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028 June 2016 June fiestas – Hogueras – Rojales/Tabarca fiestas – Tapas on Tap – Suncare – Music Matters/ Rod Stewart – Poor Torrevieja & Salt – Salty Souvenirs – Cooking – What’s that noise? – Mandevilla – Siege of Baler – Summer emergencies – Age Concern van – Parking – 2017 Calendar fotos – Blue is the Color – Health Cards – Roaming – San Juan – Gastronomy Tourism – Travel Books – Shakespeare in London – Lo Ferris – Guardamar Train – Homeless showers – Whats On.
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JUNE FIESTA CALENDAR IN ALICANTE PROVINCE A mistake in the calendar above is that Corpus Christi was celebrated earlier this year on 26th May, although it usually is in June. The feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Sagrado Corazón), usually held on a Friday, with many churches of this title holding fiestas in their own district. This year it falls on 3rd June and the parish church of this name in Torrevieja has a week long celebration with different events, music, processions, children’s fun etc. Many towns have events including medieval This year Ramadan begins on 7th May for one month. On the First Sunday of June Guadalest celebrates Fiestas of San Gregorio. In Benejúzar the patronal fiestas of la Santísima Virgen del Rosario are held. First weekend of June Ibi holds fiestas in Campos area. Second weekend of June Ibi continues fiestas in la Ciudad Deportiva. The week after Corpus Christi is a fiesta in the town of L’Alquería d’Asnar. 29th June the weekend nearest to this date is a fiesta in Banyares de Mariola. 12 - 16th June - Novelda has fiestas in the Sagrado Corazón area. 13th June Romería in Banyares de Mariola. 14 / 24th June - Hogueras in Xàbia. 17th June - Feast of San Antiono de Padua and the nearest weekend to this date is the time for fiestas in Altea. Guadalest is the most visited town in Spain Third weekend of June the Moors & Christians in Teulada. Last weekend of month Ibi has a fiesta. 20 - 29th June Fogueras in Alacant 21 - 24th June Hogueras in Torrevieja and Catral. 22 - 24th June Catral patronal fiestas with Moors & Christians. 24th June - Feastday of Saint John the Baptist. In Alicante on the night of the 24th is the cremà. Other places celebrating this fiesta are in Alcalalí; Altea; Beniardà; Benidorm; Benejama; Calpe; Santa Pola (Romería); Xàbia; Montforte del Cid; Dénia; Gata de Gorgos; aormi@icloud.com
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San Miguel de las Salinas and Torrevieja. 27th - 28th June- Moors & Christians in Pego. 29th June - Feast of Saints Peter & Paul. Celebrated in Rojales with Moors & Christians; in DĂŠnia; Moors & Christians in Benissa; Moors & Christians in Agost; patronal fiestas on the Island of Tabarca. Last weekend of June patronal fiestas in Pego. Youth festival in Sanet y Negrals with more events in Ibi. San Juan de Alicante fiestas held at end of the month.
Alicante is famous for its hogueras this month with a wide variety of events, exhibitions, contests, parades, as well as the many Hoguera Queens that reign at each hoguera. The ladies wear traditional dress with colorful skirts and lacy veils. One of the greatest honors for a young lady is to be elected queen of the hoguera in her district. Most figures have a satirical verse explaining them aormi@icloud.com
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There are normally two hogueras in each district, one is for adults and the other the Infantile one that usually has children’s cartoon characters featured. Only to be devoured by the flames of la crema at the end of the week’s celebrations.
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The patrons of Rojales are Saints Peter and Paul on 29th June and an important part of the fiestas is the processions of the Moors and Christians with a mock castle, and arranged battles in a colorful spectacular.
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Tabarca Island presents a nice day out with a boat trip from Alicante, Santa Pola or Torrevieja. The island’s patron is St. Peter on 29th June with the church named after him. Once on the island there is little time to spend before the last boat home, but it is surrounded by a protected underwater habitat with lots of species sheltering there.
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Tapas on Tap by Dave Stewart
Food tends to go in fashions and Tapa trails are now common in most towns, always better when accompanied by a pub crawl. Chefs are becoming more competitive as they use their imaginations to tempt customers to taste their tapas. So often towns mingle a bit of competition among the bars and restaurants for the best tapa or the best presented, or the most innovative. One of the most popular is the basic Spanish tortilla, quite distinct from the French stye because of its depth of character with potatoes and the items included, making it more than a tapa, but a real meal. It’s easy to prepare and I have summer neighbors who eat one almost daily as it doesn't take a long time to make and is nice to eat in the swimming pool patio with a plastic cup of beer or wine. NO GLASSWARE allowed in this area in case of cuts from broken glasses.
The largest Spanish tortilla prepared daily is cooked in Sanlucar de Barrameda. The cook of Los Corrales restaurant makes it using 140 Eggs, over 35 kilos of potatoes, two kilos of onions, red and green peppers, chorizo and bits of Serrano ham to make a huge tortilla that would suit Desperate Dan. The cook needs another pair of hands to turn it using a specially made plate. Â It is placed in a glass case to be admired and offered as a tapa by regular clients and visitors. By the Guinness Book of Records it's not the largest tortilla, but the largest Daily tapa, The largest is doubtfully held by Victoria that used 1,600 kilos of spuds, 16,000 eggs, 26 kilos of onion and 12 chefs.
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Summer is on top of us and families spend more time outdoors. Since Easter we have seen topless women basking in the sun, looking for that all round suntan. After all men go topless so why not ladies? Men can get breast cancer as well as women, but tend to ignore the fact. Here we have a quick look at protection from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. These rays increase the risk of skin cancer, which is why proper sun protection is essential. In fact, the sun’s UV rays are responsible for about 90 percent of nonmelanoma skin cancers and 86 percent of melanomas. Exposure to UV radiation is directly linked to all three forms of skin cancer. The Skin Cancer Foundation offers the following tips to help families enjoy a sun-safe summer: At the Beach ¥ Use a broad spectrum sunscreen daily. For extended outdoor activity, use a water-resistant broad spectrum (UVA/UVB) sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher. Reapply every two hours or after swimming or excessive sweating. ¥ Cover up with clothing. Look for high-UPF (Ultraviolet Protection Factor) swim shirts or rash guards, and choose bathing suits that cover more skin, such as one-piece suits and long trunks. Make sure to apply and reapply sunscreen to exposed areas of the skin not covered by fabric. To help avoid missing spots apply sunscreen before putting on your bathing suit. ¥ Avoid tanning. There is no such thing as a safe tan, because tanning itself is caused by DNA damage to the skin. In addition to increasing skin cancer risk, tanning also leads to premature skin aging, including wrinkles, leathery skin and age spots.
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In the Countryside ¥ Remind kids to seek the shade. Advise kids to play in shaded areas to limit UV exposure. If at a summer camp check with counselors to see if there are adequate places for campers to seek shade during outdoor activities taking place between 10 AM and 4 PM, when UV rays are most intense. ¥ Dress kids in sun-protective clothing. For optimal protection from the sun, kit kids with sunprotective clothing. Look for tightly woven or knit, dark or bright- colored fabrics, which offer the best protection. Don’t forget wide-brimmed hats and wraparound, UV-blocking sunglasses. ¥ Practice sunscreen application beforehand. Teach children to apply 1 ounce (2 tablespoons, or about the size of a golf ball) of sunscreen to all exposed areas 30 minutes before outdoor activities. Remind them to cover easily missed areas such as the back of the neck and tops of the ears. If at summer camp, ask counselors to help children reapply sunscreen every two hours, or after swimming or excessive sweating – but ensure that the camp regulations permit counsellors to do this. On the Road ¥ Treat your vehicle to window film. Car windows don't provide complete sun protection. Though UVB radiation is effectively blocked by glass, more than 60 percent of UVA radiation can pass through windows. UV-protective film, also known as window film, blocks out up to 99.9 percent of UV radiation. If you have window film installed, remember that it protects you only when the windows are closed. aormi@icloud.com
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¥ Drivers beware. Nearly 53 percent of skin cancers occur on the drivers' side of the body. Don’t forget to apply sunscreen, particularly when spending extended time in a car that has no window film. Additional Skin Cancer Prevention Tips ¥ Do not burn. At any age, a person's risk for melanoma doubles if he or she has ever had five or more sunburns. ¥ Keep newborns out of the sun. Sunscreen should be used on babies over the age of six months. On one of my first trips to Ibiza I was astonished and angry to see little kids completely burned, with skin peeling off because of sun exposure. Make sure your children have a sun hat. AND DONT LEAVE A PET SWELTERING INSIDE THE OVEN OF A CAR PARKED IN THE SUN. One thing that even the most conscientious of dog owners often overlook is the need for suntan lotion to be used on certain types of dogs, in order to protect their delicate skin from the sun too! Dogs tend to spend a great deal of their time outside, particularly during the summer months, and after heat stroke, sunburn is the greatest potential hazard of the summer for dogs with light skin and fine fur. Dogs are not allowed on beaches unless it has been deliberately set aside for that purpose. They argument is that dogs should have the same rights as humans. If so there are sun lotions that help protect dogs. But there are very many people who have very strong allergies to fur, so owners should not assume that everyone loves their pet as they do - your pet’s fur could be the dead end for someone.
