Sayalonga, Spain July to November 2003

Our base, the town of Sayalonga, is perched on an outcrop of rock half-way up a mountain between the sea and, the rather larger, more fashionable town of Competa. The population is around 900, very Spanish in the pueblo itself but with some English and Germans, mainly retirees, in villas in the surrounding campo. The residents are very close knit and tend to know each other but there are clear dividing lines – the men hang out in bars while daughters walk with their mothers.

Our House

Our house is what we take to be in typical Spanish style: Tiled throughout, a mish-mash of furniture, ornaments filling all available surfaces and a picture of the Virgin Mary in every room. At first sight the town would seem to have very few shops. Not so. They mostly look like every other house and are scattered throughout the town. No signs, no distinguishing characteristics, you've just got to know they are there.

The Town

Sayalonga is a pretty, newly whitewashed town. This, in part, owes to the fact that very few of the houses have a damp course. The solution to the rising damp is to paint the walls every year! This might also be a reason behind the number of houses with tiling part way up the outside walls - practical and pretty. At first sight the town would seem to have very few shops. Not so. They mostly look like every other house and are scattered throughout the town. No signs, no distinguishing characteristics, you've just got to know they are there.

The Cemetry

Sayalonga has its very own tourist attraction - a cemetery. To quote from the tourist information leaflet "If one looks closer, it is possible to see how the construction of the niches gives them the look of a white honeycomb, and in each one, a new surprise awaits." The leaflet does not go on to describe this "new surprise", but I think enough said.

The Weather

Blimey its hot. Consistently around 35°C in July and August, the hottest summer for 60 years. We're near the coast which apparently offers some relief. In the inland cities dozens of people were dying in 50°C temperatures. As we're English we try and talk to the natives about the weather. In language class we quickly learn that it's more than the short step of knowing the word for hot "caliente to full sentence "tengo caliente" - "I'm hot", a phrase which we come to understand should only be used in the context of an amorous encounter.

Accompanying the heat are the flies. Not plagues of biblical proportions, but bloody persistent and annoying. More than annoying are the mosquitoes, thankfully fairly sparse but they can give bites that fester for weeks. We didn’t help matters by leaving unchlorinated water in our paddling pool for a few days – the mosquito larvae breed very quickly.

No rain at all for 9 weeks, but when the rain clouds came they didn’t mope around drizzling like their English cousins. Instead it bucketed down in a short sharp flurry of activity, flooding the streets and giving the cars a good wash to boot. The next day nornal service was resumed with blue skies.

The relative cool of the evening is wonderful. Perfect for a promenade around town and the opportunity to bump into the local ladies who think nothing of stopping you, a total stranger, and saying our baby daughter’s feet are cold

Wired World

I'm impressed that Sayalonga has a publicly-funded IT teaching-come-web-cafe available for a nominal one-off fee, but then free to use. It not quite the 24hr wired world - all of the internet cafés I've come across close for up to 4 hours in the middle of the day for siesta.

On the Telly

Despite gaining a level of proficiency in Spanish, (but still bottom of the class), this did net equip me for understanding Spanish TV. Having spent time in Sweden where a lot of The TV programmes, (or at least most of the ones worth watching - sorry Sweden), were in English, I expected the odd English language programme with subtitles on Spanish TV. Not a bit of it, absolutely everything is dubbed, from the oldest TV series to the latest movie, some quite atrociously. Of the 9 channels we can pick up, 2 are devoted entirely to people phoning in and having their tarot cards read. Other peculiar things on TV are soap operas that make even Australian ones look sophisticated and regular bull-fighting programmes.

Sustenance

With a fairly tight budget we have quite a few picnics - something we don't do enough of back home. There are also numerous bars and cafes serving Tapas when you feel peckish. Get a mixed salad as well and you've got a full meal for a very reasonable price. And while you're at the bar, if you fancy buying the Sunday roast at the some time - it's just dangling above your head. I think the food police have yet to reach Spain. There is a multi-tier food supply system in operation. Euroski, the hypermarket about 20 minutes away, serves the more offluent Spanish and tourist population. Being air-conditioned, it is very popular. Then there are the local shops, if you can uncover them. Next comes the weekly market and finally the man with the van, different vans actually for meat, fish and frozen foods. A lot of families seem to have direct access to locally grown produce through relatives and friends. You regularly see grapes and nuts being processed outside town houses. Even Cactus, which grows by the roadside, produces a crop of surprisingly juicy fruit around August time

Care in the Community

Everyone has a place in the community - Sure, Pepe will feel your pockets for cigarettes if you look the type that smokes but he's invariably well turned out and with a wide circle of people that take a moment to chat and, no doubt, help him out. There's a whole range of mad old ladies, (my wife prefers the term enthusiastic). The old guys wearing their vests in 40°C heat also seem a bit barking too.

You can get caught out by the mad people because they don't necessarily look any different from anyone else. We had to go to the hospital one day and I was left minding our small daughters (Age 2 and 0) in the waiting room. After an hour or so of mayhem a little old lady started kissing one of the children. Run of the mill I thought, the Spanish love blonde children- until she moved on to kissing and coddling my other daughter, and then me. She had to be led away by her carer. The 2 year old compounded the embarrassment in the waiting room by publicly diagnosing a poor woman with bandage round her face - "Lady's get a sore eye" was loudly and repeatedly proclaimed

My particular favourite is the car park attendant in Competa – I’ll call him Colin – not because I haven’t tried to speak to him, but whenever I do try he looks at me as if I’m the mad one. I don’t take any offence here, it’s not that uncommon a reaction. The job of car park attendant is net a paid position you understand, but every day he’s there pointing out the empty spot he would prefer us to have when there’s only 5 other cars in the entire place. I do tend to pay some heed to anyone acting in even an official capacity. Driving away one day after a piece of particularly tragic parking I caught sight of Cole despairingly shaking his head at my departing car. I felt quite admonished </p>

Fiesta

If you need just one reason to visit Andalusia in the summer it's the Ferias. All the cities and towns, and right down to the smallest village, have their annual fair. We managed to get some of the Feria in Sayalonga, Carillas, Archez and Malaga. They normally take place over Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights - one night alone clearly not being enough. This extends to 2 weeks for the Malaga Feria. The more local ones get going at around midnight and go on to around 5am. The ferias comprise music, dancing, eating, small scale fairground attractions and local affairs such as the crowning of the Feria Queen and King.

Out and About

Competa

Competa is the next town up the mountain from Sayalorga. It's a fair bit larger and more cosmopolitan with a proper ex-pat community. The ex-pats, mainly Germans, British and Danish only make up around they make up, around 5% of the people but, together with the tourists, a much larger part of the visible population.

Our regular hang out is the Hotel Balcon where there is a nice pool. There's no escape from our small children for other guests who regularly find our 2 year old standing next to their sunbeds informing them that the tiled floor is hot, or making them presents of fallen leaves from the trees.

Malaga

Malaga isn't the package tourist hell hole you might imagine. It's the second city of Andalucia, after Seville, with quite some history. There's certainly enough of interest to merit a day or two's visit. The city is trying to build its reputation as a tourist destination on the foundations of the Feria and also as the birthplace of Picasso with a museum due to open mañana, (summer 2002 my guidebook said, but no sign yet)

Ronda

Dramatically situated and full of hidden charm

Alpajurras

Famous for making rugs, the village of Pampaneira

Seville

As you imagine, oranges dripping from trees

Granada

The magical Alhambra Palace

Almeria

Nearby film set for the spaghetti westerns