Time to head north for the summer. Man in Álora accentuates the positive.

                                     The fountain in La Plaza Baja (rus in urbe).

It's that time again. The days and nights are getting hotter, people are taking to the streets and squares and our neighbours greet us with a slow shake of the head and the words ¡Qué calor! (Oh the heat!). That means it's time for Mrs. Sánchez and I to pack up the car and head back to England for a bit. 'You're going back because of the heat' the locals say, 'I don't blame you.Uf! Qué calor!'  We've given up trying to explain that's not the reason. We go back because as 'extranjeros' we can't stay in Spain for more than 6 months in a year, and not for more than three monthly periods. More than 6 months would make us de facto 'residents' and would mean a lot of shenanegins with taxes, problems with the car etc. and it is  very very hot in July and August.

                                                   The El Chorro Fiesta

We couldn't leave without going to the Fiesta del Chorro. El Chorro has been catapulted to stardom recently with the opening of El Caminito del Rey which starts there. The population of 242 are a bit put out about all the coaches and cars which bring the foolhardy or brave to walk the caminito  and park willy nilly, blocking front doors and pumping out exhaust fumes as they keep their air conditioning running. Also the road up to the lakes has been blocked for a month as someone failed to to notice that the roads are not wide enough for buses to pass as they shuttle the brave walkers back to their starting point and transport home . It's a bit of a cock up, really.

The Fiesta of El Chorro appears to be organised entirely by Pepe Rojas and his wife Maite (María Teresa). That's Pepe at the the far end of the bar Maite is on the far right,  dishing out paella. (Mmmm). Pepe has been handing out programmes and sticking up posters all round town for the last two weeks so it's only fair to go. The paella had a big 18 on it to celebrate Pepe's birthday.

They don't call it 'paella' here, though, it's 'arroz' (rice) and very nice. One of the highlights of the El Chorro Fiesta is the 'Tiro con Honda' competition in which local shepherds and goatherds fire stones out of David and Goliath slingshots at a big metal target. Antonio,one of the main contenders explained to me how it worked.

                                 A pastor (shepherd) showing me his weapon.



 Apparently you're not supposed to hit the goat/sheep but make the stone land to the side in order to steer the flock - that's unless they are up a tree, he said,  in which case they get one where it hurts. I must stress that goats and sheep are not used in the competition and are only used for practice.

                                        Pepe Rojas about to pour me a beer.

We went to look at our olives before we left and I'm pleased to say that the harvest looks promising this year. Last year was very poor but a couple of weeks of rain in February has done the trick.

 Olives are incredibly hardy. We don't water them at all. They can stand extremely high temperatures and the biggest olive producing region in the world, Jaen Province (42 degrees Celsius predicted for tomorrow) can have temperatures as low as -10 degrees celsius in the winter. The trees can live for over a thousand years and even then be regenerated if there is any sign of life. There is a 600 year old tree in the centre of Álora.

                                                  Three elderly ladies of Álora.

Antonio, from the olive mill in Casarabonela where we get our olives pressed, is predicting a bg rise in olive oil prices next year because of the bacterial infection which has already destroyed thousands of trees near Lecce in the Puglia region of Italy. Xyella fastidiosa has been tagged 'olive leprosy' and is spread by insects like this one, the sap sucking meadow spittle bug. Antonio predicts that the disease will spread up through France and into Spain.

Around 45% of Italian olive oil is imported from Spain and then re- exported as Italian oil so Spanish oil is likely to increase in price. This would be good news for 'oil barons' like us if we were selling any.

This week's quiz question. (Answers on a postcard to me, please with 10€ entrance fee to cover administration expenses)

What do these two have in common?

If anyone reading this, indeed, if anyone reads it at all and is learning Spanish they may be pleased to know that it is the easiest language to pronounce in the world.  All you have to do is learn a couple of rules. If you're not interested in learning Spanish and you are reading this in Spain you should be ashamed of yourself and you'd better skip this next bit.

1. Spanish letters are nearly all like English ones.
2. 'e' is always pronounced 'ay' and never silent.
3. 'i' is pronounced 'ee'
4. 'h' is always silent
 there are probably lots more like this, but my favourite is

THE RULE OF 'LLANO'

All Spanish words are stressed on the last syllable unless they end in a vowel  or ´n' or ´s' when the stress is on the penultimate syllable.