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Music for All Tastes
I keep saying we have a lot of musical talent about on the Costa Blanca.There are so many wonderful groups and bands, duos and single performers here providing entertainment all year round for residents and visitors. It may look easy watching someone standing up on little stage, mike in hand, but think for a moment about the effort, the time, the rehearsals they have had to do just to perform in front of you. Its not easy standing in front of an unknown audience who may like what you do, blindly ignore you as they chat and drink, or even barrack you. It is completely different from reading a screen with the words on it in a karaoke and performing takes a lot of courage as often things go wrong and you have to act on the spur of the moment to cover up. You can show your appreciation by giving these talented performers a round of applause for their performance. This month we look at a tribute act of Rod Stewart contributed by Heather J. Baggaley - Thanks Heather
Rod Stewart Tribute Act Interview
How did you start in the business? I bought my first guitar at 19, and was hooked. I started writing original material, then self-taught keyboard and harmonica.
What would you be doing if you were not an entertainer? What I did for many years in UK worked in the Mental Health field. As an entertainer who has been your biggest influence? In the early years Bob Dylan, later years Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, then Rod Stewart
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Do you ever get nervous or have you suffered stage fright? I think it's good to have some nerves before a show, it helps you deliver a better performance and not to become complacent. I don't have set lists; I just sing songs that feel right on the night or people request. Again that makes me feel a bit nervous, but also keeps the show fresh. Never had stage fright (touch wood).
What was your best moment? I don’t know if I have had a best moment, I hope I still have it to come. A memorable moment was turning on the Christmas lights in Kippax, in the village where I live in UK, and all my 7 grandchildren got to see me as Rod Stewart for the first time. Great fun.
What has been your worst moment?
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Turned up at a venue to perform and nobody else did. Found out why after but at the time gutted. What’s the best piece of advice you have received or would give someone starting out in the business? Enjoy what you are doing, give nothing less than your best performance every time, if you are playing to 2 or 2000 people these are the people that enable you to do what you are doing. Chances are if you enjoy your show the public will as well. Rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse, nothing worse than seeing a singer singing to words off a Karaoke track.
Any little anecdotes or interesting stories? It still makes me smile when someone comes up to me and asks did they see me in Benidorm, Tenerife, Majorca or somewhere else and I say “no not performed there”. They then say they saw someone who looked just like me doing Rod Stewart and I smile at them and you can see the penny drop when they realise what they have said. EDITOR: since this was put together a blonde friend on FACEBOOK made ME smile as she said, “oh seen him in Tenerife and he was awful.” Different performer so when she comes out on holiday she will check out this GREAT TRIBUTE ACT OF ROD STEWART.
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Poor town - RICH TORREVIEJA by Andy Ormiston
Salt is an integral part of the life of the people of Torrevieja, traditionally the provision for thousands of jobs and the livelihood of thousands of families over the past two centuries, but today has well under an hundred employees. The original excavation site was the La Mata lagoon. The La Mata Salinas have been operating for centuries worked by various civilizations including the Iberians, Phoenicians, Arabs and Romans. From 1618-1648 foreign ships brought wheat to Spain and returned with some La Mata salt, although the bulk of the salt was for home consumption until the 1800’s. Historian priest Cavanilles remarked in 1797, that the foreign sales paid for the production process. The small La Mata quay for salt loading was built in 1792. aormi@icloud.com
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Collecting the salt was back breaking work, and even into the 20th century the large lumps of salt were hacked out with axes and horse-drawn to the storehouses. The best time for the crystallization of the salt is between May and August and this is when many fishermen laid off fishing to work on the Salinas, returning to the sea for the autumn and winter months. In 1382 Pedro II had authorised the building of the canal at Acequion providing a link with the sea. The initial idea of the canal was that the seawater coming into the lake would balance the salinity of the lake with that of the Mediterranean, making it a more viable proposition to farm fish in the lake. Much later the canal became an invaluable means of transporting the salt by barges from the lake to the bay, where it would be loaded onto waiting ships of many nations. It was 1,500 metres long and the stone bridge over it is the oldest construction still standing in Torrevieja. It was built of local limestone and apparently without the need of cement in its one and a half metres of pitch in the archway. The canal was dug out by hand, three metres deep and lined with sandstone. It was finally completed in 1509 and the salt lake was placed in the hands of the Orihuela Council again until 1759, when it reverted back to the Crown.
Acequion canal and bridge are oldest construction in Torrevieja
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Move to Torre Vigia In 1802 the administration offices of the salt company, after a series of earthquakes, were transferred from La Mata to Torrevieja to commercially work the larger lagoon there. This was move was after tests had been made to decide the quality of the salt, which proved higher than expected. In 1870 a lease for salt extraction was agreed with the Bank of Paris, but this was soon rescinded. In 1897 the lease was granted to D. José Guerrdiola Comas, only to be substituted a year later and given over to the Sociedad Anónima Compañia Arrendataria de la Salinas de Torrevieja. During these years several innovations were made, including the installation of a floating cable to enable a “train” of the barges to cover a wider area of the lake. Four mechanical washing machines were installed and a small train was introduced to transport the salt from the lake to the storage places of the Eras de la Sal, replacing the traditional transportation by oxen or horses and cart. A wooden quay was also built to enable easier access for larger shipping. These changes in the extraction system showed a dramatic increase in the tonnage of the salt production and an ensuing profit that delighted the Treasury department. One of the most notable things about the salt extraction is that the town of Torrevieja has aormi@icloud.com
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never been on the receiving end of the profits from the lakes and their salt. Apart from the daily wages, workers and town had no real benefits from the salt. It is a good example of how the rich benefited from the hard work of the labourers. Various monarchs and managers of the franchises, used the profits for their own causes, including fighting the Moors in Granada siege, provisioning the first Columbus trip to find the Americas, paying off debts, building and improvements in other parts of Spain. But never really investing money back into improving the town of Torrevieja. A train line was in place by the end of the 19th century and used to freight train inlands and link Torrevieja with the main lines north and south. The beginning of the 20th century was a time of political unrest as the phrase “freedom and liberty” was noised abroad and the Russian communist revolution stirred many people’s hearts and minds. In 1919 some 1,600 men proposed a strike, which was arbitrated by government officials. The first real strike was much later with fewer employees in the late 20th century and the town mayor, Pedro Mateo Hernandez, arbitrated a solution. This was the beginning of a lean period for Torrevieja that went right through to the 1970’s. In 1912 the writer Eugenio Muñoz, known as Eugenio Noel, arrived for a short visit to
Torrevieja. He was interested in the salt industry and wrote an article about what he had seen He criticized the production and working conditions of the salinas He said that “Torrevieja was a lovely place but poor. It should be a rich place but the State wants the contrary. It lies on the banks of the sea and borders on a large lake. the aormi@icloud.com
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lake produces salt but the salt is not of the town. The seaside had no port, resulting in all types of catastrophes ...the townsfolk have opted to cross their arms before this misery, doesn't have municipal borders and therefore out with the law”. At this time Torrevieja was broken up by pieces of land belonging to Orihuela, Guardamar, San Miguel and Rojales. This was not adjusted until the latter half of the 200th century resulting in the area we have just now, which led to the building boom.
