The circus comes to town!

Thursday, 28th August - the Circo Badín is in town, not so much a circus but 2 young guys who are funny, one who is an acrobat and juggler, the other accompanies him on the keyboard.


Press play on the video to see what actually happened.

Click left on the picture to see it full size.

These guys were naturally funny and did some great improvisation aimed at the people in the audience as well as playing their own "instruments".

This was another of those events where you had to take your own chair if you wanted to sit down - the children of course, just sat on the ground.


Everyone seemed to recognise the tune, except us, and could sing along.

Margaret took these photos - can you spot me?

Even though it wasn´t windy, this is very difficult.

The entainment appealed to people of all ages.

An original way of playing the drums.

Audience participation with Duke.

A thoroughly entertaining experience!

It's fiesta time again!

Saturday, 9th August and we go down to the peña with 14 others to clear the weeds and generally make the place habitable in preparation for the fiesta activities which will take place there. Breakfast for everyone of sausage and fried eggs follows.

Saturday, 16th August and we go with 6 others from our peña into Alcañiz to buy food and drink for the festivities.

Monday, 18th August and we have the first meal, cooked by Rosi below, which is the traditional hearty dish of rice, potatoes, bits of bone with some meat on and of course caracoles. Because the summer weather has been so poor in the UK, snails are abundant and on a TV programme people were asking how to get rid of them. It's simple - eat them!

Click left on any photo for the full size view.

Tuesday, 19th August and it's the customary small bonfires to cook the sausages which are then eaten in chunks of bread. Everyone is there, young and old and some of the more organised elderly people have taken their tables and chairs and are making it a true picnic.


This year, there is a live band and they add to the carnival atmosphere.


They are wearing their orange polo shirts which just happen to be exactly the same colour as the t-shirt of our peña so we blend in with them.


Later in the proceedings, a couple of characters run around and chase the children.


By this time people are dancing to the music and having a great time. In the UK gangs of youngsters hide their identity by wearing hoodies - here, they have their name on the back of their peña t-shirt.


Wednesday, 20th August. It's that time of year when San Ramón gets carried around the village towards the end of the midday mass.





We follow virtually every street in the village, thank goodness it's small and then back to the church via the Plaza Mayor.


This year we have a proper group of singers in the church to lead the service and they finish off with a spot of dancing.


Once the service is over, those who dressed in traditional costume gather for a photo shoot.


As the young girls explained, the costumes look good but are more suited to the colder months.


Lola daringly shows her authentic hosiery.


In the evening, we had a display by a group of 10 dancers. Click the "play" button to see them in action.



The dancing took place on the school yard in front of the school building. The school no longer operates as a school as there are insufficient children in the village. You may have noticed in the videos the people going in and out of the doorway - they were preparing a chocolate drink with a toasted breadstick for everyone after the entertainment, at least 250 people.

That evening there was live music by a pop group in the Plaza Mayor from 21.00 - 23.00 and from 1.00 to the early hours. The entire population of the village is there, dancing. They might as well because the music is so loud they couldn't sleep through it!

During the break, Lola cooked pork escalopes in a delicious sauce, here assisted by Eva with Rosi in the background.

Friday, 22nd August. This evening the weather was against us and the pop music group booked to perform were unable to. At least people in the village would be able to choose at what time they went to bed. For part of the downpour it was as if the village was surrounded by thunderstorms with lightning going off in every direction. However, that did not dampen our spirits and prevent us enjoying another meal at the peña.


We all managed to get undercover while we ate apart from Pablo and Manolo who were sitting at the more exposed end of the table.

Sunday, 24th August. This morning we have been cleaning the peña and stacking all the sofas and chairs so they will be ready for next year. Next weekend, there is to be another peña meal on Saturday and then on Sunday, the official saints day for San Ramón, another mass in the church followed by a meal for the whole village in the Plaza Mayor...and then everyone goes back to their homes in the cities and the village returns to its normal tranquil state.

What's at the bottom of this garden?

Sunday, 10th August and we are invited to celebrate Floyd's birthday with Jordi and Emelia at Marc and Andrea's house which is down by the river and used to be the original olive mill.

Click on any picture to see it full size.

Over the years Marc and Andrea have done a lot of restoration on the mill but it is a huge project as can be seen from the photo above.

First we had Andrea's tapas on the terrace.

For the main course Margaret had taken a whole cooked salmon.

As the meal progressed and it drew darker, we realised we were not the only ones eating al fresco.


Yes, it's a civet and although we only saw one, there is likely to be a breeding pair. Not everyone has a pair of these at the bottom of their garden!

My 60th!

Saturday, 2nd August, (the day before my birthday), and 24 of us celebrated my 60th with a superb meal followed by some entertainment.

Floyd was the photographer for this occasion - click on the image for a larger view.

We had the fountain working which is on the new terraza where the swimming pool was, (more on this feature later when the jacuzzi is finally installed).

Our friends brought a dish of food, either starters, salad or postre and we provided the drinks and fish and meat.


Beatriz and Miguel also brought their 4 week old son, Martin.


After the meal, we had "entertainment" in the form of a rendition on the keyboard by myself...


...and another by Floyd. Enjoyable stuff!