August 16th - 31st 2006
Written by Geoff Forster
We're up early.
We went to the bank.
Drove to the Super Genal in Algatocín. We then walked into Algatocín to the bar at the end of the plaza for tostada and coffee.
We met Miguel, the "straw man".
It was market day in Algatocín, nothing special, just a few clothes stalls.
We're looking to buy a large plastic sheet with ties to cover the straw. Rain is forecast tomorrow.
We drove to Gaucín to buy a plastic sheet from the animal food shop.
We also bought our new cat a pretty collar.
Back in Benarrabá. Jane e-mailed her sister Carol to ask her if it would okay to call the new cat Sophie. Carol already has a cat called Sophie ... Jane thinks that Sophie is the perfect name for our little Siamese.
Carol didn't mind, so Sophie it is.
We walked up to the yard where our straw is stacked.
This is Benarrabá from near the road into the village.
It was a cloudy day. Cooler than of late but the sun was shining dramatically between the clouds.
This was taken from the road into Benarrabá about fifty metres from the house. You can see the Sierra de Crestellina on the left, the top of Gibraltar and the Riff mountains of Africa.
Another view of Benarrabá from the yard where Juan kindly lets us keep the straw. He also let us keep half of it indoors in the workshop there.
Back home. This was taken from the street just in front of the apartment.
A good day, we got a lot done.
The donkeys, dogs and cats are all happy. Sophie has her name and collar. We've started worming her and she's been given Frontline.
I watched the England v Greece friendly. We won 4-0. The team looked good in the first half.
We watched a Morgan Freeman film 'Along came a Spider', we've seen it before, but it's a good movie.
It started raining at dawn and again now at 11:00h. The skies are grey and very dramatic with wisps of cloud hanging in the valley.
We spent the morning dodging light showers.
Rain in London affected the cricket. England are playing Pakistan if the fourth and final test match of the summer.
The skies have cleared and its a lovely afternoon. The rains have cooled things down and it's very pleasant outside. Everything looks and smells fresh.
We had a much needed siesta.
I got up to find that England have lost six wickets.
Sophie is becoming less nervous. She was a little jumpy when the door opened, hiding behind the washing machine. We're keeping her separate from the other cats and the dogs until we can get her injections sorted out. This will also give us time to build up trust with her.
Good to hear from John and Chris, Marilyn and Michael, Tina from Sweden, Stuart and Julie, Tom from USA, Willie and Andrea, and Barbara and John. Thanks for your e-mails.
Especial thanks to Marilyn and Michael for sending us electric fly swats. They look like miniature tennis racquets and have batteries in the handle. They electrocute the flies, occasionally with a satisfying spark. They use two 1.5 volt batteries. An upgrade to 9 volts may give more spectacular results ...
We cooked a chicken curry and then watched "Secrets and Lies", starring Timothy Spall, Phyllis Logan, Brenda Blethyn, Claire Rushbrook, Marianne Jean-Baptiste. A good film that had Jane reaching for the hankies. About time we watched something with aliens and lots of fighting.
We're up and out.
We walked Rosie and Domingo out into the campo to munch grasses on Paco's land.
Yesterday's unexpected and unusual August rain has damped down the dusty track and temperatures are a few degrees cooler than last week.
It was a really pleasant walk, the donkeys are getting much better at walking with us. They used to stop to eat all the time. Now we know how to keep them moving. We'll soon be able to go further with them as temperatures fall during September/October.
Jane is cleaning the apartment.
I'm waiting for the cricket to start. A few puddles on the outfield have delayed the start by half an hour. A better bowling performance is needed today or Pakistan will be in a winning position by close of play tonight.
The Ashes tour starts in a few weeks. I think Australia will stuff England unless performances improve dramatically.
Our neighbour Antonia sent us over a huge bag of tomatoes and green peppers her husband Francisco had grown on his huerto.
We went out in the evening.
This is Yolanda, Jane and Flora with the group 'La Cala' who were going to be playing in the plaza at around midnight.
Yolanda serving Rioja.
