The other day I went for a walk during our afternoon descanso. Instead of walking the way I usually do (along the main road to Huercal Overa), I decided to turn down a new path that led to a town called Almajalejo. Almajalejo is about 1km off of the main road, so it was a fairly short walk.
After a short while I saw a few houses, so I figured I had reached the edge of the town. NOPE. That WAS the town. Almajalejo, I learned, is not actually a pueblo (town), but an aldea (a really really tiny town. Apparently the word in English is "hamlet"). This little place is perhaps the most interesting and unbelievable anachronism I have ever witnessed first hand: the street was lined with huge houses with little garden patios; old ladies were sitting outside listening to the radio playing. From the outside (and perhaps the inside too, I don't know), it looks as if Almajalejo has not changed since Franco. I didn't get to see too much of the place though, because right when I arrived a dog / savage beast creature came over and started barking at me. I am not usually afraid of dogs; this was actually just a monster and he was not thrilled with my presence. He ran up to his gate (he was locked away under a sign that said CUIDADO CON EL PERRO) and stood there yelling at me the entire time. I figured he would stop once I past the house, but he didn't, so I ran away back to the farm.
A couple of days later, we went to another nearby town called Taberno with a few of Esther's friends who came to visit. Upon arriving, we set off to find the town church (if there is one thing EVERY inhabited place in Spain has, it's a church) and its plaza. The church looked like it was a hundred years old - very worn down, with cracked paint and a severely compromised foundation. After looking at the plaque, however, we realized it had been constructed in 1971!
After looking out at the town from the view at the top of the church plaza, we decided to walk around to find a bar to get some ice cream. While we were walking, we passed an old woman sitting outside her house with several little girls. We went over to say hi, and saw that they were all working on some very detailed embroidery. Bolillos, as I learned this type of work is called, is an intricate design made out of many different strings, usually in floral or other repeating patterns. Bolillos can be attached as trimmings for tablecloths, towels, sheets, etc. The girls' grandmother was teaching them how to make bolillos: attached to a long, round pillow are tons of strings wound up on wooden sticks (these sticks are called bolillos). You rotate the bolillos to create the design, a photocopy of which is usually pinned underneath to guide the work. It looked unbelievably complicated, but the finished products were beautiful. We stuck around talking to the girls for a little while longer to hear more about bolillos and just to make small talk.
Afterwards, we went to the bar and ordered ice cream. We sat outside on the patio to eat, and discussed various Spanish accents (whether the Spanish lisp is correct or not; saying escuela or colegio, etc). While we were eating, we saw a man ride down the street on a horse, stop, tie his horse to the window of a building, and come to the bar for a drink. Though a painfully touristic moment, we obviously had to go take pictures with the horse. Never in my life have I seen someone actually use a horse as transportation. The man enjoyed us though, and offered to have us mount his horse for the pictures. It was excellent.
Yesterday afternoon, Candela's grandmother Isabel invited us all over to come see her house. She lives in Almajalejo, so we made the quick trip over following our afternoon naps. Her house is gigantic and absolutely gorgeous. It is just as architecturally ingenious as Lola's; even in the 100+ degree weather, it remained cool and fresh inside without any fans or air conditioning. Isabel showed us around, showing off all of the bolillos she has done (which is no small amount - I can't even remember how many towels and sheets and blankets and napkins and tablecloths she showed us, and every surface of the house was covered with something she had either made entirely from scratch or had embellished in some way). She is very proud of her work (obviously), and it was incredible to see the kind of things she has made. She also showed us parts of Candela's ajuar she is preparing. An ajuar is a collection of sheets, tablecloths, towels, and other linens that relatives embellish and prepare (with bolillos, cross stitching, embroidery, etc) for when a young girl in the family gets married. The Spanish tradition of developing an ajuar is largely outdated in most major cities, but apparently still thrives in the country. Isabel was very excited about the ajuar for Candela, and secretly showed us the photocopied designs for the parts she has not yet created. I was less than thrilled when I heard about this tradition, but what Isabel is preparing really is beautiful.
We looked at tons of old photographs, of Isabel's parents, Lola as a young girl (she was BEAUTIFUL - and Candela looks just like her), and a handful of neices, nephews, and cousins. We also saw Isabel's collection of dresses she keeps stored away for Lola and Candela, which was fun. As we walked through the house, she pointed out pieces of furniture that had been passed on to her from her parents, and their parents. Nearly everything in the house had been in the family for nearly a hundred years.
After an extensive tour of the house and the newly converted apartments above Isabel rents to vacationers, we sat outside in the garden for a snack. Those Almajalejans know how to merendar: Isabel prepared cheese and pineapple and little salmon with cream cheese bread pieces, followed by homemade ice cream sandwiches (with turron ice cream - it's made from almonds and is VERY delicious). We sat and ate and talked about life in Almajalejo and Isabel's past. We learned that she was born in one of the houses on Lola's farm (Casa Abuela, now rented out to huespedes), and has spent her entire life in Almajalejo and Huercal Overa. We asked if she had a lot of family nearby. She said no, but then went on to list what sounded like a lot of family that live in Almajalejo and Huercal Overa. Isabel has spent her life tending to the house and garden of her family. When she was younger, they worked on a dairy farm, but that was too difficult. Now she works with Lola, and maintains a small garden of her own in addition to preparing Candela's ajuar.
The conversation quickly turned to Candela, who just left today for an 11 day trip to Tarragona and Paris to celebrate her friend's birthday. Isabel has never been to the beach, and is afraid of any type of travel that is not work-related. She has been sneaking behind Lola's back to try to convince Candela not to go on the trip (which she was told was just a trip to a friend's house in Alicante). She told Candela she would get sick and that she was already in pain because Candela was leaving. It was really sad and strange to see that she did not see any value in her nieta traveling, but I know next to nothing about their lifestyle and have no right to say what is best for Candela. At the very least, this trip was an eye-opening experience, and I'm happy to have gleaned some insight into what the rural parts of this region in Spain are like.
It has been really incredible to see and explore these little towns out in the country of Spain. I feel like I am getting to see a really interesting part of Spanish culture (no matter how outdated it may be for the cities and other urban areas).
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