In 1923 the Sociedad Anónima Armás-Garí of Barcelona took on the salt lease. One year later this was substituted in favour of the Unión Salinera de España that installed a new milling system to manufacture different classes of salt. Technicians designed new extraction machinery that enabled the salt to be taken from parts of the lake that previously had proved to be inaccessible. However, this had its consequence in requiring less direct labour and many men were laid off work as a result. The canal between the sea and La Mata Lake was also dug out during this time, work beginning on 14th July 1926 and finally concluded on 20th March 1928. Today the canal is partially covered over and the N332 coastal road runs over it. During the 1930’s the foreign competition was intense, especially that from the Italians and British. The drop in salt sales continued right through the time of the 1936-39 Civil War, which itself reduced the national sales by 40%. The war also held up projects of new equipment, especially due to the shortage of oil and once more the work became labour intensive. One only has to look at the photographs taken by the Darblade family, and other photographers, to realize the difficulties of working in the Salinas. It was
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s r region e h t o o alt t reight s ja f o t d e orrevie us T s o a t w n i y s lwa aker The rai liday m o h t r o nsp and tra
backbreaking with numerous abrasions and cuts from the sharp salt crystals. On one occasion the women experienced this when there was a huge catch of fish that required lots of salt for preserving the catch. The Spanish Civil War (1936/39) and World War II energy restrictions also affected the output of salt and it was not until these were lifted, around 1943, that the production of salt increased. In the 1945/50 period over three thousand workers, mostly seasonal, were employed, working in three eight-hour shifts. At one stage in 1958 there was talk of strikes when workers were refused time off for religious services, especially during Holy Week processions, and this eventually involved the intervention of the Minister of Work, Sanz Orrio, before a settlement could be successfully agreed. On 25th April 1951, the Neuva CompaĂąĂa Arrendataria de las Salinas de Torrevieja (NCAST) was formed. Once again new ideas were put into effect improving the system and mechanization, but once again, requiring a reduction in manpower. Fixed contracts were introduced for the remaining workers and the need for temporary seasonal workers was discontinued. Many of the former mining techniques were replaced. Chemical by-products were initiated in addition, making a finer salt for national consumption. European countries used most of the coarser salt; often for wintertime use on snow clad roads and the large cargo vessels are a common sight at this time of year. But the salt also is shipped to USA and Japan. aormi@icloud.com
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Pinosa link
An important project was the introduction in 1972 of the sub-aqueduct from Pinosa that was built with 52.7 kilometres of tubing ending at the canal-union that linked the two lakes. Pinosa is one of several towns where there are natural salt mines in the ground. The salt is mined, mixed with a mixture of water and bleach to make it a liquid slush that can be pumped into the Torrevieja lake. This salt water from Pinosa raises the salinity of the lake allowing a greater production. It also avoided the dependency of production on meteorological risks. This permitted an increase of up to a million tonnes of salt per annum without an increase in the manpower force. Over the following years yet more technology was introduced between 1983 and 1986 leading to a further reduction in the labour force to around 130 workers. The salt of Torrevieja now comes from Pinoso from Cabeço de El Pinós, so for many years now the Acequion canal has not been used and there are plans to clean it out and make it navigable with tow paths again used for walking along. The salt water in Pinoso is no good for irrigation or human consumption so it is pumped through a filter system, which transforms it into 23-grade salt water, equivalent to 300 grams per litre and it is this saline solution that is sent through tubes to Torrevieja Lake. Up to the 1970’s a salt mine was in operation in Pinoso and milled in Piensos Sanders aormi@icloud.com
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and there is evidence that salt has been exploited in the past. This is a mountainous area, with salt-water wells that plumb deep into the earth, some are over 1,500 metres deep, and many caves that were was once the haunt of the famous bandit Jauma el Barbut. Today wild rabbits run around where once visitors used the salt waters as a therapy against many ailments.
One of the most important introductions was the building of the present quay of 1,650 metres length, extended like a long finger into the lake. A small island of a thousand square metres was constructed at the end of the finger and better machinery installed, known as a volcador, to facilitate the transfer of the rough salt crystals into a pre-wash system. A conveyor belt was installed the length of the dike to another cleaning machine on the land easing the working conditions of the workers and improving the quality and amount of salt produced.
Solvay takes over SOLVAY, yet another company, took over 61.5% of the shares in 1990, leaving the rest of the shares in the hands of the State. An agreement was signed between SOLVAY and the State for the group to buy in shares the machinery and installations until the year 2019. This new contract did not include several town centre buildings such as the former Guardia Civil station, the finca of Molino del Agua, (converted to a lovely park) the Eras de la Sal, the house of the administrator of the Salinas (now art gallery) or the administrative offices. Most of these are historic constructions that have been passed on to the Town Hall. The security and control of the Salinas and the surrounding parkland comes under the jurisdiction of the Guardia Civil. This agreement has provided a certain degree of stability and feeling of job security for the remaining salt workers that now numbers less than 100 workers. Among actions taken by SOLVAY was to divide the Torrevieja lake in two parts to make it easier to produce salt when there are periods of torrential rain. However, this caused a great deal of outrage on the part of environmentalists who claimed that the unique wildlife and fauna would be seriously, affected. Experts were called in who declared that this aormi@icloud.com
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Eras de la Sal and quay from the air
separation would have little impact on the lake’s wildlife, and this has proved to be the case. Thanks must go to environmentalists and nature lovers that the La Mata lake has become a protected nature park that now has an artificial island where rare birds
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The principal road through Torrevieja was along the Avenida Gregorio Mara帽on, but a conveyor belt carried the salt to the quayside. This belt went under the road and there was a narrow hump bridge for the traffic, which was often blocked with the amount of vehicles.
can nest in safety. This is a popular rambling area along the lake through vineyards and there are hides for birdwatchers. The salt company also invested a great deal of money in sifting equipment, centrifugal machinery and magnetic separation processes. The usual amount of production was around 800.000 tonnes, of which 300.000 is for national use. However, during the first couple of years the company claimed that they had lost money because of bad salt harvesting conditions, combined with a drop in demand. A disagreement arose about indemnification from the Confederaci贸n Hidrografica del Segura whose fresh water drainage systems ran into the lake: this amounted to some 2,400 cubic metres daily. Nowadays huge merchant carriers can often be seen at the quayside loading salt directly from the conveyor belt into the holds. Competition from underdeveloped countries has grown in places where there are cheaper labour costs, but with so few workers, one wonders just how much money would be saved with fewer employees.
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In 2004 modern barges and a new computerized system was introduced on the lake, which resulted in a few more job losses. Some of the larger promoters and construction companies and, of course, the town hall, has overtaken what was once the largest employer in Torrevieja, the salt factory. In the past the salt was carried by oxen drawn carts to the Eras de la Sal and then manhandled onto small boats which were rowed out to waiting ships and again hauled up to the ship by manpower. All very labour intensive. In the 20th century the salt was, and still is, carried on a conveyor belt to the loading quay on the other side of the harbour area. For many years there was a bridge over this conveyor belt on the Avenida Gregorio Marañón, which was the main road through the town between Alicante and Cartagena. This humped bridge was known as the “salt bridge” and a well-known landmark, but often a traffic bottleneck as the by-pass road hadn't been built then. The salt conveyor belt now runs under the road to the quayside and a new avenue built over the conveyor to deaden the environmental effects of noise and safety. The dike itself has been pedestrianized with more improvements in the pipeline and the cargo berth area is planned to open up to leisure cruise lines should this prove to be a feasibility. Talks are still underway for guided tours around the salt workings as a tourist attraction. The salt company took over the organisation of the former railway station building that acts as a Salt Interpretation Centre or mini-museum about the salt history.
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Both the above Torrevieja Lake and the La Mata Lake offer photographers plenty of scope with lovely scenery at different times of the day and seasons.
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Salty Souvenirs by Pat Hynd
For a town that has depended on salt there are few souvenirs around with a connection. Prime of place has to go to the artesan salt boats as in the photo above. A shop next to he indoor market is one of the places to find these, although some souvenir shops have tiny imitations. Other examples of this salty art can be found in a range of articles in the Sea and Salt Museum in the town centre. Large ones such as this imitation of the la Inmaculada Church using the same traditional craftsmanship as the salt boats - dipping them in the salt water, rinsing the salt after a number of days, then repeating the process until the desired effect.