Any exceptions  have a 'tilde' (´)  over the letter to be stressed.

 I only just found out that my surname, Sánchez has that tilde over the 'a'. and that's why Álora doesn't rhyme with 'flora'. The Policía usually refuse to use theirs and the Farmacia doesn't need one. (except, bizarrely, one in Comillas).

You can have  hours of fun with this rule . C...., who has been staying with us, has shown a particularly unhealthy interest in tildes (and also in the señorita who works in Tour River, incidentally). Although he knows hardly a word of Spanish he can pronounce it beautifully. So far, she of the the travel agency is unimpressed. It's not much of a basis for a relationship.

The voyage back to Plymouth from Santander was  pretty uneventful except for us coming joint second in the Music Quiz. (we was robbed). We stopped at Sotopalacios for Burgos black puddings and breakfast as usual. They do a great tostada con aceite y tomate at the hotel bar but they still look down their noses at you when you ask for garlic. (Garlic and bread for breakfast?. No thank you). It's a southern thing.

We had a few hours to spare in Santander so we went to explore the town of Comillas up the coast to the west.

                                                            Comillas

 It's a great little place with good food, beaches, interesting old buildings and somewhere to park. Tommy had a good run on the freshly mown meadows and another up by the lighthouse in Santander where we spotted the good ship Pont Aven steaming into port.

                               El Capricho in Comillas, designed by Antoni Gaudí.  (of Sagrada         Familia fame- note the tilde on his name).

We left England on the day of the General Election. What happened? Who got in?

Juanito Sánchez June28th.2015

Y Viva España. Dancing, walking the walk but no singing.

                        The Great Lisbon Earthquake 


On 1st. of November 1755 a  powerful earthquake hit Lisbon. It would have measured 8.5 to 9.0 on the Richter Scale if it had been invented and it destroyed most of the city, causing fires, a tsunami and the deaths of between 10,000 and 100,000 people. 
The shock wave was felt as far away as Finland and North Africa. A ten ft. tall tidal wave hit Cornwall. The  shock wave reached Álora 471 km. (293 miles) away and many people believe that the Lisbon Earthquake was responsible for the collapse of the central section of the old parish church which is up by the castillo.
María José who runs the Álora Museum (well worth a visit) assures me that the church had already been destroyed by the 1680 Málaga Earthquake and the relatively new Iglesia de la Encarnación in La Plaza Baja  was not affected by the 1755 one.

                                  Charles III of Spain

Around this time, Charles III of Spain sent a young aristocratic soldier , Juan Martín Alvarez de Sotomayor to Prussia to learn about Prussian military tactics from King Frederick II who was a good pal of Charles III, very fond of music  and good at fighting battles. Frederick took such a liking to Juan Martín that he wrote a tune for him. It was a march called 'La Marcha de los Granaderos'.(The March of the Pomegranates). Young Juan liked it so much he gave it to King Charles who made it the National Anthem of Spain. It still is, but nobody thought of writing any words to it so it remains one of the only four national anthems that you can't forget the words to. The others are from Bosnia, Herzegovina, Kosovo and San Marino which aren't real countries anyway. That story is widely believed by as many people who think that Y Viva España is the Spanish National Anthem. Both are  not true, although Y Viva España was a big Belgian hit for Sylvie in 1974 and has unforgettable words in English, like 'If you want to chat a matador' and 'Snog señoritas by the score'. It's very popular in Spain too. The Perotes (Áloraneans) love it and sing it at every opportunity and, as it's a Pasadoble,  they can dance to it too. In Spanish it's called  España la Mejor and was a hit for Manolo Escobar, also in 1974. Apparently one of Franco's ministers suggested using the  'España la Mejor' lyrics with the national tune. Many modern Spaniards thought that was a great idea. Franco died the following year.
The real Spanish national anthem is now called La Marcha Real (The Royal March) and the point of all this is that at the Copa del Rey (King's Cup) final the other week, which was won by Barcelona and played at the Camp Nou in Barcelona, there was loud booing and jeering from the Catalán crowd when the Marcha Real was played over the loudspeakers. The Cataláns take every opportunity to assert their nationality but this was very rude indeed, especially as Real Madrid, Spain's second national team lost the match, are out of the Champions League Cup and Barca ended up top of the Spanish Liga.  Perhaps if there had been some words to sing nobody would have noticed the Catalan Cat Calls but everyone, including King Philipe III, did and he's very angry. New laws have been proposed to stop people booing and jeering. If you clicked on the link you would have heard  La Marcha Real played with lyrics. This is part of a competition currently running to find suitable words for the anthem. If you want to enter, all you have to do is send your suggestions to me with a 20€ handling fee and I will forward it to the king.

