Andalucia

Andalucia is the southern province of Spainand our little town of Antequera is known as 'the cross roads' of Andalucia, because it is very central and connects Malaga, Granada,Cordoba and Sevilla.
A rocky hill standing alone to the east of the motorway towards Malaga. The name comes from a local hero about an impossible love affair between a young Christian man from Antequera and a beautiful Moorish girl from nearby Archidona, who were driven to the top of the cliff by the Moorish soldiers. Rather than break up their love, they chose to hurl into the abyss.

To see more of the area around Antequera and the province of Andalucia we hired a car for a few days and planned to visit El Campo (the countryside), Granada and friends of ours who have a cottage in the mountains between Malaga and Granada.  We also wanted to see the famous El Torcal which is just outside of Antequera about 1/2 hour by car into the mountains.

We were fetched in Archez by their 4x4 

Hiding for the rain!

In the early morning going out the door looking outside...our plans were slowly sinking in the wet soil, because it was RAINING!! AAh! What a pity!!  We had to change our plans a little and skip our visit to Granada. We did go to our friends, Rob, Mariette, Pablo and Oscar who stayed beautifully hidden in the mountains. Their cottage was very cozy and around them grew many olive trees, almond trees, grapes and lemon trees. We had a South African braai in between the rain showers and had fun playing with their kids.

Andalucia and Spain is not only known for the traditional bullfight but also the Flamenco dance and songs are typical for here.
After we came back home from the mountains, we were lucky to visit a local Flamenco evening in Antequera. Knowing my passion for dancing (like the Tango in Argentina), I had to go and see this beautiful local Spanish dance with mom. We both loved it!!!
It comes from Arabic and Gypsy influence. The singing is done with only a guitar and a voice. They don't have music notes and lyrics, because they make it
 up as they go.
The guitarist  makes up his music and in between the singer sings what comes in his happy or sad mind. For example " My dog....... is alone........at.......home! or ....I... love ..............my ......wife...... It makes it so much fun to hear what they love and hate and what their dogs name is and what they do this weekend, that part is the easiest, but coming to the vocals......... they sing a song in one breath going from high to low. It is very difficult. In between there were Flamenco dancers dancing and the audience was participating by clapping and saying "OLEEY" when the singer held his breath for a long time while he was singing. It was a long and brilliant, amazing night.

The shadow in the background is Africa!

The following morning it was still raining and we went south to the sun! We drove to Tarifa from where you could see the African continent. "Hello Africa"!!!!!!

Tarifa is the southern most point in Europe. The strait of Gibraltar is dividing Europe from Africa. From Tarifa you can see Morocco on the other side. We wanted to take the ferry, 45 minutes to Morocco, but it was quit expensive and it was very windy. Instead of being sea-sick for 220 Euros you can better go to a theme park and get sick there.

Tarifa is famous for kite surfing

My Rip Curl watch! Fixed!!!!!

The real and most important reason why we went to Tarifa (again) was to pick up my..... my.... WATCH!!!! yaaay!!!!!!. Finally after a lot of troubles and visits to Rip Curl shops to have it fixed, they finally changed the batteries. Although the girl in the shop was nice and friendly I still think that "Rip Off"... sorry. ...ughh.. Rip Curl does not have their service organised. The office in London was far out of the city, in France they wouldn't help because we were too short in France. Barcelona was the place to change the battery, but after protesting 3 hours in the shop they refused to help and the manager didn't want to talk to us. So, the last solution was Tarifa!!!!!!!!! 2 hours drive from Malaga.  Anyway, we made it into a nice day. saw the many kite surfers and enjoyed the views over the beach.

We found also another reason why we feel at home here in Antequera. Only 1/2 hour drive into the mountains is a very well known mountain of rocks called "El Torcal". We drove to the information center and it was almost like the Table Mountain. A beautiful park of stone and plants and small animals was completely covered in the clouds. It was very cold up there and because of the clouds and the mist you could not see very far. So we will come back here when the sky is blue and the clouds are gone.

El Torcal de Antequera

THANX - MUCHO GRACIAS!


LOUISA (Happy Halloween!)