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of Spanish Cookery by Pat Hynd
Being near the sea and the great agricultural farm fields of Murcia we in Torrevieja have a great choice of local produce. It is a great temptation to take pre-prepared stuff from the freezer, but with so much fresh stuff around here are a couple easy ideas. MURCIAN SALAD as it says is a popular salad based on products from that region. Ingredients for 4 persons:
 2 onions

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1 large can of peeled tomato but of course preparing your own fresh tomatoes is far better. 3 small tins of tuna 1 can of black olives 3 hard boiled eggs olive oil and salt Preparation: In a salad bowl mix the diced and seeded tomatoes, the tender onions (cut into thin strips), the shredded tuna and the eggs (sliced into small strips). Season with olive oil and salt. In summertime, people always appreciate a fresh salad. We recommend this one to you, with lumps of fresh barra bread to soak up the juices.
FISH CALDERO Another popular fish dish that owes its origins to the men who face the perils of the sea to bring these ingredients to you. This is jus tone but there are several variations. Ingredients for 4 persons: 600 g of rice 200 dl of olive oil 400 g of mature tomato 6 cloves of garlic 4 ñoras - small wrinkled peppers, typical in the Spanish Levante kitchen and available in the indoor market and in fruit and veg shops, but ask for the Guardamar ñoras that have a great reputation for their flavour. 6 cloves of garlic and sprigs of parsley, salt the fish e.g. morralla, mújol, gallina, dorada or gallineta. Preparation: Fry the peppers in an iron or stainless steel pan and enjoy the aroma. Put them aside and, using the same oil, fry the fish heads. Then fry the tomatoes and peppers again. Using a mortar and pestle crush the cloves of garlic, the parsley and the already fried peppers.
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Boil the fish, for example “gallina”, in a pot. Once it begins to boil, add the ingredients from the mortar and boil for another 30 minutes. Strain the resulting fish broth. Add the fish to this broth and boil for another 15 minutes. Add the rice to the broth until the rice is cooked. It is now ready to be served, usually serving the fish after the rice. It is very common to serve the dish with allioli (garlic mayonnaise very typical of the Spanish Mediterranean). This dish is VERY typical of the Mar Menor. Recommended to fish lovers, or those who like to enjoy good life.
CALATRAVA AN ALTERNATIVE TO BREAD & BUTTER PUDDING - it surprises me that you never find bread & butter pudding in a country that uses egg custard so much in different puddings. Ingredients: 3 eggs 1/2 litre of milk, sugar 1 spoonful of grated lemon 4 big fairy cakes (Magdalenas) Preparation: In a small pan warm half a small glass of sugar until it is caramelised. This will be used to line the mould. In a bowl beat the eggs and mix into this 10 spoonfuls of sugar. Add the milk and the grated lemon. Mix together well. In the mould with the caramelised sugar, crumble the fairy cakes. Add the mix of milk and eggs. Wrap the mould in tin foil and introduce into a low oven, in a brain marie water bath, for about 45 minutes. Pierce the mould with a toothpick to test whether if it is cooked. When it is, remove the mould and cool on the side and finally in the refrigerator. To add a little character to this dessert, a good trick is to soak the fairy cakes with 4 or 5 teaspoons of brandy, and to eat savouring this a so typical Spanish sweet
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To speak about the hoguera bonfires of San Juan in Alicante in June means talking about the famous " Coca amb Tonyina " always present on the table at this time. It is another gastronomical custom associated with the hogueras. Initially the coca was offered as a snack, or at dinner or even a reward to the volunteers who helped during the mounting of the hoguera monument. This coca was so well known and popular that the Architect and illustrious native of Alicante - Don Juan Vidal, designer of buildings such as the Central Market or the House Carbonell dedicated an ode of praise. It is normally eaten with breves or figs. The breves are the first crop of fruits of the fig tree (Ficus carica) that coincides about middle of June and that has as characteristic of being a greater size and a little less sweet than the fruits of the second crop that comes out later in July. The fiesta custom in Alicante is eating out in the racós or barracas that are setup at nearly every hoguera. Typical products of the whole Alicante province are popular such as the sausages of Pinoso or Torremanzanas, cheeses of the interior, figatells of the mountain, vegetables of the Vega Baja. It goes without saying that all this is an incredible gastronomic compendium recovering old traditions of the Alicante kitchen such as the esmorzaret alacantí dish composed salted sardine, peppers and dry tomatoes, ñoras and fried eggs, all the ingredients cooked in the same oil. Salzones are salted items including pickles present in every sobaquillo – an expression that comes from the custom of taking a barra of bread under the arm, pressed against the body, to eat and that nowadays is used to define those who contribute a plate in the racós and barracas where, undoubtedly, the star dish has to be rice in its multiple forms of this part of Spain. The tradition is also to eat buñuelos de calabaza or pumpkin buns, which are also popular in November for All Saints. These are available from numerous kerbside kiosks during the hogueras.
Breves and buñuelos traditionally eaten at the hogueras, The street el Huerto in Torrevieja was where there was a famous grden zone and famous for its breves.
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What’s that noise? by Pat Hynd
A great memory many people have in Spain is the incessant trilling of cicadas. For me it brings back beautiful evening's in Mallorca on the cliffs above the beach, under a full moon on a balmy night with the noise of cicadas sending out their love call. The adult male cicada possesses two ribbed membranes called tymbals, one on each side of its first abdominal segment. By contracting the tymbal muscle, the cicada buckles the membrane inward, producing a loud click. As the membrane snaps back, it clicks again. The two tymbals click alternately. Air sacs in the hollow abdominal cavity amplify the clicking sounds. The vibration travels through the body
to the tympani, which amplify the sound further. So if a single male cicada can make a noise over 100 decibels, imagine the noise produced when thousands of cicadas sing together. Now we are going into summertime is when you can be alternately entertained or annoyed by their chorus.
The sound of the cicada love song can be deafening. In fact, it's the loudest song known in the insect world. Some species of cicadas register over 100 decibels when singing. Only males sing, trying to attract females for mating. Cicada calls are speciesaormi@icloud.com
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specific, helping individuals locate their own kind when different kinds of cicadas share the same habitat.
Despite their noise cicadas are not considered harmful to people or animals.  Although their song emanates from trees they actually live in the ground living off the sap of trees roots  Why does this insect make this sound? Like most of us at some stage in life want to be noticed by the opposite sex. When they do find a suitable female, they mate, and then die of exhaustion. I know that feeling. A female cicada that finds a male attractive will respond to his call by doing a maneuver descriptively called the "wing flick." As you might imagine, this involves a brisk movement of the wings. The male can both see and hear the wing flick, and will reply with more clicking of his tymbals. Perhaps men are not sending out the right signals at times?
After mating, the female will lay several hundred eggs. She makes a little slit in the bark of the branch to make small nests. She will do this many times depositing about a dozen in each slit using her tail as a tool to knock them into place. Â the eggs remain aormi@icloud.com
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in the tree bark for several weeks before hatching into a nymph, the name of a baby cicada, and falls to the ground and hides there from predators.
Meanwhile back in England Since the spring of 2013, over 3,000 members of the public have downloaded the Hunt for the New Forest Cicada app for their smartphones. Because the cicada sings relatively quietly at 14 kHz, just above the range of hearing for many adults, it is generally difficult for people to hear outdoors. Surveying with some technological assistance is required. Last May, about 100 unmanned, stationary computer chips throughout the forest were activated. These include a microphone, microprocessor, battery and data card and set to make intermittent recordings during those parts of the day when Cicadetta montana is most active. "Every five seconds, [the device] wakes up, listens, does some analysis on the sound and makes a decision, 'OK does that sound like it could be a cicada?', and if it does it can then make a recording onto an SD card," explains Dr Rogers. The idea is part of a new wave of audio-related citizen science wildlife projects. Another scientist oDr Zilli has also thought of another application for similar technology - detecting malaria-carrying mosquitos. He's now working on a system to analyse the sound of mosquito wing-beats. "If we can specifically identify those species that are vectors of human malaria then we can alert people and start collecting some data around the world on the presence of these mosquitos," he comments. Not all hope is lost. Cicadas have a particular lifespan. They live underground as nymphs for 7-8 years, up until the year when they emerge, become adults and die, all within 4-6 weeks. And so the hunt for the New Forest cicada continues.