                                Dancing a Sevilliana

On the subject of dancing,  I went with Mrs. Sánchez for a Sevilliana lesson last week. This is the dance that people do at the ferias, verbenas, romerías and all the other public festivities. It looks easy, especially the male part which just consists of twirling your arms and body and looking Spanish.Take a look at this Sevilliana.
See what I mean. Any fool can do that.  There were six of us including me and a 10 year old girl and the lady in charge said we were all beginners and I would soon pick it up. I won't be going back. 'Beginners' has a different meaning in the flamenco context. All the Spanish people  here have flamenco in their blood. They know all the complex rhythms, when to stamp, when to twirl and when to say Olé. They learn it in the womb.
She taught us how to play the castañuelas (castanets) too. That's not too hard but you have to do it while twirling your arms around and nobody tells you when to stop. Mrs. Sánchez had a great old time. I've noticed that she is watching sevilliana lessons on YouTube so it looks as though she will be going back for more. (alone).

 

Mrs. Sánchez (on the right) dancing an 'alegría'.

As a punishment for my lack of commitment to flamenco I had to agree to walk the Caminito del Rey which regular readers of this organ will have heard so much about. Sally and Mike had two spare (free) tickets so off we went. I don't want to put you off, especially as it´s still free, but I found it a bit scary to begin with. They've stopped the buses that take you back to where you started 2 hours before so we had to do it twice, there and back.

                    Mrs. Sánchez on the wobbly bridge.

It's a fantastic piece of work and was completed in only a year. The views are absolutely stunning and there's a bit where you can stand on a glass plate and look down into the deep chasm below. I managed to do this on the way back but next time I'll take some Windolene as the glass gets a bit dirty with 400 people a day standing on it.

 The Malaga to Córdoba train line goes through the mountains and you catch glimpses of it speeding through gaps in the tunnel.

                           A gap in the railway tunnel (you can see a bit of the caminito halfway down on the right).


The security guard at the southern entrance said that El Caminito de Rey is currently the second most visited  tourist attraction in the world. Hmmm. They'd better get some proper toilets if they want to get to Number One.

Beer enthusiasts in Álora may have noticed a 'new kid on the block´ Many of the bars are now selling  Victoria beer with its very distinctive and much loved logo.

It's an old Málaga brand which was first produced in1928 and appeared for sale on September 8th. which is the day of La Virgen de la Victoria in that beautiful and atmospheric city. Coincidentally September 8th. is the day of Álora's patron virgin La Virgen de las Flores too, but she doesn't have a beer named after her.
Victoria beer (5.4%) was very popular in the 60s and 70s at the height of el boom turistico. In the 1990s the brewery and brand was bought by Cruzcampo who sold out to Heineken who flogged it to the Catalán company Grupo Damm  which now brews it  in Murcia.
I wonder if all the Real Madrid fans happily downing ice cold Victoria beer in Los Caballos Dos know that they are drinking a  Catalán product. Should we tell them? !Qué va!

Juanito Sánchez

June 5th. 2015

Sex, ironmongery and taxes. Everyday life in Álora.

 

"Oh to be in England now that April's there".  or  "April is the cruellest month.........." It was.

Here we are,  reflected in the back end of a shiny tanker with La Mancha in our rear view mirror and the Sierra Morena up ahead. Oh to be in España now that May is here! Open roads, blue skies and more elections to look forward to.
Álora is now well into the grip of election fever. You can't have a decent chat in the street for all the noisy propaganda vans going round and round the Álora Internal Ring Road, (There's one going past right now!). Banners and posters are everywhere and all the parties are having parties in an attempt to buy votes with free paellas, bouncy castles and caramelos (sweeties)for the little 'uns.

