The new finca

Fran has been helping a dutch friend, Helma, strip and repaint some doors for a house she is redoing in Seville and wonderful lady that she is she put us in touch with another dutch gentleman, Peter who has a finca, on a mountainside, about half an hour away. Long story short, he needs able bodies and has an empty little casa on his finca and we need somewhere to live, where we can barter work for rent.

the drivewayBrillliant! He is a retired civil engineer, vegetarian and devoted walker, he has trapesed all over he world, and an all round nice guy. The finca is 6 hectares overlooking Santa Ana la Real with a view all the way to Rio Tinto, a mine used exstensively by the Romans and now a GIANT hole in the ground. We moved in last Sunday and have been weedwhacking, digging and clearing like crazy ever since. We will hopefully be adding to this more regularly as we now have things to write about, but being off the grid makes it a little hit and miss. Here are some photos to get you all in the mood.

the walking trail that starts at the dirt road to the finca


the spring for our drinking water

there is lavendar in bloom everywhere in the campo at the moment. smells divine

the bathroom/sculley building



the patio between the kitchen/bedroom buildng and the bathroom

the kitchen room, the bedroom is upstairs, with outside stairs

our own cave, for when we start making cheese

the chestnut, castaño, grove

La Cartuga

Here are some photos of the Cartuga Pottery works, where the Sevillan monks made the world famous pottery. Would so love a kiln that size! Actually right now I would just love a kiln, but all good things will come.

Birthday

Got to spend the first birthday in 15 years with the parents. Simon cooked mousaka and we had a lovely lunch on the patio. Got spoilt rotten, jewelry, puzzles, plants and a pillow, what more could a girl ask for. We then went to the Trueco that night and got to party with our new friends, and I got more presents!

Cordoba

we spent a lovely weekend in cordoba. friends of mum and dads were getting married and we tagged along to see the city. finally got to see the mesquita,aaaaaahhhhh,and then went cruising the city for the evening. we had a very nice meal in a little restuarant in the jewish quarter, one ofthe oldest areas of the city, and as we were wandering back to our hotel at about midnight we came across a gathering of people in the grand plaza. there was a group of singers, all aged about 65, and 8 musicians, singing traditional spanish songs. many of them obviously cordoban and very well known by the audience as they all sang along and applauded enthusiastically. we listened to them for more than an hour and it was a most magical thing to be out in the heart of the city in the middle of the night listening to traditional music with locals. really exactly wat we were hoping for when we came here. here is a collection of photos from the city, including an art student that we passed several times and got to watch go from blank canvas to finished work. shame about the execution! the mesquita is worth the air flight from canada though if you like architecture and quite stunninng art work.

Cortegana Paso

The paso in Cortegana is special in the Sierra, apart from coming down our street and we can hang out on the balcony and watch it go past, because the church has steps that the costaleros, (the guys carrying the paso) have to negotiate to get to the street. This doesn't sound hard but when you take into account that they are carrying a thing that weighs a ton, the street is full of people and they are taking directions from a guy outside at the front because they can't see out from undereath, it is quite a sight. We strolled up to the top of the street at about 7.30pm to join a huge collection of our neighbors, all of whom greeted us most warmly, hanging around outside the church. They close most of the village down as it takes several hours for the paso to make its way through the streets so there are junta ( municipal) and policia local and guardia everywhere. Mostly they stand around and chat and occiasionally shoo a car away. A group of touristas showed up right in the middle of the crowd with 8 RVs that couldn't be backed up and definatley weren't going to be able to get through the village, much to the consternation of all the old folks. The guy driving the lead van had a huge argument with the guardia, never a good idea, and in very bad spirits had to get his HUGE rv around the corner and went off down the side road out of the village. He was shouting things at the crowd, which we think translated as it wasn't his fault that they had driven in to Cortegana and there wasn't anything he could do about it. The other 7 Rvs followed very slowly, many havin to do 5 point turns to get around the corner as the streets are all rather narrow. There was much giggling from the old ladies who live on our street because the way they went basically goes to nowhere, and they weren't going to be able to get back into the village. Our neighbour seemed to be saying it served them right for being forasteros, people from another village, which is almost worse than being an extranjero, a foreigner.

Once that entertainment was over, we got to watch the 2 pasos being brought out of the church. There was much cheering as each of them reached steet level and it was cool to watch them prop Jesus upon his cross as he was too tall to fit through the door upright, and he had 2 guys following along, who lifted up the electrical cables along the streets so that the paso could fit underneath. We then strolled up the road to the main square to watch them all go past again, it is very easy to outpace a paso and partook in the sacred tradition of cafe con leche and vino tinto in the local. The paso came back past our house at about 11 that night. It was very spooky as the Cortegana penitente wear black and as there was a howling gale, they didn't have their candles lit. They walk in silence so watching these hooded black shapes move slowly along the street was really rather weirdly beautiful.

Have to say that all in all we had a wonderful introduction to the traditions of what is probably this areas grandest religious festival. Can't wait for the Romerias which are much more pagan!