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Mandevilla by Pat Hynd
Mandevilla - I was introduced by a friend to this lovely plant which is bold and showy. She has it as an indoor plant she keeps by the windows, which seems an ideal situation as it is growing rapidly, obviously enjoying its place in life. It’s growing so well that it really needs a trellis support. It definitely makes a dramatic statement in landscapes and container gardens. This tropical vine bears a nonstop supply of large, trumpetshaped blooms in shades of red, pink, and white. It's also lovely in landscape beds and borders -- and is frequently used to climb up and over arbors and trellises What’s more, there are double petalled variants as well. Mandevilla flowers need sandy, well-draining soil with plenty of organic material mixed in. A good soil mix for mandevilla plants include two parts peat moss or potting soil to one part builder’s sand. It is easy to fall for the Mandevilla. It’s a handsome specimen with glossy ovate leaves and blooms that look like a cross between a plumeria and an alamanda. aormi@icloud.com
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Its climbing habit gives the Mandevilla a grace that the alamanda, with its stiff woody stems, lacks. An important part of mandevilla care is the type of light they receive. Mandevilla vines need some shade. They enjoy bright, indirect light or filtered sunlight, but can get burned in direct, full sunlight. In order to get the best mandevilla flowers throughout the summer, give your mandevilla plant a high phosphorus, water soluble fertilizer once every two week. This will keep your mandevilla vine blooming wonderfully. You may also want to pinch your mandevilla. This method of pruning your mandevilla will create a bushier and fuller plant. To pinch your mandevilla vine, simply use your fingers to pinch off 1/4 to 1/2 inch off the end of each stem. The mandevilla plant has become a common patio plant, and rightfully so. The brilliant mandevilla flowers add a tropical flair to any landscape. You may also sometimes see this tropical plant referred to as dipladenia. Â
Care and propagation  : indirect, filtered or partial sun, well drained garden soil, water moderately. Propagate using cuttings.
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History in Black and White The Siege of Baler by Andy Ormiston
Phillipines On June 2nd 1899 thirty-three Spanish soldiers marched out of the small church of Baler in the Philippines into history, as this was probably the last redoubt of the Spanish empire. As in other parts of the Spanish empire’s colonies the Filipinos had been fighting against the Spanish for years seeking independence. Concurrently was the SpanishAmerican war when the Americans fought Spain - sinking their fleet - in Cuba, Costa Rica and the Philippines. This was a real national tragedy so the siege of Baler held a certain sense of pride in the Spanish army. This small contingent were the aormi@icloud.com
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remnants of a group of 50 soldiers that had sought refuge in the fortified church of Baler on 1st July 1898 and held out for 337 days, eleven months. Unknown to them the war had ended on December 1898 with Spain’s surrendering before the Americans (allies to the Filipinos) and selling the Philippines to the USA for fifty million dollars; but the Americans’ Filipino allies had other ideas and continued to fight the Americans for their complete independence . Cut off from the outside the Spanish soldiers refused to surrender despite other officers, Spanish and American, flying a flag of truce and saying the war was over. The officer in charge refused to parley, thinking these were subterfuges and it was not until an old newspaper left behind that had a small item about one of his best friends being married, that made him realize that the newspaper was indeed true. However, cut off as they were from communications with their own government and military, the Spanish forces continued their defense against the Filipino forces until 1899. With little in the way of fresh food and nearer the end they had a couple of water buffalo that wandered into the compound, which seems a bit strange. They had to be eaten quickly as they had no means of preserving aormi@icloud.com
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the meat. The small group of men were suffering from diseases such as beriberi and dysentry, some were wounded or injured. Over time there were deserters, including some who were shot the night before the officer read the announcement in the newspaper. Another waste of lives. Two priest friars were with them in their siege quarters, one of them died. The siege is a rather sad story that has twice been made into film and was the theme in two episodes of the popular Ministry of Time series of RTVE1- This is a group of people who have been selected to keep Spain out of trouble as far as possible and each week features some aspect of history, either an event or a person such as Velazquez or Columbus whom they have to save to keep Spain’s timeline history on track. Shades of Dr. Who. General Emilio Aguinaldo, president of the Philippine Revolutionary Government [First Philippine Republic], decreed that they were to be considered "Not as prisoners of war but as friends". He further stated
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“1898. Los últimos de Filipinas” is the title of a new film by Salvador Calvo and starring Luis Tosar Javier Gutiérrez, Karra Elejalde, Eduard Fernández y Carlos Hipólito. Filmed in the Canarias at a reconstruction of the church of Baler
Martin-Cerezo
"They realized an epic as glorious as the legendary valour of El Cid and of Pelayo". Las Morenas, the officer in charge, was posthumously promoted to Major and awarded the 'Lauerate Cross of San Fernando', Spain’s highest military medal. His widow received a pension of 5,000 pesetas or pesos. An other officer, Martin-Cerezo, was promoted to Major with an annual pension of 1,000 pesetas. He also was decorated with the 'Royal Cross' as well as the Military Order of San Fernando and went on to become a Major General. He died in 1948. Lt. Zayas received a posthumous promotion.
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On their return to Spain the soldiers were honored as national heroes in a banquet in Barcelona. The enlisted men received the 'Silver Cross of Military Merit' and each of them received a monthly pension of 60 pesetas.Although not in this siege of Baler there were many Torrevejenses in these fights, some taken prisoners, including to USA, others died and buried in the Philippines and some lived to tell the tale. Torrevieja Survivors of the Cuba, Puerto Rico and Philippines campaigns.(1898) All the following Torrevejense soldiers were still alive and living in Torrevieja in 1947 CUBA Juan Baldo Murcia, 75 years of age served on cruiser “Almirante Oquendo”. José Vera Hernández, 71 years old served on board the Cruiser “Marqués de la Ensenada”. José Aracil Rodríguez, 67 sailor on the cruiser “Conde de Benadito”. Infantry soldier José Ibáñez Pareja, 76 year old in the Regimiento de Infantería de Marina nº 2.
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Summer emergencies by Pat Hynd
Summer not only brings the sun, but also a huge influx of visitors to our area based in Torrevieja. Number 22 Department of Health of Torrevieja has presented the Summer plan for 2016 that includes the planning of reinforcements of sanitary professionals during the busy summer epoch. These reinforcements will be in the hospital and the clinics of primary care. It is
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expected that the personnel will be increased by a further 35%, which is based on the past experience of the last few year’s statistics of the influx of people in the area.
The hospital commitment is supporting the levels of satisfaction of patients ensuring that the assistance is flexible and effective with a high quality and attention given to the safety of patients. This planning is fruit of the joint planning with the different services, guarantees a level of welfare activity adapted for all the professionals, " to whom we repeat our gratefulness for the effort realized by them during the higher peaks of patients major" said Doctor Velasco, head of the management.
The forecasts show an increase of activity of 15 % in Urgencies and about 7 % in Primary care, whereas in the area of hospitalization the number of incoming hospitalised would be kept at the same level. In agreement with this information, the Summer plan will be applied principally in these areas, with coverage of all the professional categories. This planning has been made in conjunction with the works committee and the commissioner of the Conselleria de Sanitat during various working meetings. An important issue is the standard of primary care for moderate and lower levels of health care in the clinics.
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Torrevieja has two hospitals, both with views across the salt lakes.
Based on last year’s information the health centre solved more than 90 % of the total emergencies of the area. The sanitary professionals insist on the need to be responsible in deciding what is and what is no an emergency. Only serious emergency cases should be handled by the hospital and lesser injuries such as sunburn, jellyfish bites etc. handled by the nearest clinic, which work directly with the hospital in any case. With this new planning, the Hospital and the centres of health that integrate the Department, will possess the resources necessary to be able to deal competently with the increase of the health demands due to the increase of holiday makers and residents of the various towns around and within department 22.
Departamento de Salud de Torrevieja Ctra. Torrevieja a San Miguel de Salinas, CV-95 03186 Torrevieja - Alicante TelĂŠfono: +0034 965 721 200 www.torrevieja-salud.com www.facebook.com/torreviejasalud dpto_torrevieja
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Hospital
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. .
Clinics
Consult Auxiliar
.
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Summer checkpoints:Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables Wear lightweight coloured clothing
light
Use sun creams and lotions as sun blockers Avoid physical activity at the times of excessive heat, usually at midday Drink plenty of water and liquids that are without alcohol and caffeine free. Ensure that children and elderly people drink liquids. It’s all too easy to say that “I’m not thirsty”, or may not feel that way, but drink plenty of water in any case. Take especial care that elderly alone drink plenty of liquids.