It beats me why the PP candidate for mayor would want to describe himself as  'Adoquín, flojo y peligroso´('thick, loose and dangerous') !


These are only local elections so Mrs. Sanchez and I can vote on Sunday at the heavily guarded and supervised Vecinos' (neighbours') Club at the bottom of Calle Ancha which also, possibly ironically, doubles as the food bank. Gone are the days of caciquismo and cohecho (bribery). Elections in Spain are now fair and square even though most of the national political leaders are, as usual, up to their necks in financial scandals.
There is no sign at all of the new left wing  Podemos party here even though they score 20% in national polls. Philipe of the IU (Izquierda Unida) (United Left) party told me, in confidence, that 'They are supporting us.' I can't wait for Sunday.

I bumped into Phlipe on my way to the bank to pay the 'Impuesto sobre la Renta de no Residentes' (The tax on foreign property owners). This annual rip off only applies to foreigners who have 'holiday homes' here and try to let them out illegally. There is no way of checking who is committing this crime so everybody has to pay a 'tax on presumed rent received'. There are only two things anyone needs to know about this tax:

1. Nobody appears to be paying it.
2. Nobody cares.

If you do want to pay it I am happy to show you how to fill in Formulario  210. If you ask an accountant or gestor or asesor to pay it for you they will charge you un dineral. (a packet).  I will do it for a couple of cañas and a media ración of callos.

                                                   Form 210, as if anyone cares.

They don't make it easy to pay this tax either. We used to have to go to Málaga to pay it. Then we had to go to the local tax office for a ´Form 100'. Then they changed the form to ´´Form 210 ,´´  then to ´´Form 214´´ and they never had any when you went for one. Now it's all done 'online' and they still keep changing the form. Even when you manage to fill in the online form correctly and print it off,  the staff at the bank don't know what to do with it and embarrass you in front of the people waiting in the long queue behind you.
You may be wondering why I bother.

I passed the El Pintor ferretería  (ironmonger) on my way back to Cafe-Bar Madrugón and my daily mitad doble con un vaso de agua del grifo. (glass of coffee with milk and a glass of tap water). El Pintor is probably my favourite shop in Álora. I will go there on the slightest pretext. You can get almost anything there (except a new watch strap) and the staff are always very friendly. I never pass by without looking in and since we arrived back there has been something important  missing.

                                                            Ferretería 'El Pintor'


Where is Minti? I haven't seen her in the shop once in two weeks. I hope she's all right.
There are three ferreterías in town and they are all chock full of stuff from goat bells to glue. You can buy single screws and nails there instead of  having to pay for a plastic strongbox of 100 as in England and buying them in small quantities means you have an excuse to go back for more and a chance to talk to Minti. Those hats on the right are on offer at 2€. What a bargain!

Caminito del Rey update   (a popular item)

The Caminito del Rey is proving very popular. It is still free but is booked up for months ahead. I had some tickets but  lost them .Mrs. Sanchez  is determined to go and may have got us a couple of spare tickets. Great! 

We went on the train to Ronda last week. There's one a day from Álora and you pass right by the Caminito after crossing the bridge that gets bombed  at the end of the film 'Von Ryan's Express'. The people on the path seemed glad to see our train or they may have been calling for help. If you look closely you can see the elaborate safety measures and the sturdy well made wooden steps.

                                         El Caminito del Rey from the Ronda train

Ronda is a big tourist destination. It has the biggest coach park in Western Europe* and is packed with day trippers of all nationalities who rush around in groups of thirty or more taking pictures and buying fridge magnets. 
I've been reading two books about Ronda by Alistair Boyd who lived there with two different wives. (at different times) (one of them was previously Mrs. (Kingsley) Amis. ) He lived in Casa Mondragon in the Old Town which is now called Palacio Mondragon and houses the museum. Mr. Boyd describes how the Ayuntamiento (town hall) of Ronda went about changing it from a beautiful Andalusian market town to a theme park full of souvenir shops and tat. One of the first improvements  was to close down the old traditional market building and convert it in into a posh Parador hotel. We had a coffee there.

                                       The Parador (old market place) Ronda


Last weekend was Ronda's 'Ronda Romantica'.- another big money spinner.

