Here at Casa Campana I often return home to find goodies on the doorstep from friends and neighbours. Tomatoes, beans, apples, lillies - depending on what’s in season.
We are also lucky enough to have a regular visitor, Sue, who grows all her own fruit and veg and has her own chickens who lay fantastic eggs! The yokes are the yellowist I’ve ever seen. Every Wednesday and Saturday, she generally pops in with a box full of yumminess.
Here she is delivering her delicious produce. Thank you Sue! Lately we’ve been enjoying red and white cabbage, lettuce, fennel and broad beans. Anybody local to here wanting to enjoy Sue’s organic produce here is her number 617900361. Prices are reasonable and the flavour is intense!
Some time has passed since our last entry, so first to recap on recent events.
Yesterday was MotoGP day at Jerez, and the race was won by Spaniard Dani Pedrosa - a fact which was appreciated by our Spanish guests in Casa Campana, who biked down from Murcia and Madrid to attend the big race.
“It always rains during Holy Week”. So say some friends of ours who have been living in this area for the last five years. And it did again, though just on the one day, so most of the ten processions went ahead as planned. If you’ve ever seen a procession itself, you’ll know the only identifying factor for the people carrying the saint is their shuffling feet. So if you’ve ever wondered how these guys look from the ankle up, check out the picture above (taken during practice). Now you know!
Going back a little further, after the rastro we held in January, we had the unusual experience of hosting Belén, an anthropologist from Jerez - in our cellar. Yes, Belén slept not in one of the guestrooms but in the cellar. She suffers a bad reaction from mobile phone masts and - worse still - from wireless internet. Belén was looking for somewhere to sleep without either of these signals, and for a few days she stayed with us. It was a real pleasure to help Belén out for a bit, before she went off to the sierra in search of an isolated finca. I said to Belén that I had no knowledge of such signals affecting people physically and mentally, to which she replied that she was not alone. She plans to write a book about her experiences.
A new Costa de la Luz weekly weather forecast on video has been launched by, er, me. Take a look. If you are not into weather forecasts then look upon these regular video posts as simple Spanish lessons (-:
On Saturday 26th January we opened our doors and had a hugely successful rastro (mini car boot sale) in our patio.
We spent the week or so beforehand gathering bits and pieces from the cellar, attic, children’s toy boxes and were extremely surprised at the amount of stuff we’d accumulated. A lot of it was things we hadn’t even used since we moved to Spain over 3 years ago now.
I had no idea how it would be received since, in my experience, Spanish people tend to throw things away and prefer to buy brand new.
Jim and I had scootered around the town putting up posters and word got round quickly. So much so that a friend of a friend understood there was a rastro in front of the church organised by the town council! At this stage I started to get a bit nervous, I mean we didn’t really have much stuff and I felt people were going to be disappointed.
My fears were unnecessary. On Saturday morning, Jim, Joe and Maggie went to the bottom of the Cuesta Belen to put up some small signs and arrows leading the way to our house, whilst I set about organising the patio to resemble a jumble sale.
By 10.30am I’d even managed to put some price stickers on items and decided to pop next door to Juan’s bar to grab a coffee before we started…. well Juan decided to bring the coffee back to the house for me (a first!) and took the opportunity to browse the rastro. He spent over 20 euros! And the door had been left open, people started trickling in and we were off. I hadn’t even had chance to drink my coffee.
Spot the local vicar buying three cans of Murphys in the photo above
There was a steady stream of people until about 1.30, so at 2pm we decided to call it a day. There was next to nothing left, a couple of bags of clothes and a few cups and saucers. What a great day and a great way to get rid of old junk!
We like to call him Juan de las Flores (of the Flowers) because he’s rarely seen without a flower in his top pocket. It is customary for Juan to pick a flower for his wife while he’s out walking. And he sure likes to walk. As far as I can tell, he strolls up to the Old town every day, at least twice a day. He’s a man who likes to be out and about.
I also spotted Juan recently in Lidl, rummaging around the newly-arrived bargains. I had popped in to buy a telescope for Casa Campana’s mirador (viewpoint).
Just after this photo of Juan and I was taken he told me about how he had served in the army with Manolo Zapata, a well known artist in Arcos. Here’s how the conversation went on…
Juan: “You really get to know what someone is like when you live with them for a while.”
Me: (curious) “What was he like?”
Juan: (shrugs) “Well, like he is.”
I thanked Juan for sharing that with me, and went on my way.
A couple of hours later it was time for the Parade of the Three Kings, which the kids loved:
The Belén Viviente, or Live Nativity, takes place in Arcos every December for one night only.
It’s a highlight of the cultural year, in which the Old Quarter is transformed into Bethlehem of Judea to represent the night on which Jesus was born. On Saturday I think there were 28 different scenes dotted around, and as usual the transformation of Plaza de Cabildo was the focal point.
Thanks to Emma’s social skills we found ourselves dressing up and joining one of the scenes, in a coverted garage. It was called the ‘Cena de los pobres’ (Meal of the Poor). Nothing poor about the food on offer mind you!
Being on the receiving end of so much gawping from passers by, rather than being the gawper myself, was a strange and slightly unnerving feeling. Comments from onlookers were entirely free of sarcasm (the Spanish don’t do sarcasm) and included:
You look nice and warm in there
Bon appetit
Thank you so much for what you have done (!)
Well, the thanks should be directed at Isabel and her crew, Emma included.
Jim
Click here for our blog posting last year about the Live Nativity in Arcos.
Every Wednesday and Saturday, she generally pops in with a box full of yumminess.
“It always rains during Holy Week”. So say some friends of ours who have been living in this area for the last five years. And it did again, though just on the one day, so most of the ten processions went ahead as planned. If you’ve ever seen a procession itself, you’ll know the only identifying factor for the people carrying the saint is their shuffling feet. So if you’ve ever wondered how these guys look from the ankle up, check out the picture above (taken during practice). Now you know!
