Summer Fun at Finca al-manzil

Flamenco evening at the castle of Montanchez

A Flamenco performance at the castle of Montanchez. The almost full moon was rising as the music started at 10.30, perfect summer evening temperature and wonderful atmosphere. A little eerie as the Moorish cadences of Flamenco laments echoed around the looming walls of the ancient castle.

THE LÁCARA DOLMEN

Just a short journey from Finca al-manzil in the direction of Merida is the dolmen of Lácara, one of the most complete Neolithic dolmens in Europe.

It dates from 3000 -4000 years B.C. between the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods. There is a charming walk through the typical dehesa strewn with huge granite boulders, the landscape has changed very little over the millenniums. Agriculture was already well organized during the Neolithic period; the primal forest had been cut down leaving only the holm oaks scattered across vast areas of pasture for cattle and sheep, pigs fattened on the holm oak acorns. The land was used in a sustainable manner, prunings from the holm oaks used for making charcoal; trees, pasture and animals working in a cycle which is still in action today over vast areas of Extremadura.  The organization of efficient farming allowed a surplus with which to sustain a larger population, more energy, more manpower to construct the dolmens so typical of this period; territorial status symbols of power and wealth, places dedicated to sacred rites.

It took enormous effort and much time to construct a dolmen the size of Lácara. The natural granite boulders had to be split through their natural fissures with wooden wedges and stone maces, then dragged with ropes on huge sledges with wooden rollers to the place of construction, probably 50 -100 people needed to move each stone.  The larger stone slabs were placed upright to form the walls of the funeral chamber which is a rough octagonal of about 5 metres diameter. Other slabs used horizontally for the roof of chamber and 9 metre corridor. The whole construction covers an area of 28 metres x 35 metres including the outer ring of upright stones. When it was finished it was covered in layers of pebbles from the nearby stream and earth to create a huge artificial mound of 7 metres, hiding the inner construction, just the entrance to the vestibule left open.

It was a communal burial chamber used over successive generations for at least 1000 years. The dead were entombed in a foetal position surrounded by some personal possessions such as necklaces, axes, knives and amulets for protection on the journey to the next life.

This amazing dolmen has survived almost intact despite the ravages of time. It is exposed to the light of day now, we can see the bare bones of the construction, walking along the 9 metres of low, covered corridor gives just a little frisson, just an echo of what the dolmen was like when it was buried 7 metres under the ground, just flickering fire to light the way into the burial chamber, a cold dark place full of cadavers.

SPANISH VILLAGE by Eugene Smith- The complete Life magazine photo report from 1951

These stern men, enforcers of national law, are Franco's Guardia Civil. They patrol the countryside
and are often feared and loathed because of their brutality in following the dicatates of  the government

Deleitosa in Extremadura is an unknown village without any monuments or places of historic interest but in the 1950s it became know as one of the most powerful images of Spain, portraying the misery being imposed during the Franco years on rural communities, especially in Extremadura.

In 1951 Eugene Smith, a member of the Magnum agency, published a photo essay "Spanish Village" in Life magazine. It reflected the instability of the time and the consequences of a terrible civil war in a particularly depressed village.

The report was censored in Spain although it  had a great impact in the U.S.A. and the rest of the world.  There were  allegations against some of his photographs as being over dramatized but what a precious historical record of life in a poor village 64 years ago.

In the 1951 article that accompanied Smith’s pictures, the magazine told its readers:

The village of Deleitosa, a place of about 2,300 peasant people, sits on the high, dry, western Spanish tableland called Estramadura, about halfway between Madrid and the border of Portugal. Its name means “delightful,” which it no longer is, and its origins are obscure, though they may go back a thousand years to Spain’s Moorish period. In any event it is very old and LIFE photographer Eugene Smith, wandering off the main road into the village, found that its ways had advanced little since medieval times.

Many Deleitosans have never seen a railroad because the nearest one is 25 miles away. Mail comes in by burro. The nearest telephone is 12 miles away in another town. Deleitosa’s water system still consists of the sort of aqueducts and open wells from which villagers have drawn water for centuries . . . and the streets smell strongly of the villagers’ donkeys and pigs.
[A] small movie theater, which shows some American films, sits among the sprinkling of little shops near the main square. But the village scene is dominated now as always by the high, brown structure of the 16th century church, the center of society in Catholic Deleitosa. And the lives of the villagers are dominated as always by the bare and brutal problems of subsistence. For Deleitosa, barren of history, unfavored by nature, reduced by wars, lives in poverty—a poverty shared by nearly all and relieved only by the seasonal work of the soil, and the faith that sustains most Deleitosans from the hour of First Communion until the simple funeral that marks one’s end.

Lorenza Curiel, 7, is a sight for her young neighbors as she waits for her mother to lock the door and take her to church for her first communion

At mid-morning the sun beats down on clustered stone houses. In the distance is the belfry of Deleitosa's church.

Lutero Curiel's big sister, Bernadina, 18, kicks open door of the community oven which the village provides for public use. At least once a week she bakes 24 loaves for the family of eight. The flour comes from family grain, ground locally.