Some of the boys. We had a good night.
Tres hombres de Benarrabá.
We had a really good night in Café Bar Guayacán.
We didn't make it to the plaza to see La Cala.
We have seen them two or three times before.
Passadoubling until the early hours didn't really appeal.
The donkeys spent the night on Paco's land. We went down to check how they were, and to top up their water.
It's a lovely day temperatures are perfect. In the 80'sF.
We sat on the sun terrace and enjoyed the sun and views.
I listened to Newcastle United beat Wigan 2-1. A good start to the new season.
We went to see the donkeys. Domingo had managed to get out but was stood near the land. He came to us when I called his name. We're not sure how he got out. The gate is a typical homemade contraption made with sticks and wire. We walked them up to the village and put them in the enclosure behind the house.
It's Benarrabá's third Flamenco Festival tonight. It starts around midnight. Although it is advertised to start at 23:00h.
First we went to Calle Pósito where a gastronomic competition was being held.
On the way we passed these girls who had just won a cup in a football competition.
Ten dishes had been entered and a table set up outside the Ayuntamiento.
In the doorway is Andrés Sánchez and Sebastián Romero.
The competition was popular and everyone enjoyed trying small pieces of the entries.
This huge bowl of Sangria was brought out. We tried a few cups.
It was really good!
We went up to the plaza in time for the opening ceremony.
There were a few presentations.
There were a lot of people there.
Last year we'd taken a good photograph of the girl in the middle dancing on stage. We took a copy and gave it to her.
The Flamenco started.
The plaza looked beautiful.
Strings of lights, the fountain and Orange trees.
We met Rachel and her friends. Rachel lives in the campo around twenty minutes from Benarrabá.
We had a good chat with them.
We were both tired and went home around 02:00h.
We missed seeing Simon and Luis Núñez who live in the village perform. They were on last at around 04:00h.
Here's Simon.
A late start!
I sorted through some of the many photo's we took last night.
We drove to get some straw for Rosie and Domingo.
We called into Cafe Bar Guayacán for tapas.
Jane drove the car home.
Then we went to Bar Andrés Sanchez for some of their excellent Salmorejo de carne.
Bar Andrés Sánchez is always busy with families enjoying tapas and refreshments at Sunday lunchtime. We took lots of photo's for the gallery on www.benarraba.com.
We called into Bar Barroso and Pub Bar Dami.
Lots of people were sitting under the parasols outside the bars.
We walked up to Café Bar Guayacán.
We took more photo's for the peoples gallery.
It took me ages to get this photograph of the dart in flight.
We got home in the early evening.
Fed and watered the animals and then had a very early night.
It's quite windy today. Temperatures are still pleasant probably around 80°F
We both feel better after sleeping for twelve hours!
Rosie and Domingo are fine, munching on their straw and seed supplement.
I've been putting photographs onto www.benarraba.com
You can find them here.
Semana Cultural Benarrabá
We drove to Algatocín. Did some shopping.
We saw a Booted Eagle soaring on the mountain breeze.
Lot's of Bee Eaters on the wires still.
Jane took these photo's of a quaint old house in one of the quiet twisting streets of Benarrabá. It is a single storey house but it looks as if there may be rooms below ground?
This tree is actually an Umbrella plant! In the UK they are kept as house plants. It has a huge trunk around fifteen cm in diameter.
Dahlia's do well in Spain.
Jane watched a succession of 'True Movies', I surfed all the sports sites. Reading about possible transfers to and from Newcastle United and the talk of a possible takeover. Hopefully by someone with pots of cash.
The Pakistan ball tampering debacle is also causing waves.
The end result was cricket fans were cheated out of a day and a few hours play. People had made plans to go to the match and have been let down.
We cooked a curry and watched an movie on ActionMax.
We're up early before dawn. We're going to walk the donkeys down to El Chorruelo for exercise and to feed.
The arroyo Infiernillo is a seasonal stream. Dry at the moment.
The grasses here are still a little greener than elsewhere. A huge patch of wild mint was flowering. Domingo walked through it and the smell was incredible.
