ENGLISH IN LOJA

On the first Tuesday in every month there is an informal meeting of the English speaking residents in the area of Loja at the Hotel Almazora - www.englishinloja.com. This lovely hotel is located in the olive hills near Venta del Rayo about 10 minutes drive from Loja. Here is a photo taken today of the gathering relaxing on the terrace which overlooks the pool and the view from the terrace.

We went along this morning specifically to discuss arrangements for an art exhibition, Con Otros Ojos, which is being held in Loja at the end of September and arranged by the Asociación de Angloparlantes de Loja - sites.google.com/site/loslojanglos. Three artists and two photographers have been invited to produce work for the exhiibition. As I am one of the artists and Digby one of the photographers we need to put our heads together to create some original pieces that reflect life around Loja.

EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS

From next Saturday, 19th June, there will be an exhibition of my paintings at the Hotel Cortijo de Tájar which is just off the A92 junction to Huétor Tájar. The subject matter will be quite varied as I would like to see what appeals to the local populace and the media will be pastel and watercolour.
Also at the exhibition will be signed prints of some of my work, signed copies of my books and my cat pebbles from the Rio Milanos. I am particularly pleased with the quality of the prints as we have recently purchased a new Canon imagePROGRAF printer which uses 12 colour ink cartridges and is producing very good images on Arches 310gsm digital watercolour paper.
The two paintings here are a watercolour of Loja and a pastel study from the flamenco show "Aires de Raja Flamenca" which was performed during the recent Feria Chica.
Next Saturday I will be at the Hotel during lunchtime and for dinner in the evening.

FERIA CHICA DE LOJA

This weekend, 3-6 June, is the Feria Chica de Loja. A fairground has been set up in the town but it is not as large as the Feria in Huétor Tája two weeks ago as the main Fiesta in Loja is at the end of August. On Friday night, though, we went to a special event "Aires de Raza Flamenco" in the football ground of the Barrio San Antonio.
The show began with two dancers and two horses, ridden by men in striking costume, performing a carefully choreographed dance in which the movements of the flamenco dancers complemented the actions of the horses. Two different horses, equally magnificent, performed a graceful ballet around long poles carried by their riders.
On the stadium, first class singers, guitarists and a flautist performed throughout theshow. Also on stage, two exceptionally good dancers gave a thrilling display. This was authentic flamenco, very different from the flamenco shows put on for the entertainment of tourists.
The performance ended, as it had begun, with dancers and horses. It was a wonderful show, enjoyed by everyone. Afterwards, we made our way home, stopping enroute at our nearest village, La Fábrica, for supper. Although it was past midnight, the terrace outside the bar was filled with villagers.
Unfortunately our compact digital camera was not able to capture images of the show so we would like to thank our friends Jim and Denise for these photos taken by them with their SLR.
During the summer months, the balmy evenings bring the people of Loja outdoors to fill the street cafés and pleasant, leafy squares which, at this time of year, saturate the whole town with the heady scent of lime blossom. We ourselves enjoyed a stroll around the lower part of the town and came upon a delightful square, canopied with trees, where we stopped for drinks and tapas before heading to the arena to watch theflamenco display.

FIESTAS IN HUÉTOR TÁJAR

Since Thursday Huétor Tájar has been celebrating its May feria and fiestas in honour of San Isidro Labrador (there always has to be a saintly excuse). At the Nuevo Recinta Ferial, a vast area on the edge of town reserved for fiestas and markets, a huge fairground has appeared and numerous large marquees have been erected, housing bars with kitchens to feed and water the multitude. Most of these have stages so that live music can be played all night.

On Saturday morning there was a Romeria (pilgrimage) through the town ending up at the fairground where, in the Town Hall’s marquee, paella and beer was provided for all. In the evening there was a horse fair and handsome young men arrived proudly riding their beautiful Andalucian horses. Others came in immaculately turned out horse drawn carriages.

The festivities go on all night but today, when we visited again at lunchtime, there were more children around and the fairground rides were busy while the adults were propping up the bars enjoying cerveza y pinchos (beer and kebabs). Tonight, after a mass in honour of San Isidro, there will be a firework display in the Plaza de Andalucia and then everyone will go back to the fairground to party all night once again. Not surprisingly tomorrow is a public holiday in Huétor Tájar and all the shops will be closed.

Despite the economic crisis and dire warnings from the EU about Spain’s financial situation, this country still seems hell bent on enjoying itself and spending money.

DIA DE LA CRUZ

On the 3rd of May, Dia de la Cruz (Day of the Cross) is celebrated in many towns and villages in Andalucia. In Loja The children of the town created decorative crosses and gather in the Plaza de la Constitucion. They then carry their crosses through the Town collecting money for charity and end up in the Peña de Flamenca for a drink and sandwich. This is another noisy and colourful event typical of Southern Spain.

SUNDAY AT RIO FRIO

Rio Frio, just off the A92 west of Loja, is famous for its trout hatcheries and clear river waters. On Sundays it is a popular outing for people from Loja who come to stroll along the riverside paths, visit the little craft market and enjoy lunch, particularly fresh trout in one of the many restaurants. Our grand daughters enjoyed the outing but Izzy lost a sandal when she paddled at the edge of the fast flowing river. Digby rushed downstream along the side of the river to where the sandal had got trapped in reeds on the opposite bank. He rolled up his jeans and waded across to retrieve the sandal. The incident proved amusing to the onlookers. One old boy remarked to Digby as he held out his walking stick to help Digby get out of the river “Now you know why it’s called Rio Frio” (Cold River).

ROMERIA DE AMISTAD

Today, 1st May, Loja celebrates the Romeria de Amistad, Pilgrimage of Friendship, in the fields of Venta de Rayo. This is a pretty spot backed by the Sierra de Loja and looking towards the olive hills by the Lake of Iznajar. There are some good walking routes from here which we must try out later. When we arrived this morning many people, who had presumably arrived last night, had already set up camp and were enjoying picnics in the sunshine.
Soon most of the town seemed to turn up in a procession of brightly coloured floats blasting out traditional Spanish Sevillana music, or on horseback.
Although there were temporary bars set up on the site most of the public came well stocked with food and drink. Soon the umbtrellas and tables were erected by the parked floats and the crowd set about enjoying themselves. It has been a beautiful day and the occasion was full of colour. No doubt the festivities will continue late into the night when there will be live music to entertain the gathering.