Spain is Different, but it's not changed at all since we left.
¡Holá amigos! It´s great to be back in Álora again after ten months away.
We've been here in the Valle del Sol for 5 weeks and we've still not solved the mystery of our uninvited lodger. (see previous edition of this interesting publication). Even Antonio down at the 'Lo Más Natural' shop can't help. I must remember to change the lock on the door.
We managed to catch the the 'Pont Aven' ferry from Plymouth despite Monty's £250 and 13 pages worth of 'Animal Health Certificate' being faulty. Our vaccination certificates and Spanish Locator forms got us onto the boat and, after a calm and comfortable voyage, we disembarked at Santander, breezed through the three checkpoints and were on the road to Aranjuez,( pronounced aran- who- ez), in record time.
Most of Andalucía, including Málaga and Álora, but not Marbella, where Boris Johnson is on holiday, is now in ´zero alert status´.and there have been no cases in the town for some time, despite the children returning to school. Even so, masks are still being worn by most people in shops and offices, and there is a very positive feeling in the air.
It´s October 12th. today, El día de la Virgen del Pilar (The Day of the Virgin of the Pillar), so all the shops are shut.
It's also El Día de la Hispanidad (The Day of Hispanicity), which is a real word, The National Day of Spain, El Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe (The Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe) and The Day of the Spanish Armed Forces.
El Día de la Hispanidad is celebrated throughout Spanish Speaking Countries, mostly in South America. It's a chance for all hispanic people to celebrate 'the Spanish legacy to the world'. It's on October 12th. because this is the date that Cristobal Colón (Christopher Columbus) 'discovered the Americas'. The USA had their Columbus Day yesterday.
BUT all is not well over there in Central and South America.
In June protesters in Columbia pulled down a statue of Columbus and the one in Mexico City is about to take a dive too.
Columbus is now widely regarded as a symbol of oppression and colonialism, as his arrival in America opened the door to Spanish conquest.
It was not the original intention of the Spanish to harm the Hispanic-American natives. The Spanish Crown, Councils and Church considered the natives free and intelligent vassals entitled to be embraced by Christianity and by the Hispanic civil culture. However, at the same time it was the monarchy’s decision to exploit the natives as taxpayers and as a reservoir of forced labor that made its rule in America exceptionally destructive. The recruitment of the natives to serve the interests of the Spanish Empire under what can only be considered near to slave conditions, compounded by systematic annihilation of their cultures and by cyclical epidemics, led to the near total eradication of the Indians.
The Destruction of the Indigenous Peoples of Hispano America
A Genocidal Encounter
Eitan Ginzberg.
Yesterday the Governor of Mexico City announced that their Columbus Monument was going to be replaced by a replica of a pre-Columbian statue called, The Young Woman of Amanjac.
Looks a bit scary to me.
I think we can look forward to a lot more statue toppling.
Spain has so many fiestas and Saint's Days that there aren´t enough days to go round, and so a few have to share, except for February 29th. that nobody seems to want.
Today is one of the top three Spanish holidays, so Mercadona, Spain´s biggest supermarket chain has shut all its shops, too.
There´s always a big parade in Madrid with a fly-past by the Patrulla Águila (The Eagle Patrol), which is Spain´s equivalent of Britain´s 'Red Arrows'. Also, everyone takes a few days off work, making a puente (long weekend) of it. It's called 'La Puente de Pilar'.
There are NO PARKING signs on our street this morning because of a procession going down to the church. We were the only ones to obey the order.
The Virgin of the Pillar is the 'Patron Virgin' of the Guardia Civil, and they all have a day off, so today you can drive as fast as you like on the roads because they are all at big parties in their Cuarteles (Barracks) with music, food, and lots to drink, kindly donated by all the bars in the town, which get a festive visit from a couple of burly ´civiles´ a few weeks before, just to make sure they don´t forget.
If you're wondering who the Virgin of the Pillar is, why she has a pillar, and why she's only heard of in Spain, here´s the answer. It's because in 40AD., James, the apostle, was on a preaching tour of Spain and not going down too well in Zaragoza which, at the time, was the Spanish equivalent of the Glasgow Empire - a tough crowd. He was trying out some new material on the bank of the River Ebro and Mary appeared to him standing on top of a stone pillar surrounded by hundreds of angels and gave him a few tips on how to spice up his act.
James, who was also known a Sant Iago de Compostela, went on to be very famous after a town was named after him. To this very day thousands of people go on pilgrimages to the town on donkeys, on foot, on bicycles - you name it.
Unfortunately our favourite Álora fiesta, La Romería de la Virgen de Flores was cancelled again this year but, for the first time since Covid 19 hit Spain, Álora´s Día de las Sopas Perotas went ahead - the first public event for two years.
The next big event was exhibition of artwork by The Independent Artists of Álora.
Mrs. Sánchez and I went to the opening - as usual forgetting that, although it opens at 8.00pm., it's 9.00pm before the speeches have finished and you can tuck into the free food and booze.
Mrs. S. is wearing the striped dress.
All these events remind us that Navidad (Christmas) is just around the corner and everyone will be looking forward to seeing Álora's 'live Nativity' when real people from the town dress up as the traditional Nativity characters. They are already holding the auditions. Here's a group of hopefuls for 'The Three Wise Men' parts.
The wise guy on the left appears after a short but eventful season playing 'Goldilocks' in our house.
It's good to see our Alcalde (mayor) Francisco Martinez is putttng himself about a bit now that life is getting back to normal. He's been very busy this week, what with the Sopas Perotas day, the Pilar celebrations and the art exhibition, not to mention the new fountain outside my favourite barber's and a new plaque paying homage to our signature dish. The odd thing is that wherever he goes he is surrounded by a crowd of 14 fans who manage to get on all the photos.
Here are a few of his recent appearances. See if you can spot him.
That´s all for now.I've got to get on with making Mrs. Sánchez a new compost bin.
Juanito Sánchez
October 13th. 20121.
