Collecting olives!

It's that time of year again and this year we are ready for it. We have about 20 olive trees on our land and this year quite a few of them have a reasonable crop. The farmers use a device on their tractor which grabs the tree and vibrates it shaking the olives into a large inverted umbrella.


We however, are using the more traditional method of hitting the branches of the tree with a long stick and then collecting the olives on one of the two large nets which are laid either side of the tree.


Margaret then sorted out the leaves - however, at the "olive co-operative" in the village they have tumbling machines which do the same thing.

The fiesta of San Ramón

Everyone is in their Sunday best for the midday mass and the statue of San Ramón is carried around the village leading the procession just the same as it was on Saturday 18th when it all started, (see ¡FIESTA! Day two).

The main difference is that this afternoon in the Plaza Mayor, there is paella for the whole village.

Click left on any image for a larger view.

We are sitting at tables according to our peña underneath shade from very large nets strung across the entire square - I'm still wearing my hat though!

There are at least 400 people sitting down for this meal.

When the paella is ready everyone forms a couple of orderly queues - have you spotted Margaret yet?
Although bread and wine is included with the paella with a peach for postre, other drinks and postres are provided by the peña. At one table after the meal one chap has brought his guitar and a spontaneous sing-a-long takes place.

After the meal the main square is cleared and prepared for the obligatory disco which goes on into the early hours - I heard it at 3 am still going strong!

And then, that's it until next time, this fiesta has drawn to a close, the families will say farewell to their grandparents over the weekend and return to their homes in Barcelona and Zaragoza and the village will return to being a sleepy and tranquil pueblo and we can all enjoy some peace and quiet - thank goodness that's all over!

San Ramón's eve.

I'm not quite sure why we were having another meal at the peña, but it seemed like a good idea. In the pot this evening were cooked chickens, halved, and boned, rolled and cooked shanks of pork - all just had to be heated up. These were accompanied by salad , bread and olives.

Click left on the image for a larger view.

As this was not an "official" peña meal, in other words there were no other peñas for the youngsters to attend, they came and joined their parents at ours.

It was certainly a very meaty meal!

Here's some of the youngsters, and a couple of "not so" youngsters!

It's Cultural Week - day 2

The big decision was whether to have the concierto in the church or at the village swimming pool and bar. Finally, the committee made their choice of the swimming pool - the church would have been a better venue for this occasion. There was too much backgound noise from the bar during the performance not to mention the resident cricket chirping away and the children running around.

The performers were seated over by the hedge.

The group however, played magnificently with their repertoire ranging from Bach, Handel and Shostakovich in the first part with a selection of Spanish composers in the second.

It was very dark where the players were seated - they even had
battery powered lights to read their music by.

However, everyone seemed to enjoy the performance
and the bar staff were certainly kept very busy.

It's Cultural Week - day 1 evening

It's "cultural week" in the village this week and they have shown a couple of films which we haven't been to see but this evening was a "circus" - 3 acrobats - and this was held in the Plaza Mayor, the main square...

Click left on any image for a larger view

...a young woman with a very large pole that she climbed spider(wo)man style...

a young man with a very large wheel that he rolled around in...

and another young man with incredible football and juggling skills.

Very good entertainment - bring your own seats.

It's Cultural Week - day 1 morning

Today was the last day the ermita was due to be open showing the collection of religious art and statues.

Click left on the image to see it full size.

Rather than show a picture of each piece separately, here is a
collage - is this what heaven looks like?

Margaret scrutinized each piece and made detailed notes.

¡FIESTA! day four

As usual we made our way to the Plaza Mayor just after 21.00 for dancing to the group playing there. Tonight we also had the presentation of awards to the winning football team and the draw of the raffle organised by the women's group. Then, around 22.20 we all went back to our peñas for evening meal. This evening it was cold ham, sausages, cheese, bread with tomato followed by tiramasu.



Later that night, we were told it would be at 3:00, Carlos, Rosi and Pablo's son, would be playing his guitar in the Plaza. To support him, Miguel had drawn a poster and there were various other placards. The poster was a true work of art!