We repaired the gate to Paco's land. We did it Spanish style with string.
It seems more secure. We left Domingo and Rosie to feed under the Olive trees.
We walked up the hill to the village.
Two old ladies had been to the natural spring at El Chorruelo to fill up water bottles. They were walking up the steep hill to Benarrabá with their five litre bottles. Hard work but something a lot of people do in the village each day. Good exercise and great tasting spring water.
We soon caught them up going up the hill and carried their bottles for them.
Back home we cleaned the donkeys enclosure and filled up their water tubs.
We then went back out into the campo and brought Rosie and Domingo back to the village.
We jumped in the car and went to the Venta at San Juan.
We need a signature from Rosie's previous owner who is here on holiday from Barcelona.
We went to the house but they were in Ronda shopping. We were told that they were due back at any time.
We went to the Venta for refreshment.
The pork kebabs are marinated in spices which give them a very mild curry flavour. They are cooked on an open fire in the bar.
It's a very popular place in August.
The Genal is a very pure river. There's not a lot of water in it. It's dry downstream of Gaucín. San Juan is one of the few places the public can easily access the river. Small pools have been created by a series of stepping stone dams. It's great for swimming and paddling.
There are lots of small fish and frogs in the river.
I kept my socks and boots on and sent my able assistant in.
Jane had a paddle and took this from midstream.
El supervisor.
I made Jane get out, hand me the camera and then go back in ... look she's still smiling!
This is Algatocín from the Rio Genal at San Juan.
We really enjoy our visits to San Juan. The rivers cool, clean and beautiful. The Venta is very cheap and serves some great food. A tranquil alternative to the coast.
Back in Benarrabá we called in to see Yolanda in Café Bar Guayacán before heading home.
We had a night in and watched 'Howard's End' on Film 4 starring Anthony Hopkins, Helena Bonham Carter and Emma Thompson. A little slow, but well acted. (No Aliens or machine guns again ... at times I felt both were very much needed).
We're up early again. It's another perfect day.
We had planned to go to the vets with little Sophie to get her checked over, first injections and a microchip.
I phoned the vets in Ronda, where the surgery is based. The vet comes to the animal feed shop in Gaucín once a fortnight for a short surgery.
He's usually here this week but it's holiday season in Spain. Most Government employees and professionals are on holiday in August.
We think that he's there next week so poor Sophie will have to wait. She seems to be settling in well. She's very affectionate, as fast as lightning and becoming very playful.
Rosie and Domingo seem happy in their enclosure.
We went round to spend some time with them, they seem to enjoy the attention.
We cooked a chicken, potato and lentil curry.
Then we watched 'The Hunted' starring Tommy Lee Jones.
I'm up before dawn, I walked the dogs and then fed the donkeys.
We drove to Gaucín. A trip to the post office and then to Manolo's bar for a refreshing beer.
We saw Jesús from Benarrabá in the street near the bank.
We walked down to Venta El Socorro opposite where we park the car.
This is the road bridge in Gaucín taken from opposite the venta..
This is myself and Jesús inside the Venta.
Jesús kindly took a photograph of Jane and myself.
This is the owner proudly showing one of our cards.
The venta also sells lottery tickets, we put on a Euro Millions ticket for Friday ... fingers crossed.
We drove to the animal feed centre to buy a 40kg sack of mixed seed for the donkeys. (10 euros/ £7)
We enjoyed our morning in Gaucín.
Next we drove to Algatocín for a sack of dog food.
Next back in Benarrabá we picked up a bale of hay from our stack.
Back home the poor Clio is laden with animal food. The outside is covered in dust, the boot is full of loose straw. A true campo car.
It was a hot afternoon, we got the hosepipe out and washed the donkeys. Domingo wasn't too keen at first but we managed.
Rosie was a little more cooperative.
Domingo finds the shade and the straw.
It must have helped to cool them down.
We went around later with some seed mixture. They'd been rolling in the dust. They love dust baths more than hosepipe showers.
Their coats did feel softer ...