" El Nino de Antequera" and Manuel Escribano

Last week you have seen the movie of the fake bull that was running around the Medieval Market, but no! not this time. No ways! We saw a real Bull Fight in the official Plaza de Toro!!! With real angry bulls and professional bull fighters!
I was very excited to see a real Corida de Toro = Bull Fighting Game YAAAY!
I imagine bull fighting as something fun to keep the bulls fit and let them run in circles through the red blanket, but after seeing a real bull fighting game, I am SAD and confused!!!! On one side the Corida is very beautiful and traditional game and the local people are really participating in the game, shouting, clapping, singing, agreeing or disagreeing and what should happen with the bull trophies after it died. On the other side it is very sad and cruel to see the bull being killed.

To understand more of this important Spanish tradition I interviewed a professional Torero about the fighter, the clothes, the bull and the game in general.

Interview with: Francisco, Javier Sanchez named El Nino de Antequera! 

(Interview translated by Google translate, my mother,  Loes's brains and by my Spanish dictionary.)

Francisco Javier is a 36 year old  professional bull-fighter. He is born in Antequera, is married and is a father of a 13 year old son. Fransciso started bull fighting when he was 9 years old, went to a special school in Malaga for 2 years to learn to be a bull-fighter and has been a professional bull fighter now for 11 years. He loves bull fighting because it's a passion, game and a tradition in his family. His father and grand father were all bull fighters and his son is also trying to learn the 'trade'. Although there are not as many events anymore in the country, he still has about 2 Fights per month. Each fight he earns 1000 Euro, but the insurance cost is very high he says. If you are not good at it or your condition is not good and you react too slow you can be injured or killed by the bull. El Nino had already more than 15 accidents, but still likes it and continues to fight. He said he is still very nervous before he has to enter the arena!
Before the game he makes sure he is very fit and stops eating 1 day before the game. Before and during the game it is very important to concentrate and to make sure your costume fits perfectly. The bull's horns come very close to your body and if the trousers or the jacket are loose fitted, the horn will get stuck in it. The whole idea is to fight against a very angry bull and to try to be the boss over the bull. When the Torero (fighter) won over the bull, he needs to show the audience that he can walk away from the Toro with his back turned towards the bull. The final strike is that the Torero stands in front of the bull's head and the bull is 'afraid' or does not protest any more. Then the Torero end the flight by giving the bull the final strike.
Of course I also wanted to know what he thinks of killing the bull!!????????? He said that first of all it is a tradition in Spain and second the bulls have no real function, since they do not give milk and their meat is very tough. They live in the countryside and run around the farms for some years. After having had a great life in stead of getting an injection to go to the butcher they can fight before they die. Many cows and chickens are living their whole life in a cage and die if they do not give enough milk or eggs. SO, the only thing is that many people these days are no longer used to see the killing of animals. It is all done in the factories and no-one sees it.
I wished him 'Suerte' Luck for all his games. Gracias Francisco!!

Saturday 20th October the Plaza de Toro was THE place to be!!!
It's time to see a real Spanish tradition.


While we were settling in the 2nd row the Plaza de Toro i Antequera was filling up. It started at exactly 18:00 hrs. The big orchestra started the music and the bull fighters came in. The star of the evening was not El Nino de Antequera, but Manuel Escribano.

He was going to fight against 6 bulls, but one by one. So we saw the fighting 6 times and understood the way the Torero has to fight the Toro.

Manuel Escribano on the poster all over Antequera

First he waits for the bull to enter the arena all angry and full of energy. The fighter uses the pink and yellow Capota to make the bull tired and frustrated. Then the horses come in. They are all very well protected and cannot see the bull, because they are blindfolded. The man on the horse sticks a lance in the bulls back so it become very slow due to the injury. Then the horses leave and the bullfighter takes over again. He needs to get close to the bull and sticks 2 knives on wooden sticks in his back. 3 times he needs to do this so the bull gets slower every time. Then he takes the red Rojo cloth with the karoche(sword) and he tries to stick the sword in the bull's back. This will injure the bull so much that he starts dying and the bullfighter will show that he is the Boss of the bull by standing in front of the injured bull. He then kills the bull instantly by hitting him between the horns. When the bull is dead (this all happens in 1/2 hour) the public starts shouting and waving a white handkerchief. They all looked at the President of the Plaza who was sitting somewhere high on a chair and he had to decide what trophy the bullfighter was going to get.