The Parador was fully booked with romantic weekend breaks and a condom machine has been installed outside, between the Parador main entrance and MacDonald's. I'm lovin' it! was the theme of the weekend.

                         Mrs. Sanchez pretending not to notice the condom dispensers.

On a related subject, , Dr.G. tells me that from his balcony and with the aid of powerful binoculars he has spotted a bit of 'romantica' going on up on the Álora castle walls and in plain daylight too. Apparently they  were just one of many adventurous couples hoping  to join the exclusive  'Castillo Club de Álora´ which involves having sex in plain view up on the castle walls. This new 'extreme sport' is fraught with danger, not least from the large community of Falcon naumanni (lesser kestrels) which live up there and whch are always on the look out for a tasty morsel or  two and the risk of painful sunburn.
Membership applications can obtained from ; J. Sanchez, Calle Benito Suarez 21. (photograhic evidence needed).

                                                  What's going on here?

It's the new floral installation at the top of Calle Algarrobo where the 1Casa Inmobilaria office used to be. Like many impressive council projects it should be finished before the elections on Sunday.

It's a living wall of flowers and I love it. A lady in the cake shop opposite was a little negative about it. ´Just wait till they pinch all the flowers.´she said. What an aguafiestas (wet blanket)!

When I arrived home, José Sanchez Moreno ('Epi' to his pals and no relation),  mayor of Álora, was waiting for me with some election publicity. He was pleased that I like the wall which has no name as yet. I suggested 'Los jardines colgantes de los Perotes' (The Hanging Gardens of Álora). 'What a good idea!' he exclaimed and so that is what it's going to be  called.




Does anyone know where I can buy one of these T shirts.

Juanito Sánchez.

May 19th. 2015

*possibly

Man is back in Álora. Graft and Election promises.

The Sanchez trio were given the medical all clear to travel on Tuesday, so by Friday we were scoffing calamares fritos outside Los Caballos Dos as if we'd never been away. Our two house guests Colin and Iain had arrived before us and, to our delight, had  turned on the fridge and stocked it with beer,a packet of butter and a litre of milk.
I must say it was a relief to be motoring down through France as the Great British Public went to the Polls, especially after months of election fever. We'd voted by post. It seems that a majority of the Brits want more of the same so that's all right then.
As we turned left to enter Álora a giant image of our dear alcalde Jose´Sanchez (no relation) and known to his pals as 'Epi') greeted us. What a nice surprise! 'Álora nos une' the poster said, which means 'Welcome back to Álora!'

                                          El alcalde welcoming us back to Álora

After more than 5 months away there are a few jobs that need doing. The white paint has jumped off the walls again, the Dama de Noche needs cutting back and the fridge needs filling with food. May is the best time for putting 'insertas' (grafts) on to trees so I got on the  phone to Chuster who had said he'd sort out our fig and lemon trees.  Chuster was recommended by everybody as the man to go to for this kind of job and he was down here in a flash with his grafting equipment. He is very informative but talks very quickly. Apparently in a couple of years we should have some figs which are still on the tree when we return at the end of August 2020. I asked him about grafting some oranges on to the lemon tree. He showed me how to do the grafts which, frankly, is dead easy when you know how and I'm happy to take on any grafting jobs you need doing. He wasn't very happy with the lemon tree, though, which had been called 'feo' (ugly) by a neighbour, Ramon, a few years ago, and set about it with his pruning saw. Lemons went flying everywhere and after 5 minutes the tree had been almost completely dismembered. Apparently in a few years we can graft a new tree on to it. This chap doesn't mess about I can tell you. He refused to take any payment, which is very generous.

My watch strap buckle broke during the above horticultural procedures so on Saturday I went up to  Mamely the jewellery and watch shop to see what they could do. No luck. Mrs. Mamely said we should try at 'Maruchi', the stationery and magazine shop up the street. On the way we had to pass 'El Pintor' the ferretería (ironmongers) where the lovely 'Minti' works. Thinking that a watch strap buckle may be more likely to come within the remit of ironmongery than stationery I tried them. No luck there either, but they said I should try at the barber's shop next door!  Within 5 minutes Paco the barber had fitted a new buckle on the strap. No charge. I love this town!  As he was fitting it his brother, Pepe, managed to convince our guest, Colin, that he needed a haircut. (8€ plus tip).