I listened to the Newcastle United progress in UEFA Cup with a strange very one sided 0-0 draw. So many chances hopefully our new striker bought from Inter Milan for £10.1 million this afternoon will be a better finisher than Luque.
Cristóbal knocked on the door at around 22:00h. He stood in the street and passed me a plateful of peeled Chumbos.
They are the fruit of the Prickly Pear cactus. You pick them very carefully with tongs. When you have enough you find a flat piece of ground (sometimes a little tricky around here), then tip them out and beat them around and around with a bunch of herbs. This bends the tips of the fine, but very sharp spines over. You then wash them. Top and tail them. Then a long lengthways incision allows you to peel off their skins and spines to reveal either yellow or red fruits.
They are very juicy, with a sweet watery taste a little like a melon. However Chumbo's have a firmer texture than a melon, they also have lots of seeds about the same size as grape stones which you digest.
We both love them. They keep for a short time and are better after a few hours in the fridge.
It's another beautiful day, temperatures are around 32°C/87°F which is perfect when we have a mountain breeze.
We walked the donkeys down to Paco's land at El Chorruelo.
We had to wait for a delivery so had to stay near the house until it arrived.
We've bought a framed Salvador Dali print "Swans reflecting Elephants"
We both like Dali, Jane's parents had given us money to buy something 'paper' for our first wedding anniversary. It took us over a year to spend it, but we're both happy with our choice.
Sophie our Siamese has been in solitary confinement. She's been living in our bedroom and a small indoor washroom. She's happy but we decided to take her outside for a few minutes today for some fresh air.
She's a very pretty little cat. We hope to get her injections started on Wednesday.
We'll get advice then about allowing her to mix with our dogs and cats.
We think that she's just over a year old. She's very small and light but otherwise fit and healthy.
We walked back down to El Chorruelo to get Rosie and Domingo.
We then walked them back up the hill to the village. We should start shedding a few pounds if we do this for the next thirty years ... donkeys can live for a long time!
We sat on the sun terrace and enjoyed the view over the Genal Valley and Benarrabá as the sun went down.
It's a beautiful day.
We fed and watered the donkeys in their enclosure.
We walked down to Café Bar Guayacán to meet Chris and Gilly Band who are here at their finca near Cortes de la Frontera on holiday.
We had a drink together in Guayacán then took them on what turned out to be a quick tour of the village.
Gilly and Chris Band.
We had a quick bite of tapas in Bar Andrés Sánchez and then walked back to their car.
Jane and I decided to do another lap of the village!
Back in Guayacán, here are the wonderful waitresses Pepina and Maca.
They really are lovely girls.
We had a good chat in the bar with Andrés the brother of the lady we bought our house from. He was telling us the amount of weight donkeys of different ages and sexes should be able to carry.
Andrés.
This is Diego and Curro (nearest). Francisco (Curro) is the son of José and Antonia from Bar Barroso.
I was recently sent a photo of Curro with Javier Conde a famous torero.
It was taken earlier this month at a bullfight in Cortes de la Frontera.
This is Enrique and Eva. They are on holiday from Madrid. Staying in Marbella but visiting Benarrabá. Jane was in the mood for taking photographs so they weren't getting out of Benarrabá without being captured for the blog.
We took lots of other photographs which I'll put on www.benarraba.com
We walked back down to the lower part of the village.
Jane took these photo's around the church.
We called into Bar Andrés Sánchez and Bar Barroso.
This is Jane in the shade outside Bar Barroso.
North up the Valle del Genal.
We walked back up to Cafe Bar Guayacán for our third visit of the day!
We sat on the newly opened sun terrace. The views are excellent.
This is looking North again up the Valle del Genal towards La Sierra de las Nieves. The distant village is Alpandeire.
The view East across the rooftops of Benarrabá.
The view South East across the Genal Valley towards the Sierra Bermeja and the highest point of that range, Los Reales.
The verdant slopes of the Genal with the higher pine topped Sierra Bermeja behind.
The masts on the top of the Sierra Bermeja at Los Reales.