Manuel the Torero later in the cafe!

One handkerchief was 1 ear, 2 handkerchiefs were 2 ears and apparently also the tail is sometimes used for trophy, but not during this evening.  

The first 2 times the bull was hurt and died I was very sad and wanted to leave.

The final strike at the end. People shouting .....Matalo!!

I stayed because there were many other children in the public and everyone was participating and shouting to the bullfighter and orchestra. So I started to find it actually very amusing and entertaining. I kept telling myself that the bull had a nice live and at least can fight before he dies. So at the end of the evening I cheered for the bullfighter in stead of the bull.




When the fights were over the Torero went past the audience and all the ladies threw their handbags and scarves and jerseys to Manuel and he would kiss it (as if it would be blessed) and throw it back at us. I of course had to throw my jersey and have a 'blessed' jersey.

The Fiesta afterwards happened to be next door to our apartment where we went to have a drink and meet our friends. It was a nice party and a little later also Manuel the Torero came in. He happened to be the fiance of the sister of the aunt of the neighbor or the cousin of the grandma of the grandchild. With other words........everyone knew Manuel in some way or the other...it is really a fantastic village Antequera.

Besos, Louisa 

AAAAH!!! Get ready for my next blog!!!! On Monday

DEAR FOLLOWERS!

GET READY... SET .... GO - for an interview with Franciso Javier! A 36 year old torero (bull fighter) !! He will perform on Saturday in Plaza de Torros in Antequera. We wil see him in the ring facing 3 bulls !!!! Get ready viewers for the real tradition of SPAIN!!!

GET READY TO READ MY NEXT BLOG!! On the 22 of OCTOBER 

Discovering Antequera

Now we are settled in we went to discover more of this little town with a little over 40.000 people.
Walking through the town we saw many many churches so on the Sunday we went to one of the churches. Strange enough the service was very short and there were only very few people. After wards we went to visit the old Alcazaba castle up on the little mountain. From there we had a beautiful view of "the village". We could see our apartment, the library where we go to school and the 30 churches the small village has!

While eating lunch we heard a noise of loud music and we all ran outside. There were many, many, MANY people standing in our street looking at something. Steven and I jumped up to see what was in front of all the people and it was a statue of Maria carried by many men. It was a procession. There were many musicians who were playing drums, flute and trumpets! There was the Mayor and important people walking in front and there were small children holding candles and incense.... and of course Maria who was obviously very heavy so the 20 men holding HER were sweating like crazy in the hot sun!

We heard there was a special
Medieval market near the castle so we had to go and inspect this too. We were an hour too early so we ate Paella and Sangria (I only had a sip to taste) made in the traditional way. Later the many little stalls opened up and the market became more busy. They were selling regional cheeses, wine, crude ham and there was a stall which only had cakes and pies. Also a Maroccan stall (Marocco is not far from here) sold tea, water pipes and kebab.

Some Spanish hippies from the age of my parents were selling products like buddha statues, books and hand made lamps. There was also a lady who was dancing traditional dances, musicians who were making Spanish music and two men who pretended to be a bull fighter and a bull. They went all around the market putting atmosphere in the market. Look at video!

During the week we met many kind people and were invited to chat with them. The first friends were Marie Paz and Pepe who are our neighbors of the 5th floor in the apartment. Their son is working in Cape Town at the moment on a project to build a fast train. The same fast and beautiful train that Spain has and which they call 'Ave'. It was nice to talk and explain about South Africa to Pepe and Marie Paz and they told us everything about Antequera, the village they are bprn and lived in. They gave us suggestions about the cafes and good shops and restaurants, which was the best church and what special days there are over the next 3 months. We invited them to come over for dinner and  tried to make a Dutch-South African dinner. At the end it became an Indonesian dish, because the weather was too hot for the Dutch " stamppot" and the South African butternut-soup looked like a green Gazpacho. It became a rice table with a lot of different dishes and we found it very cozy, also because they brought very delicious wine and my parent's Spanish improved quickly.