It turns out that the 'welcome poster' is really an election poster so we've only escaped one election to be in the middle of another campaign. We are eligible to vote in the local elections so the alcalde is speaking to me again. Interestingly, for the first time a British person is included on the PSOE (ruling) party's list of candidates for office. I presume that this is to give the foreigners a voice on the council so I'm hoping that, if the PSOE are elected to office again, our new representative will be able get the council to put in some sewage drains on our street at long last. Isn't that what democracy is all about?

You may have noticed that on the 'welcome poster' Epi is standing on the Caminito Del Rey. I had tickets to walk on the Caminito on Sunday but I've lost them. Colin refuses to go near it but Mrs. Sanchez is very keen so I may have to get some more tickets and go through with it, especially as the ladies of the Molina family did it yesterday.We´ll see.

11th. June 2015

Fanny goings on in Álora. Man in Álora makes a flying visit.

Mrs. Sanchez and I are still not in Álora. 
This is the first time in 14 years that we have seen Springtime in Birmingham and what a treat it has been. Daffodils, tulips, crucuses, primulas and forget-me-nots are some of the garden flowers that we have missed for so many years. Our enforced stay has had its compensations, or as a Spaniard with a working knowledge of obscure national proverbs might say, 'No hay mal que por bien no venga'. (Every cloud has a silver lining). But what have we been missing in Álora? Well,  Semana Santa (Holy Week) for a start, and La Ruta de Tapas (The Tapas Trail), the opening of the Caminito del Rey and, after a wait of many years, the opening of Álora's new indoor heated swimming pool to boot. More about that later. 
 Every silver lining has a cloud, though. Our neighbours in Álora, Harry and Wilma warned us that the garden was overgrown with weeds. Cats had taken over our 'bodeguita' (summer house) and squatters were about to move in. To cap it all, our postal votes for 'the most important  British General Election ever'. were waiting for us 2492 km.or 1548miles away (not counting the distance across the English Channel) in Álora. There was nothing  for it but for one of us to make a flying visit to sort matters out. 
So I bought a couple of cheap flights for my pal Colin and me and off we went. Someone had to do it!

The squatters were evicted and the garden sorted in a couple of days so we were left with a couple of days to relax and catch up with life in Álora (la bien cercada).

                                                     The finished product.

 All the bars are still in business and there's a new 'Italian restaurant', La Casa del Abuelo, next door to the heladería.(Ice cream shop) which appears to be the Italian branch of La Casa del Abuelo at  Bar Bernabe on Calle Veracruz  They do a nice pizza (which must please Pizzaría Peli across the street no end), but apart from some macaroni/spaghetti items the locals have nothing to fear. You can still get the usual Álora favourites there. Monday is still a difficult night to find anywhere to eat here. La Plaza de la Fuente Arriba was almost deserted by 8.00 pm and Casa Abilio shuts on Mondays.

There was no sign of our neighbour Isabel or Ana who makes sure the plants are watered when Harry and Wilma aren't there. They have moved to Alhaurín El Grande and I bet they forgot to tell our new Norwegian neighbours that they have no drains and not to put paper or anything solid down the bog. The last time that happened we had a disastrous back flow and had to replace the bathroom. My campaign to have a proper sewage system installed led to the Alcalde (mayor) avoiding me, so I gave up. He still avoids me so it might have been for some other reason.
The next day was bright and sunny so we asked Manolo to put a table in the shade for us outside Cafe Bar Madrugón  from where we could watch  the good folk of Álora pass by and exchange the odd greeting or pleasantry. Manolo was happy to oblige and growled  a few comments which I did not understand- my Spanish is a bit rusty after being away for 5 months. We ordered 'dos mitad doble' (two coffees with milk). That should probably be 'dos mitades dobles' we don't use a terminal 's' much here. If anyone knows how to write the plural of 's', and I'm sure Alan J does, keep it to yourself.
If there is a better place to be in the world than the top square on a busy sunny morning  I don't know of it.