The view South to the Sierra Crestellina across a Cork Oak covered ridge.
We sat on the terrace in Guayacán for a while enjoying the magnificent views.
Later we went down into the bar.
This is Paco Barranco.
Paco is a slight of hand magician!
I've never had the pleasure of seeing a master magician at work close up. He was absolutely brilliant. For over an hour he showed us card tricks and made coins disappear. I was less than a metre from his hands all the time and I never once saw how he was doing any of his tricks.
Absolutely amazing.
Pick a card any card ...
Coin tricks. Euros disappearing right left and centre.
A completely unexpected but brilliant nights entertainment.
Paco is a lovely man and he's so smooth doing his tricks he is a real master magician.
Do not play Poker with this man!
Yolanda took this of us. A sneaky natural shot which are often quite good. I like this one.
A really good day and night out.
We got back home just after sunset. There was still enough light to give the donkeys their food and top up their water barrels.
I'm up before dawn. I'm rewarded for this by a stunning early morning sky and a light mist hanging in the valley.
I grabbed the camera and went up on the sun terrace to enjoy this beautiful sight.
Just before the sun appeared over the Sierra Bermeja.
We had planned to go to Gaucín Romería. Yesterdays all day walk around the village put us off having another similar day.
Later I saw Cristóbal (he was born in Gaucín). I asked him if he'd been. He said that he'd only been once and wouldn't go again. August is too hot for a Romería. I'm now glad we gave it a miss it was a hot day.
I walked the dogs and fed the donkeys. We stayed around the house all day. Spending time with all the animals.
I listened to an awful game of football, Newcastle United losing 2-0 to Aston Villa. Our new £10 million striker was taken off the pitch on a stretcher. Not good news.
Later Jane and I spent a few hours on the sun terrace as the light faded and night set in.
Then we watched Helen Mirren in 'Prime Suspect 5'
It's a glorious day. Blue skies and hot sun.
We walked the donkeys down to El Chorruelo.
Domingo.
Jane with Rosie and Domingo, feeding on the way down to Paco's land.
We filled up their water barrel from the spring.
Then left them for the day to munch away at the dried grasses and flowers.
We jumped in the car and drove to Gaucín.
We went to the bank and to the Post Office.
We'd decided to go to the coast for a paddle in the Mediterranean before visiting the newly opened Lidl store at San Luis de Sabinillas.
We usually show pictures of us paddling in the sea, today we walked up the beach and back into the main town Jane spotted this novel use of a clothes horse.
Suddenly I noticed the roof of the house next door.
.
Obviously somebody had made a good catch. Sun dried Sardines.
We went for a drink in Bar Maria.
Later we walked up through the quieter back streets. We stopped near the fountain to look at the flowers.
This Banana plant was doing well, it was just starting to flower, the purple thing above Jane's head.
This Hibiscus with white petals and coral coloured stamens was very striking.
Here I am standing underneath a variety of Hibiscus with pink petals.
It was a beautiful afternoon, we carried on exploring the quiet back streets.
This statue is in the centre of a mini roundabout.
Here I try to recreate a great photo Jane took in Sabinillas during the festival of Carmen last year.
Jane's was better as the statue was being carried along in front of the lamp post and it was completely accidental.
Here's a close up of the Virgen with lights.
We walked back to the car and drove a few hundred metres to the new Lidl store.
We did quite a large shop, we were quite impressed. We used to shop in Lidl's at Los Barrios. This is a little larger and nearer. Their dairy products are excellent quality and very cheap.
On the way home we stopped at Venta Molino for refreshment.
Back home in Benarrabá we unloaded the shopping, then went down to El Chorruelo to bring the donkeys back up to the village. We gave the donkeys a treat of some large carrots that we'd bought for them.
We sat on the sun terrace drinking Cava. It cost around 1.70euros / £1.20 a bottle for what is a very good semi-seco Reserva.
We had a roast chicken dinner with roast potatoes and carrots washed down with a good Gran Reserva Rioja.
Another beautiful day with cloudless blue skies.