Last week we also had an official bank holiday.....it was Columbus Day. Most shops were closed, the library was closed, so we had to do school in bar " Casino" also the second house of Pepe and Marie Paz. In the bar we met a lot of locals and heard again several stories about life in Antequera.

In the weekend we had a very relaxing afternoon with Miguel, his wife Rocia and their children Candela and Marja (the family who organised our apartment rental). They were very hospitable and we ended up with their whole family; the brother and sister in law, the cousins, the grand-father and grand-mother. The grandpa used to be a famous bull fighter and the ladies and kids were trying to dance the Flamingo in the kitchen. We danced & laughed. It was so much fun that we came home around 1:00 at night.
So we seen that Antquera is not only a nice town, but also the people are very friendly and interesting.

Hasta la proximo semana!

Louisa

In LOVE with ANTEQUERA

Plaza San Sebastian - Antequera

Alcazaba castle in Antequera

YAAAY!!!
We have finally found a cozy place, ....... with only locals who do not speak English, with children our age, football fields, tennis courts and friendly people. The town looked small and has history with monuments and a castle. This place looked felt good....ANTEQUERA will be our home for 3 months!

Mom and Steven went with by train to Antequera and Dad, the suitcases & I went by car. Dad, the suitcases & I were lost on the way so we only arrived in Antequera at 17:00 and we still had to find an apartment.

Eating traditional Spanish dish "Tapas" 

It was very difficult to find an apartment to rent for 3 months. Most of the apartments could only be rented for a year, but after insisting there was one real estate man who wanted to help us. He had an aunt who had an apartment in the middle of the center with  2 bedrooms, a balcony, basic furniture, but no WIFI.
We had a look and that same evening we arrived in Antequera we moved into the apartment.

"TAPAS"
We something to celebrate so we had gone to a restaurant and ate " Tapas" a very Spanish traditional dish(es). Every restaurant has different kind of tapas. Tapas are plates with different kinds of food. One plate of fish with vinegar oil and bread, one plate with mayonnaise salad and olives. One with bread sticks, meat in a delicious sauce. It is always a big surprise what your " Tapa" will be in a restaurant.

Churrios with creamy hot chocolate

CHURRIOS

We also discovered Churrios, a very traditional dish. It is a soft, yummy round biscuit which you dip in your creamy hot chocolate!! Of course I insisted to have a churrios-afternoon and it tasted very Yummy!


Settling in in Antequera
After a nice long sleep we had the whole day to unpack and clean the apartment. We had swept, washed, cleaned everything. It looked Spic and Span!! While Steven, Mum & I were cleaning. Dad was looking for a WIFI solution, but there was nothing except the library which had WIFI. Dad had asked in every Vodafone , Movie star, Orange phone shop if they had a Wifi stick or modem  They all did not have it, or they did have it with a contract for one year. We had gone to places and had found one shop which had an electronic item. You press the button and your whole house has WIFI . It's very handy, but it is not enough to download stuff and it can't do all the things we need.

School in Antequera in a beautiful library

Library hall

Mom teaching Steven

So, for school we had to find a solution and Mom, Steven and I started school the following morning in the LIBRARY. It is a beautiful library where you can study outside in a patio and still work on wifi. For now it is good weather, but in November, December it might be too cold so we must see if we can sit inside and talk without disturbing people. This week started our new routines and we have school from 9:00 - 13:00 there. Before breakfast dad and I go walking at 7:00 to see how the town comes to life while looking and finding different streets and places.

SPORTS!!!!

List of Sports

The only thing missing was sports in the afternoon. Especially when we like eating Churrios and Tapas. In the center of the town (next to the Plaza de Torros) we found a soccerfield/club for Steven. He is now playing soccer every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Antequera also has a big sport center which has many things, but not the ones for me. They offer basketball, athletics  volleyball and gymnastics. Unfortunately they do not play hockey in Antequera so I tried out dancing. However it was more like doing gymnastics with cartwheels and splits etc. I can't do most of them because I am scared to hurt my back. So I will try next week some different sports like swimming (in a big indoor swimming pool) and tennis. Mom went to her first Pilates class and as I said dad is walking with me every morning.

So, the first week was good. We sorted out all our things that we needed for the coming months and we feel very at home in Antequera.

Next week: Discovering Antequera
Hasta pronto

Louisa