EMERGENCY CENTRES TEL: 112 aormi@icloud.com
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The Torrevieja Department of Health has an interactive portal + SALUD which offers an easy and convenient way of accessing all the information relating to your health and wellbeing. This internet tool offers you a personal dedicated space for promoting health and preventing illness. You can also access the personal management area, “my health e-space” where you can check your appointments and tests and read your clinical reports quickly and easily, and all without having to travel to visit a doctor. 1 Log on to the website www.torrevieja-salud.com 2 Register in the section“Myhealthe-space”by entering your details: SIP (health card number), mobile phone number, health centre and date of birth. 3 These details will be checked against the patient database and, if correct, you will be sent a password to your mobile phone with which you can enter the portal. 4 If you have any queries or need further information, please send an email to portalsalud@torrevieja-salud.com or contact your local health centre. aormi@icloud.com
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On the internet Patients can: Request Primary Healthcare appointments. Arrange straightforward X-ray appointments. Arrange initial appointments for External Clinics (provided that the relevant doctor has authorised it). Get lists of all pending appointments and check, cancel or change forthcoming visits to specialists. Monitor the progress of chronic clinical processes. Attach documents and/or medical reports from other public or private healthcare centres to your electronic medical history. Find out the waiting times of the department’s Continuous Care Points. Inform your doctor of any personal medical background details so he/she can refer to them and thus better monitor your state of health. Set up communications with the healthcare professionals involved in your case by means of an e-messaging service.. Get information and advice on vaccination and/or health promotion campaigns. Read your discharge reports and/or analysis results. Get access to websites recommended by health institutions and organizations. Enter personal details on the website so healthcare professionals can monitor the progress of chronic processes.
www.torrevieja-salud.com
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Torrevieja hospital in conjunction with Vinolopo Hospital in Elche has launched three Apps for the use of the public, depending on their needs. If this is successful other Apps will follow. The first one, “YOembarazo”, is an application with all the relevant information related to pregnancy and body changes Turing this period, not only in the baby but in the mother. This app has been developed with the input of obstetric doctors, matrons, nurses and pediatric units, in response to the necessity of pregnant women who can make use of the Internet.
Another App is “YOprimerosauxilios” aimed at offering Basic knowledge to help the user act in an emergency situation. Simple information and videos made in conjunction with emergency personnel helps every citizen deal in an emergency situation.
The third App is “YOopino” is a public relations one which urges the patients to provide a feedback about the attention received. Patients can make anonymous opinions about care and service provided in the various clinics of the 22 Department.
DO DRIVE WITH CARE AND DON’T DRINK . OTHER PEOPLE ARE AT RISK
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Age Concern president Maureen Payne shows the new vehicle to OARI director, Carlos GonzĂĄlez.
Torrevieja’s branch of Age Concern Sur has managed to procure a new 9-seater people carrier thanks once again to the incredible generosity of people in the area. So many have helped in raising funds in many ways for this adapted vehicle with an electric ramp for wheelchair access. There are never enough volunteers for any charity but this association has managed to have a roll call of 12 volunteer drivers who will take it in turn to drive it as necessary. The geographical area covers from Gran Alicant in the north down to Murcia Borders in the south and inland to the mountains. Age Concern aim is to promote the well being of all older people and help make life a fulfilling and enjoyable experience and is not confined to British expats alone but open to all and every nationality elderly in this area. They have contacts with the associations that are more geared up to deal with certain illnesses that require a more personal assistance and anyone asking for support will find it via their services. The new vehicle is a great asset to the work done by Age Concern Sur volunteers who among other things, have a Drop-In Centre on Calle Paganini in La Siesta, Torrevieja is open every day from 10am until 1.30pm. The centre has an extensive book, video and DVD lending library and a board games section as well as lots of volunteers on hand to give you support, advice and help should you need it. It is a wonderful place to socialize aormi@icloud.com
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or play a board game or take out a loan of one of the largest selection of books in English around as last year the popular La Siesta Lending Library charity handed over their books on the retirement of their founders and themselves raised thousands of euros for various charitable causes. The morning session at the centre is quickly replaced for a large variety of the activities. Between 2.00pm and 4pm, on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, there are also activities which everyone can enjoy. On Mondays there is a knitting club, on Tuesdays there is Rumikub and on Wednesdays, Bingo. Just drop in when you are on vacation, and everyone is welcome. For more information, please give the centre a call on 966 786 887 during opening hour The association also has a very fruitful charity shop in Torrevieja behind the bus station in Calle Concordia corner with Calle Patricio Zammit, 41,Torrevieja, Alicante Tel::965 70 78 39. A similiar shop is in Los Montesinos in Avde Del Mar (Opposite Gama Supermarket) The volunteers who work here are very professional and take great pride in their layout and salesmanship (or salesladyship) as several have had experience in their working lives in commercial shops. Apart from a wide range of clothes that may be second hand but are cleaned and pressed in the back of the shop. Nothing is sold that the ladies themselves would not want to buy. There are other items as they are donated and volunteers often pick things up and deliver to the shop - including books, dvds, video games, etc.
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PARKING IN TORREVIEJA Our photo shows one of the digital signs for the paying parking areas in Torrevieja illuminating the number of spaces available at any one time. Parking is always a preoccupation for motorists so free parking in the streets is a great attraction, but attention has to be paid to restriction yellow lines. A motorist can spend more money on petrol than going directly to paying parking place. So think on the 7 parks that are signed up in the above signposts. Even more motorists are showing selfishness when parking cars on pedestrian crossings or places where disability ramps are. Recently the mayor announced that there was no restrictions against motor homes parking in the streets. Torrevieja has almost two hundred parking places for persons with reduced mobility and these places are marked and should be respected by other motorists. As a person with reduced mobility I notice defects in the streets probably more than others. Getting off pavements and down ramps can be a real nightmare. Drive with attention and park with respect other road users, not just those with vehicles. TORREVIEJA HAS CREATED, IN THE LAST YEAR, 37 NEW PARKING SPACES FOR PEOPLE WITH REDUCED MOBILITY Torrevieja has today a total of 193 parking place for persons with reduced mobility, but you need a valid disability pass and sticker.
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Torrevieja Outlook Solidarity Calendar 2017 The next calendar is under production but we would like to put in a section of photos of cultural groups - orchestras, musical bands, dancers, showgroups , so that it is possible to see the variety of entertainment and culture available in our area. We want your group to appear. Particularly photos with women in them as this will be 2017 theme contact: aormi@icloud.com
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2017 Torrevieja Outlook Calendario Solidario está en producción pero nos gustaría poner una sección con fotos de grupos culturales - orquestas, bandas musicales, bailarines, compañías de espectáculos, de modo que sea posible ver la variedad de hospitalidad y cultura disponible en nuestra zona. Nos gustaría contar con tu grupo, particularmente las fotos de las mujeres que lo conforman, ya que ellas serán en tema de este año 2017: aormi@icloud.com aormi@icloud.com
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Blue is the Colour by Dave Stewart
Torrelamata Sur, Los Locos, el Cura, Los Nรกufragos and Cala Pitera are once again five beaches awarded the Blue Flag in Torrevieja. Spain has received a total of 686 such flags for the wide range of beaches and marinas of the large coastline of Spain, not just the Mediterranean. Orihuela was also well garlanded - Punta Prima. Cala Bosque (La Zenia), La Caleta- Cabo Roig, Cala Capitรกn-Cabo Roig, Aguamarina, Campoamor, Barranco Rubio and Cala Estaca. Pilar de la Horadada - Mil Palmeras, Jesuitas, and Conde. Guardamar del Segura - La Roqueta Centre, El Moncaio.
30 Valencian beaches are on the list and 45 of Alicante. In addition there are many marina and yachting clubs that have received the same award including The Royal Club Nautico of Torrevieja celebrating th their 50 anniversary a n d M a r i n a International. Santa Pola now has a doggie beach with many restrictions and a guard to make sure owners behave themselves. It is at La Cuartel, being the third cove down from the lighthouse. Some people are complaining about the restrictions imposed on those categorised as dangerous dogs, but owners showed remember that it is a beach that permits dogs to splash but is primarily a beach for the people. Fines can be hefty as they are up to 750 euros for minor infringements and up to 3,000 euros for serious offences. At the time of writing we are still waiting for Torrevieja town hall to decide which area they will designate for the doggies and what will be the conditions and new bye-laws imposed.