                                                                Manolo

After a caña and jamón with Candelaria in Bar Azahar and an obligatory visit to the ferretería to buy 4 cancamos cerrados (vine hooks) (no sign of the beautiful Minti) we drove our overpriced Goldcar hire car to Casarabonela (try saying that after a few cañas) to see how the olives had survived the winter. Watch out for Goldcar. They are the cheapest company but we ended up paying 20 quid for the car for five days and 87€ for the insurance!
The olives are in fine fettle. Pruned and bursting into flower. There must have been a fair bit of rain this year as the rescued orange bushes and the almonds are doing well too. After last year's slim pickings we may be in for a good crop.

                                                              Olives in flower

Slim Pickens

We missed La Ruta de Tapas this year. Most of the bars participate. They all have a special tapa and compete for a prize. The winning entry this year was created by Casa Abilio which came up with 'Lingote de queso de cabra y foie con mermelada de mango.' (a gold ingot of goat's cheese and foie gras with a mango preserve). If you get down there sharpish (it's behind Vera Cruz church) they may have some left. It's delicious and beautifully presented. Not a typical tapa by any means but stunning. (2€ a go).

 The customers on la ruta can win prizes by eating and drinking in as many different bars as possible without falling over but nobody has been disqualified for this. It's great fun and by looking at some of the regular Fuente Arriba boulevardiers quite a bit of falling went on. Paco Manyonyo (probably not how it it's spelt, if it ever is as it's not his real name) had a colourful collection of scabs across his forehead and  a few more Perotes than usual were on crutches or using sticks. The tiled floors and stairs here are very unforgiving and there is no Spanish word for 'staircarpet'. Paco has two brothers with the same 'falling condition'. The local ambulance service reckon they should have a season ticket or a loyalty card.

Pedrito, 'the uninvited flamenco singer' strolled by, looking worse for wear. He is a regular casualty of the drink and used to feature at the La Peña Flamenca (flamenco club) in Paseo Martos. Inspired by the music, the duende (magic) and Fino Carbonell he would rise from his seat at the front of the room and start to sing a spirited malagueña, bulería or maybe a fandango before being bundled out of the room by a couple of serious club members. He would do it it bars too. We loved his impromptu recitals but Antonio of La Taverna de Antonio was more discerning. He once shut him up by walking over to him and slapping him on the forehead. Pedrito took all this negative criticism in his stride as all true artists must.

La Peña Flamenca is a hidden gem. It's tucked away at the far end of Paseo Martos, near where Antonio and Joachím had their pescadería. 

                                                     La Peña Flamenca

The club is packed with flamenco nick nacks and pictures of past and present flamenco artists (not including Pedrito) and puts on concerts for members and other aficionados. The 'palo ' called La Malagueña was invented in  Álora and we have a statue to prove it

.

After a trip to Málaga we called in to look at the new Piscina Cubierta y Climatizada de Álora.  Perotes ( the good citizens of Álora) have been waiting for the new heated pool to open for as long as I can remember. It has been plagued by problems with bankrupt builders etc. for years but is now open to the public and offers aqua aerobics and stuff like that. The pool is 25 metres long and the whole building is beautifully constructed with views over the Guadalhorce valley. I hate to be be critical of such a fine and long awaited achievement but the ayuntamiento (town hall) has got it wrong again. There does not appear to be a 'shallow end'. The deep end is 1.80 metres (5ft. 11 inches) deep and the less deep end is 1.55 metres deep (5ft. 1 inch).

 Andalusians are not known for their height. A perote taller than 5 ft. 5 would stand out in any crowd, and children are even smaller. Children will only be allowed in the new pool if accompanied by an adult. No wonder!  

The urinals in the men's toilet also cater for the taller man.

                                               The urinals and 'a taller man' 

Our 'flying visit ended on Friday' which meant we would miss one of my favourite events, The Festival of Verdiales at La Ermita de las Tres Cruces on Sunday (see April 2014 blog)

and also the procession of La Virgin de la Cabeza (The Virgin of the Head) down by the railway station and the big party afterwards.

I've heard that the procession was rained off.

But what a disappointment that we could not get to Alhaurin de la Torre to experience this tasty treat. (A basic knowledge of Spanish may be needed to 'get the picture'. Tip: Try zooming in above the word 'Baby´)

More tea vicar?

April 30th. 2015