We drove to our stack of straw bales and brought one down to the village. We fed and watered the donkeys.
Jane sat on the sun terrace for a couple of hours.
I walked the dogs up the narrow track that runs up the mountainside behind the apartment. We only stayed out for twenty minutes it's too hot for our Border Collies to go too far. It'll soon be walking and hiking weather again and we can take them further along the valley and dow to the rio.
We had a second roast chicken dinner.
Later we watched 'The Godfather II' a favourite film of mine.
Jane worked on a flyer we're planning to distribute around local business about advertising on our website. We're seeing record traffic to the website again this month, with already over 20,000 visitors. We are planning on revisiting a lot of the towns and villages in our 'Places to Visit' section, to leaflet shops, bars and restaurantes. We're also planning a separate Estate Agents / Property for Sale campaign to coincide with a revamping of part of the website to make better use of the www.property-in-the-sun.com domain name.
Anyone who knows any agents, bar owners etc who'd be interested in advertising with us, please pass on our website details. Thanks.
We took little Sophie our new Siamese cat to the Vets in Gaucín.
We had quite a long wait as there hadn't been a surgery for a while.
We sat outside in the shade, we met some other pet owners and had a good chat.
Sophie had a check up and her first inoculation. She's fit and healthy and can mix with the other animals now.
Back in Benarrabá we walked the donkeys down to El Chorruelo.
It was just after midday and really hot. We left them to feed and walked up the hill back to the village, hard work in this heat.
Later in the evening we did the return trip bringing the donkeys up to their enclosure. Fortunately it was a little cooler.
We let Sophie mix with the dogs. They get on fine, all a little wary but no serious face offs.
'Mota de Oro' our first Spanish cat isn't so keen and hissed a few times. Sophie hissed back and 'Motty' pawed her when she wasn't looking. A pecking order will be established, we hope they settle down asap!
We watched TV and Jane worked on the PC.
We're up early.
We walked the donkeys down to Paco's land, it's a lot cooler first thing in the morning.
We decided to go back to San Luis de Sabinillas for another walk along the beach. Plus another shopping trip to Lidl's.
The surf was up. Occasionally the Mediterranean does get a little bit choppy and very rarely we get big breakers.
Today was about as rough as we've seen the Med.
Spray was blowing up the beach which was refreshing and cooling.
We walked down towards the ruined watchtower in the Estepona direction.
The skies were clear, it was a beautiful day for strolling down the beach paddling in the foam.
I did get a good soaking from a freak wave which amused Jane.
A rare sight on the Med. The lad was pretty good and stayed upright for thirty seconds until he ran out of surf.
Jane took this one of two ladies sunbathing on the beach very near the crashing waves. I like the different coloured horizontal bars in the photo. Jane's getting a real eye for a good photo.
We walked up to Puerto de la Duquesa and strolled around the Marina.
There are lots of bars and restaurantes around the pretty marina. I mean lots. So many you wonder how they can stay in business (until you check the prices!).
We walked back along the promenade to San Luis de Sabinillas.
Where we had a well deserved ice cool beer.
Refreshed we headed to Lidl's to do more shopping.
Shopping completed we drove to Venta la Laguna near the Sierra de Crestellina. A reward for me going to a supermarket twice in less than a week. (I hate shopping!)
Back home I checked the Newcastle United web sites for any transfers made before the deadline at midnight tonight. Nothing too exciting. A four month loan of a striker from Manchester United. A wasted trip for James Milner to Aston Villa. This must be good for his moral!
We put a bottle of Cava in the freezer before heading out into the campo to bring back Rosie and Domingo.
We fed the donkeys their seed mix and gave them plenty of barley straw.
We've both caught the sun, we were walking for three hours along the beach and around the marina. We're not red but a good bronze colour.
Hope it's not raining in Stoke! ;-)
Next we prepared our evening meal. Home made chicken, chick pea and potato stew with a hint of chilli. Also oven baked bread rolls.
We could smell it wafting up as we sat on the sun terrace drinking our Cava taking in the views of the Genal valley as the sun went down.
Heaven!