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NEW HEALTH CARDS by Pat Hynd
For over ten years there has been discussion about a Spanish National Health Card and it is almost in sight as this month new cards are starting to be issued. The aim is that all hospitals, health centres and chemists have the technology to read the data to decide to what the card bearer is entitled. Obviously this is an enormous job so new cards will be introduced gradually; Valencia Region has over five million SIP card holders. There are often problems when Spaniards are on holiday as each region has slightly different systems and particularly in places like Torrevieja, a holiday resort, it is important that the cards are compatible. The data will still be limited on the cards as the original intention was to put medical data of the patient on the magnetic strip, but this was shelved because some people considered it was an infringement of privacy. During summer there will be more emergency coverage and the first place to visit is the nearest clinic whose personnel can attend in whichever way they can. More often than not this is the best option, as the hospital is for real emergencies such as traffic accidents rather than a sting from a jellyfish.
La Loma Clinic has a 24.hour emergency coverage
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A Roaming, a Roaming The European Commission have finally come down on the huge roaming calls charges that have been a downright disgrace and another style of highway robbery. There is now a cap on the charge operators can make and must now be no more that five cents extra for calls, two cents extra for texting, and five cents extra per MB of data, excluding VAT or IVA. A spokesman said, “From June 2017 consumers will pay the same price for calls, texts and mobile data, wherever they are travelling in the EU.” So although there may be good news it will take a while for operators to alter their systems.
So the song should be as written - “A-Roaming, aroaming, a-roaming no more… high prices.”
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SAN JUAN HOGUERAS ALICANTE by Andy Ormiston
How many Spaniards does it take to fix a light bulb? Just Juan. How many Spaniards does it take to light a fire? Thousands of Juans. June is our solstice time, celebrated with fire representing darkness being driven away by light. Alicante and other towns in the province get serious this month to enjoy themselves with huge fires made of marvelous sculptures that can be easily burned at the end of the fiestas dedicated to San Juan. This saint’s feast falls at the same time as the solstice and his name is associated with all the fun of this week. The Juan in question is John the Baptist, the wild looking man who ‘was clothed with camel’s hair...and ate locusts and wild honey’. We learn who he was from the Jewish historian, Josephus. Writing about the death of John the Baptist at the hands of Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, he remarks about John, ‘He was a good man and had exhorted the Jews to lead righteous lives, to practice justice towards their fellows and piety towards God, and so doing join in baptism. . .’ (Josephus, Antiquities 18.5.2). Josephus was only interested in John because he was part of the story of Herod Antipas, the ruler in Galilee, who saw him as a threat. Likewise, the evangelists include John in their gospels because of the role he played in the life of Jesus.
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For most people he was the man who had his head chopped off and served on a plate by a woman. John addresses the Pharisees and the Sadducees (3:7) with the same fierce title with which Jesus will later challenge the Pharisees; they were a ‘brood of vipers’. John is commemorated as a saint in the Christian calendar with two feasts in the year, one commemorating his birth on 24 June and the other his death on 29 August. He is the only saint in the calendar, apart from the mother of Jesus, to have two days set apart in his honour. John was the messenger sent ahead and he was the prophet preparing the day of the Lord Jesus. John was a second cousin of Jesus as Mary (Jesus’ mother) and Elizabeth were cousins; and Mary visited Elizabeth and was likely present at the birth of John. Another possible link that is often speculated upon is that both of them had “hidden years” when not much s known about them. Some think that both of them were students and members of the sect in the caves and mountains that left us the Dead Sea Scrolls. Three groups come to John asking him what they were to do. John gives appropriate advice to each of them: the crowds were to share clothing and their food with those who lacked them; tax collectors were to collect no more money than was due; and soldiers were to refrain from oppression and to be content with their pay. Now are these not words suitable today?
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May pole
One story is that when John was born there were mysterious fires in the sky; this explains the connection between the saint, the equinox and the hogueras. Most of this goes over the heads of people, but I like legends, history and mystery. In pagan times the June solstice is often associated with change, nature and new beginnings and celebrated with feasting, bonfires and traditional songs and dances. The June Solstice was used to organize calendars and as a marker to figure out when to plant and harvest crops. In northern European countries like Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, Midsummer is a festive celebration. When the summer days are at their longest, and in the north it is the time of the Midnight Sun, festivals generally celebrate the summer and the fertility of the Earth. In Sweden and many parts of Finland people dance around Maypoles. In Spain we have all the above ingredients, including pagan its of jumping over cleansing fires. On the Costa Blanca it is the only night of the year when fires are allowed the beaches. Its a witchcraft night with youths jumping over fires and dining in the sea cleansing and purifying themselves. The Playa del Cura in Torrevieja is usually full of youngsters carrying abandoned wood and pallets to build their fire which they sit around playing games, drinking and enjoying watermelon.
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Alicante hogueras are held in almost every street crossing with competitions for the best adult and infant ones, which will receive and adult from the flames and end up in the Hogueras Museum in Alicante. Every hoguera will also have its Queen who was picked several months ago and all of them have duties, including lighting the taper that sets the hugger on fire. Often this is a tearful event as the neighborhood has spent the last week or so enjoying the live music, dancing and enjoying themselves around their own hoguera in the bar known s a barraca. Fiesta Queens are groomed once they are chosen and tend to be representatives of Alicante in the year at lots of events, including taking part in other towns’ festivals at other times of the year. For example, this year, a large group of them, dressed in traditional costumes, were part of the contingent that advertised the Costa Blanca in Stockholm..as did a giant paella. aormi@icloud.com
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Fire Queens reign over fires and beach bonfires while barracas bars are set up in streets in many Alicante Province towns
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Colour, fantasy and satire - marks of ninots and hoguera figures
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During the week there are not only procession, such as the Floral one where everyone wears traditional costumes and carries flowers, but there ae many competitors such as half marathons or the occasional protest, in this instance for banning bull fighting and supporting animal rights in general.
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Colourful fiestas such as Hogueras with the ninots, costumed queens, music and typical gastronomy are all publicity aspects that are used at exhibitions to attract foreign and national visitors.
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Torrevieja Hogueras are limited as they do not receive the same financial support as some other towns. Ninots tend to reflect local interest and home made, but all the fun and excitement is still there. The traditional costumes are those worn in the past by the fishermen’s wives.
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Gastronomy Tourism by Dave Stewart
Nowadays visitors to any place or country look to what is on offer in the local cuisine. An initiative is a gastronomic event under the title of Euro-Toques’ held each May in Elche. Well-known chef Susi Díaz is one of the people behind this initiative that attracts some of the best chefs in Spain and in the World. The association 'Euro-touch' was born in the year 1986 started by culinary stars such Pierre Romeyer, Paul Bocuse, Juan Mari Arzak, Pedro Subijana, Karlos Arguiñano and Jose Juan Castillo. At present, the organization is composed of nearly 3.500 professionals of eighteen countries whose aim is to protect the quality and diversity of the European culinary heritage. Eduardo Dolón, Torrevieja councillor and Alicante vice-president in charge of Costa Blanca Tourism image said, “" With eight Michelin Stars restaurants and more than 12.000 catering establishments, the province has become in recent years an important culinary focal point at national and International level.
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The gastronomy of the province plays a fundamental role in the tourist industry, since it contributes an “added value” that attracts more visitors, creates employment adds prestige to the towns that participate in the various gastronomical events. The autonomous tourist board have their own stand at exhibitions and include information about tourist offers in 141 Alicante municipalities, distributing maps and thematic guides, such as that of the ' Route of the Wine ' or that of ' Hundred Castles of the Costa Blanca '. Tourist have to eat and given a choice want to eat well, and if possible taste some traditional local cuisine. More than 200 cooks from the whole national territory, among whom stand out chefs such as Pedro Subijana, Elena Arzak, Quique Dacosta or Joan Roca, will take part in this event. All are interested in the future of gastronomy and its restoration and love new initiatives and technology; aware of the importance of protecting the quality of the food, the culinary European heritage or the need to defend a healthy and balanced diet. For her part, Susi Díaz and the famous pastry cook Paco Torreblanca, signed an agreement with Alicante Province Diputacion for this three day event and expressed their gratitude for this support.
