give them your details - name, language spoken,the language you're learning and main interests and then people contact you by text, voice recording or even live video link. And it's free.
Within days I was in regular contact with people in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Mallorca, The Dominican Republic and a Venzuelan in Brussels. This site is really good! I was soon getting practice with speaking, listening, reading and writing Spanish. I've learned a lot about South America too. Some of my new pals are very serious about teaching me Spanish. After a few weeks I couldn't keep it up. A baker in Pasto, near Medellín was calling me almost every night (Colombia is five hours behind England). It seems to have petered out a bit now. Colombia is having big political problems on top of their Covid problems.
I still get a lot of 'partner' requests, but these are mostly from young women who, I think, are really looking for a younger person. The first one of of these I replied to turned out to be a very emotional, argumentative and drunken woman. It took me a week or two to shake her off. Requests from potential female 'partners' have petered out now since I began my communications with 'Que traes puesto?'
So how can I keep connected to Álora and Spanish life?
Mrs. S and I text and sometimes call people we know who live in Álora, mostly Brits, which helps a lot unless it's a conversation with Juan, who has been watering our garden since last November and has just bought a new Porsche with the proceeds. He speaks Perote, which is a bit like Spanish but very fast, growly and without any consonants.
I read the web page of the Ayuntamiento for local news (www.alora.es). It's nice know that the piscina de verano is open again. They've just had an inter-pueblo swimming gala in the recently remodeled pool.
What a beautiful venue!
It's been very encouraging and heart-warming to learn about all the events that the town has been organising during the Covid Pandemic to keep everyone's spirits up, especially since the Semana Santa processions were cancelled for the second year.
I expect that the summer Feria won't take place either. We hope to get back to Álora before the 9th.September, (the Day of the Virgin of the Flowers), the patron virgin of Álora. I doubt if the annual Romeria will take place, though.
I noticed that a sculptor had come to Álora last week to sculpt, in public, and to musical accompaniment a bust of the famous character in Álora's history, Don Diego de Ribera, El Adelantado.
Here's the escultor onubense (the sculptor from Huelva), Martín Lagares (on the left) with David Gutierrez, the Perote pianist who played while Martín sculpted.
Martín was presented with a basket of 'local produce' for doing the work. I don't know where they're going to put Don Diego but he´s likely to melt if they leave him out in the sun - and that local produce should be consumed ASAP, especially if it includes Álora's signature dish, sopas perotas. That stuff is dry enough when it's fresh, but in THAT heat!?
David Guitierrez is one of Álora's best. For many years he was a music teacher and leader of the Álora municipal orchestra, which was a youth orchestra. Mrs.S and I observed the development of the orchestra over many years and saw it become a really impressive ensemble. All thanks to David.
A few years ago David was persuaded to stand for the position of Alcalde (Mayor) of Álora on behalf of the Partido Popular (PP). It was a closely contested election but David lost. Tragically for him the rules meant that because he had stood for election he had to resign as music teacher and Leader of the Álora Orchestra. He took up a post in Ronda and these days he leads the band of the Hermandad de Jesus Nazareno de las Torres in Álora.
Don Diego de Ribera 'El Adelantado' and the Romance of Alora.
If you go up Calle Ancha to the 'Castillo Arabe' you may notice a tiled plaque on the left of the gate, not the small one, the long one. It displays The Old Romance of Álora.
Here's a translation by Michael Newton, author of 'Álora, Portrait of a Friendly Town' and other books about Álora.
This is the story of Don Diego de Ribera 'El Adelante'. It's called 'un bello romance' on the plaque but there is no 'boy meets girl' about this tale.
I once learned this by heart in order to impress the locals in Alora but the opportunity, strangely, never came up.
A 'romance' in this sense means a poem, story or song which is passed on, by word of mouth in the local languages and dialects. These 'ballads' were usually stories of great deeds and happenings which did not have a written form. They were recited or sung in public by trovadores and juglares (singer/songwriters and minstrels) who travelled around perfoming for beer money and cigarettes*. They may have done a bit of juggling too.
*When The Romance of Alora was written, in 1434, tobacco hadn't been invented because, as everyone knows, Cristobal Colón (aka Christopher Columbus) did not 'sail the ocean blue' until 1492.
'So I have to set fire to this and breathe in the smoke, right?'
The story of El Adelantado was big news back in 1434 and in 1435 too, probably, as there were no newspapers in those days (first printing press introduced in 1476) and it would take these trovadores and juglares a fair old time to get round all the towns and villages.
In 1434, much of Andalucia was still under Muslim rule and had been for the last 723 years. The Christian armies from the north had tried many times to conquer Álora but couldn't break through the outer walls. ('la bien cercada') This time Don Diego 'the Governor' tried again with his army and powerful guns and managed to bash a big hole in the outer wall.
You can still see parts of the outer walls of the castle. In those days the people lived inside the outer wall but could go into the main castle enclosure in times of danger. Most of the stone from the outer walls were later used to build the houses down Calle Ancha and the other streets leading down from the castle.
Basically, El Adelantado blew a big hole in the wall and so all the inhabitants grabbed what they could from their houses - gold, clothes, flour, wheat, pies, raisins and figs and fled up the hill to the main castle.
The Christians were just about to storm the castle when a Moorish lad up in the battlements with a loaded crossbow shouted out. 'We surrender. The castle is yours, Adelantado'. Don Diego was wearing his tin helmet at the time and a bit deaf, so he couldn't see where the shouting was coming from. He raised his visor, looked up, and the lad shot him through the eye. Foolish move. Good shot. Not fair.
Think Monty Python and the Holy Grail
That was the end of the seige and Don Diego was carried away to the medical centre, but he only had time to make his will before he died.
It was another fifty years before Alora la Bien Cercada really did surrender, a long time in those days.
The rest, as they, say is as good as a change.
Juanito Sanchez, Man in Alora, August 2nd. 2021
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