Archive for January, 2006

A snowy Sierra de Grazalema

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

We get a nice view of the Sierra de Grazalema from our roof terrace. Just 20 minutes from Arcos by car, it’s a mountain range of spectacular beauty, very green at this time of year, with a rich variety of flora and fauna. It is well known in Spain for its excellent walking and birdwatching. The town of Grazalema itself, meanwhile, is famous for being Spain’s wettest place. Today its rooftops were dusted in snow.

Spain has been under the influence of a severe coldsnap over the last few days, and even here in south west Andalucia we have not been spared. The chances of it snowing in Arcos are low indeed - there’s only been one fall of snow here in living memory (February 1954) - but we’ve all been commenting on the strong northerly wind and temperatures well below average. Joe and the snowman

Yesterday, I could see from the roof terrace that a few inches of snow had fallen overnight in the Sierra de Grazalema, and by my reckoning that would be ample for making a snowman!

So as a family we set off this Tuesday afternoon in glorious sunshine and eventually found the snow. Here’s a photo of the snowman Joe and I made, with Joe alongside him. As you can see, we neglected to give him a mouth. If he had been able to speak he might have said: ‘You guys are really enjoying living in Spain!’

Los Reyes Magos

Tuesday, January 10th, 2006

On Thursday The Three Kings (Los Reyes Magos) came to Arcos with their presents! The Three Kings go past

We had heard the Kings would be passing through our ‘barrio’ (district) at about 7pm so we took the kids out around 5pm to sample the atmosphere. Sure enough, a little down the hill there was a buzz of activity. People were starting to lean out of their windows. Some policemen were chatting on their radios. Pepe from the shop told us their was still an hour or so to go, but we stood around in the street (like everyone else) and enjoyed doing nothing for a while, just taking in the atmosphere. Joe and Maggie played on a doorstep and all was well with the world.

We walked back up to our barrio, as we wanted to sample the event with our friends. We sat in Toni’s bar and waited, every now and then looking out the door to see if anything was happening.

Then the first tractor-pulled float came round the corner (how on earth do they get a tractor-pulled float around these narrow streets??) and soon after a second one came towards us with a big crowd in its wake. Aha! This one had a King on it. We could see from 100 yards away that sweets and presents were being hurled out of the float in their hundreds, so it was no wonder so many people were following behind with their carrier bags.

Joe loved it. He was showered with sweets and teddies and footballs as the float went past. More floats followed, with plenty more sweets and toys, and it was a great spectacle. Yet again, Arcos does itself proud!