The youngest son in the Curieal family, 5 year old Lutero, sweeps up manure from the

 street outside his home. It is carefully hoarded as fertilizer for the eight small fields which

the family owns or rents a few kms outside the village 

Jose Martin makes rounds with lantern to light patients' homes. He does minor surgery,

 sending serious cases to city of Caceres, and treats much typhus.

Out on a walk, the village priest, Don Manuel, 69, passes barred window and curtained door of a home. He has seldom meddled in politics -- the village was bloodily split during the civil war -- but he sticks to ministry, the villagers like that.

At harvest time many of the villagers take unthreshed wheat from their outlying fields to a large public field next to town. Here they stake out 5-by-12 metre plots where they spread the full stalks and thresh grain as their forefathers did

Sometimes luck gives one family stony ground for threshing, another smooth. This brings arguments since the smooth ground makes for easier threshing,  a process begun by driving burros over stalks with  a drag which loosens kernels

Bean planting,  the villager presses hard on his flattened plow as it scrapes the dry soil back into furrows. A neighbor woman leads donkeys, one borrowed.

With the straw already broken away, wheat kernels are swept into a pile and one of the women threshers tosses them up so the breeze can carry off the chaff."

Genaro Curiel, 17, carries his crude wooden plow as he heads for work at a wage of 12 pesetas ($.30) and one meal a day.

The Curiels eat thick bean and potato soup from common pot on dirt floor of their kitchen. The father, mother and four children all share the one bedroom.

While his godfather holds him over a font, the priest Don Manuel dries the head of month-old Buenaventura Jimenez Morena after his baptism at village church

                    

A peasant woman moistens the fibers of locally grown flax as she joins them in

 a long strand which is spun tight by the spindle, then wrapped around it

His wife, daughter, granddaughter and friends have their last earthly visit with a villager.

SOME DIFFERENT LOOKS AT THE CORTIJO....WORK IN PROGRESS

Two Mies van der Rohe chairs, the 1927 MR 20 design,  cantilevered tubular steel with cane seats,  these were made in Italy in the 60s and have just been restored.
Chair in corner is Victorian dentists' chair, it's extremely reclined for better access to the rotten molars, hate to think of what went on, it's a relic from my gap year antique stall at Eton market, a very long time ago but still have many things I couldn't bear to part with....some business woman!

Painting of the Porte de Gazelle in the Tunis medina, an old fondouk, it was my winter project, mixed media on board, inspired by a photograph taken on our Sicilian/Tunisian holiday.

 It's sad that we will probably not visit Tunisia again, there were already signs of imminent chaos a year ago and since then several tragic events including the shootings in the Bardo museum, the Bardo  was one of my main motives for visiting, I remember a wonderful peaceful afternoon immersed in the splendour - see my Tunisia post here
 http://finca-al-manzil.blogspot.com.es/2014/06/tunisia-part-i-tunis-bardo-bizerte.html 

 Moroccan kilim from the Atlas, painting of the Majorelle gardens in Marrackech by me, William IV secretaire with many secret drawers and compartments, a delight of my childhood, Tibetan prayer scroll, 16th century carved wood Flemish madonna, blue and white Chinese bowls....books and more books.

Wooden fetish figure from Mali, Akuaba fertility dolls, Moroccan henna mixing bowls, a Berber parchment scroll, my homage to Tàpies, Fortuny Palucco lamp, a knock- off but the gold leaf is real.

Victorian chair covered in black suede. Grain measure and table found in old shed on finca. 

Art Deco chest with roundy corners bought in junk shop, painted by me with added recycled  bakelite and chrome handles.
Pictures are altered photos from the 1920s, a painting done by my aunt in 1958 and a naive bird painting from 1930s.  Chrome dish is 1950s junk shop buy. Boring lamp, must dig out something better.

Doors found on rubbish dump, rug from Marrakech, chair bought in our local 2nd hand shop, painted to go with new upholstery, a heavy linen Ikat design.

 The sculptural barbers' chair bought in Portugal, it had a seat once but we prefer it without. The ancient patina and metal reinforcements are original untouched by my faky paint effects. The adjustable headrest conceals a box for the barbers' tools.
Mud cloth hanging from Mali.

                                                                      THE KITCHEN

Massive stone table brought from Portugal, many feasts prepared here.

Shelves for bits and pieces and cook books

The kitchen collage....all about the face

More little details of cortijo and barn coming soon.............

Surprise July thunderstorm

After a week of high temperatures we had a refreshing thunderstorm and lovely cool showers, the dust has settled and foliage washed shiny clean.

FULL MOON SUMMER DINNER AT FINCA AL-MANZIL

We started the evening with some wine tasting,  delicious local wines from the Mirabel Bodega. The grapes are harvested from a vineyard in Montanchez, the vines are over 150 years old.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bodega-de-Mirabel/192869280790808 

Mirabel Tribel is now our house wine, we can supply our clients with a case or two during their stay!

The sun was setting as we sat down for dinner, a few hours later the moon rose up over the mountain, in between we enjoyed the company, food and especially the wine.

We ate a traditional Portuguese Cataplana, a dish prepared in a curious copper utensil with clamps,

the food steams gently letting all the herbs and spices permeate the fish and seafood.