The Bajada

I was determined to get up and photograph the procession leaving Isora at 7 am, so I slept really badly. But I did it, and I think the photos will be nice when I've had chance to correct the exposure.

They only have three musical instruments: rather high-pitched flutes, castanets and big, deep drums. When I heard Herreñan music on the telly, I didn't like it at all, because it was far too shrill. I hadn't appreciated that my TV wasn't reproducing the low notes. In real life, the glorious WHUMP! from the big drums balances the flutes perfectly, and you want to dance.

And they do dance. They have people dancing all the way, in shifts. The costumes and dance steps are a little reminiscent of English morris dancers.

It was still dark to begin with, and half light when they danced away up a steep lane out of the village. I was only walking, and I couldn't keep up. Mind you, as Carlos says, they've been practising for months, and most of them probably do physical work anyway. I was on a high when we got back to the house.

We planned to get up on the ridge at 4pm to meet the main procession at 4:45. In the event, we were a bit late leaving. Luckily we found a suitable pista to park quite easily. Unluckily, we still had at least 2 km to go, up a very steep, dusty track, and it was very hot. We weren't going to make it.

And then a family came by in a pickup, and the driver yelled, “Cruz de la Mareta?” So we climbed up into the open back, and had a bouncy ride to exactly where we wanted to go. Of course we thanked him profusely.

It was shady up there in the woods, which felt good after the very hot sun. Better (for us, not the dancers) we found a spot where we were perhaps 5 feet above the path, in the shade, but the road was sunny. Great for photos, if not for the dancers.)

And the procession came through early. We'd never have made it without that lift. As it was, my husband got some good video and I got some nice photos. and then I started to follow the procession, leaving my camera bag behind. Thank goodness my husband was more awake than I was! He grabbed it for me, and we went about 100 yards up the road, where they were handing over the statue of the virgin from one village to another. I got more photos, but my husband couldn't work a video camera, since he was carrying my handbag, camera bag and the water.

Once that was over, it was time to go back down to the car. None of us were looking forward to the long, dusty walk, even if it was all downhill. but my husband went and talked to a guy with another pick up, and yup, we got a lift back to the car.

So it all worked out very well indeed - no thanks to my organising whatsoever.

El Hierro again

The Garoe

I've lost my passport.

I had it about ten days ago, because I checked the expiry date. But as I headed for the ferry port on Sunday afternoon (to visit my friend on El Hierro) it was nowhere to be found. I phoned the police, who said that I could travel on my residencia. So I heaved a sigh of relief and went to the port.

But at the ferry check in, they said you could travel on the older residencias (credit-card sized with a photo) but not the new ones (A4, no photo, nicknamed "the green monster"). In the end they let me on the ferry, but as a non-resident, and I had to pay double. Still, that was only an extra 12€, so I wasn't too bothered.

I had a great time with my friend. The spring flowers are blooming, I finally saw the famous Garoe, I took some photos of Ruben Armiche working on his huge statue of "Homenaje a la Bajada". It's something he calls "re-use art", because it's made of things like old washing machines covered by chicken wire, sacks, and finally cement. He plans to finish it in time for the big festival in July (the bajada, hence the name), so I hope to see it then. We had a delicious dinner at the viewpoint at La Peña, too. Once again, I wondered about starting a blog about El Hiero, but I really don't have time.

All too soon it was time to come home. I was worried that I might have trouble without the passport, so we went to the airport early, in case the check in staff needed to phone their boss or something.

Thank goodness we did. You can't fly without a passport. I had to go to the Civil Guard and formally report the loss. They gave me a piece of paper to show at the airport along with the green monster, and I got home all right.

Of course, I found the house grubby, the laundry baskets overflowing, and my son's friend wanting to stay the night, but it was worth it.


The Statue "Homenaje a la Bajada, by Ruben Amiche

El Hierro again

I spent the weekend visiting a friend on El Hierro. We went for a holiday this summer ( see The End of the World) and shortly afterwards, my friend took a job there. So I abandoned my family on Friday lunchtime and got on the plane.

The landscape around Isora looks a lot like the Yorkshire Dales - lots of dry stone walls and short grass. And then you notice that the bushes leaning over the wall aren't hawthorn, they're prickly pear.



My friend took me for a wonderful drive on Saturday. We went round the west of the island, past the road to the end of the world, and we found a beautiful little hermitage. When I was there with my family in September, I must have missed it by less than half a kilometre.





On La Palma we have a fiesta every five years, where they bring the statue of the Virgin Mary from Las Nieves down to Santa Cruz. In El Hierro they have a similar fiesta where they take the statue of the Virgin all over the island. And this is the statue.

The End of the World

Isn't it funny how, as soon as you don't have to do something, it becomes appealing again. Like blogging.

El Hierro used to be the end of the world, and so the zero meridian went through the west of the island, before it moved to Greenwich. On Thursday we went to see it. It really does feel like the end of the world. The whole island's rather dry, and this is the drier end of it, so there's no trees or grass, just scrubby little bushes. The B road turns into an unclassified road and then a dirt track. Then we had to park and walk a mile. No houses in sight. The mobile phone had no signal. As we arrived, a couple of people were just leaving in a 4x4, and that was the only other car we saw the whole time.

The monument itself is modest – just a block of concrete with half an iron globe poking out of it. But it was amazing to think that we were the most westerly of the 497,000,000 people in the EU.

The local tourist office will give you a certificate to say you've been, but they'd run out. So they promised to post it to us!