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My Bookshelf by Pat Hynd
Travelling
Among summer reads I would like to talk about two books that deal with other people¡s perspectives of traveling and what it can mean.
Voyager: Travel Writings By Russell Banks This is a good travel book that has ten sections, exploring the author’s emotional geography in the various places he visits. Emotional insofar as Banks relates details of three failed marriages to his present travel companion, his latest fourth fiancée as they move through Caribbean islands. He admits that his travel lust is a result of his fleeing from one relationship to another, another lust apparently. The acclaimed, award-winning novelist takes us on some of his most memorable journeys in this revelatory collection of travel essays that spans the globe, from the Caribbean to Scotland to the Himalayas.While detailing his romantic life is interesting, so are his accounts and descriptions of the places visited and their effect on him. In the Andes at the top of a mountain he reflects on how it could be a similar experience to joining a monastery, as a person is awed by the grandeur and immensity around him. “One climbs a mountain not to conquer it, but to be lifted like this away from the earth up into the sky,” he explains. aormi@icloud.com
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His journeys take him to Scotland, a former Russian slave camp in Alaska, swamps in the Everglades, the former Dakar slave area and al the time putting his thoughts and emotions to paper. In Voyager, Russell Banks, a lifelong explorer, shares highlights from his travels: interviewing Fidel Castro in Cuba; motoring to a hippie reunion with college friends in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; eloping to Edinburgh, with his fourth wife, Chase; driving a sunset orange metallic Hummer down Alaska’s Seward Highway.
The Glamour of Strangeness: Artists and the Last Age of the Exotic Jamie James. Artists have their own perspectives of life and the people who move in the world around them. Focusing on six principal subjects, Jamie James locates "a lost national school" of artists who left their homes for the unknown. There is Walter Spies, the devastatingly handsome German painter who remade his life in Bali; Raden Saleh, the Javanese painter who found fame in Europe; Isabelle Eberhardt, a Russian-Swiss writer who roamed the Sahara dressed as an Arab man; the American experimental filmmaker Maya Deren, who went to Haiti and became a committed follower of voodoo. From France, Paul Gauguin left for Tahiti; and Victor Segalen, a naval doctor, poet, and novelist, immersed himself in classical Chinese civilization in imperial Peking. From the early days of steamship travel, artists stifled by the culture of their homelands fled to islands, jungles, and deserts in search of new creative and emotional frontiers. Their flight inspired a unique body of work that doesn't fit squarely within the Western canon, yet may be some of the most original statements we have about the range and depth of the artistic imagination.In addition to analyzing his subjects’ art, James details their rich lives, mining their published works, personal archives, journals, and letters, and often revealing serendipitous connections between the artists. Many of his subjects refused to conform to the social norms of their birthplaces, namely monogamy and heterosexuality, and the description of these struggles is illuminating. James also includes his own perspective, reflecting on his travels through Asia, South America, and Europe, and his permanent relocation to Bali, where he has witnessed firsthand the effects of globalization. This well-written text is a sharp, thought-provoking contribution to the ongoing conversation about transculturation.
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Shakespeare in London by Pat Hynd
One of my best recollections of Shakespeare was a summer open-air presentation in Regents Park and remember thinking that this was probably the most common way people would have participated. As we continue with
Children in refugee camp in Jordan enjoying a bit of the bard
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A piece of live theatre by Shakespearian actors brightens the humdrum life of refugees in Calais’ “The Jungle”
celebrating Shakespeare 400th anniversary let’s have a look back to his audiences then. Londoners were used to open air theatre as troupers moved from town to town, so many of them linked together as boroughs in modern London city. It was not just plays, but music, comedy and even sermons and Mystery Plays were extremely popular. Arnold Hunt, in “The Art of Hearing” (2010), writes that sermons were so popular that audiences of 6,000 stood for two hours at Paul’s Cross, an open-air pulpit. Preachers tried to prevent their parishioners from ‘sermon-gadding’: rushing from one long sermon to another on a Sunday. Audiences were accustomed to complex hermeneutical homilies, to hearing the Bible in school, from the pulpit and in disputations, and certainly would have had no difficulty in recognising the allusions in the plays, as Hannibal Hamlin, in “The Bible in Shakespeare” (2013) has shown. James Shapiro, whose two Shakespeare books we looked at in an earlier Book Review a few months ago on “1599” and “1606” have set a fresh style in Shakespeare biography, estimates that in any given week, 20,000 Londoners, i.e. a tenth of the population – paid to see a play. In each of the open-roofed amphitheaters, such as the Globe, scholars estimate there were no less than a thousand ‘garlic-breathed stinkards’, packed so tightly that each was ‘pasted to the barmy jacket of a Beer-brewer’. A bit later, there were two indoor theatres, which used candles and because of this limited the time of the play to a more educated and courtly audience .
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It is only fair to say that the date of his death is almost all we know about William Shakespeare. A baptismal certificate suggests he may have been born on the same day, 23 April; there is a marriage certificate and a will with a famously ambiguous clause about the second-best bed left for his wife; several disputed portraits; three signatures; remarkably, no manuscripts of the plays, as these were brought together and printed after his death. His influence can be seen in the writings and plays of other authors, even modern ones. For his second production of Hamlet in Prague, in 1982, the great Czech stage designer, Josef Svoboda, constructed a series of stepped platforms enveloped in black velvet drapes. In front of them, and coming down over most of the stage was a huge fire-curtain. Professor Sdeněk Stříbrný, who described this in Shakespeare in Eastern Europe (2000), explained that the word in Czech for a fire-curtain is Iron Curtain, so that when it was lifted up at the end, light flooded the stage: ‘Claudius, groping desperately for help before Hamlet’s ferocious attack, tore down the black drapery and died among the tatters, pinned down for what he was, “a king of shreds and patches”’. The audience knew exactly what was meant. Hamlet is not kind to political power, and certainly not to kings (or presidents) who use poison, whether in a chalice or a cup of tea, to dispose of their enemies. This year, as said elsewhere, there is a Shakespeare bus traveling Spain with information about the bard and performing some of his work. All the world is a stage as this is just one group as others are moving around the world providing audiences with some of the magic of Shakespeare. The Globe theatre company recently performed Hamlet in the barbed wire fenced Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, involving children. Then in the ‘Jungle’ (in Calais) to Syrian, Afghan and Eritrean refugees. From Gdansk, where they will be holding street parties, to Serbia, Barcelona and Armenia, there are festivals celebrating Shakespeare and players performing, in every language under the sun, from a collection of more than 37 comedies, tragedies and histories. And even in Africa where the emphasis is on AIDS Shakespearean actors has his own part to play. aormi@icloud.com
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Lo Ferris public area increased
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Torrevieja has been “ceded” 10.890 square meters of public seaside land with a new demarcation of the maritime public domain in the area of Cala Ferris. The Ferris Hills company that owns the land decided to make this gesture in face of public protests. They will rebuild the current fence according to the red line in the above map. The company says its aim is to protect the environment inside the fink area. s The town hall now can proceed with plans to build a promenade which, hopefully, will not destroy the natural beauty of this “virgin” area which has been used for filming “tropical isles”.
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Guardamar History Route by Dave Stewart
For several years many towns have had tourist trains that for a small fee carry visitors around the important sights and sites of the town. If you are a train fan then forget it as it is a train on rubber wheels trundling around the towns. As from 2nd June Guardamar del Segura will once again put on the 'Path of History' route. The tour starts with a 30 minute DVD about Guardamar, then it’s off to discover the various interesting points throughout the town including: the reforested dune system, the sites and ruins from the Phoenician, Islamic and Medieval periods, the ruined castle, as well as modern day Guardamar. The tour, in Spanish on a Thursday and in English on a Friday, must be booked in advance and departs from the tourist office at 18.00. It costs 6₏ per passenger for the twohour long journey into the past of the town's history and archaeological ruins. Sensible footwear should be worn as there is a bit of walking required. The tour includes the services of a guide band a guidebook for you to keep.
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But don’t stop at the train as Guardamar del Segura has lots to offer including many kilometres of fine sandy beaches. It takes its name from the castle that was built to guard the mouth of the River Segura from pirates sailing up it to raid Orihuela. The river mouth now houses a very nice marina that is part of the rambling and cycling routes alongside the River Segura - known as the Green corridor - Corridor Verde. There are a couple of museums to visit and lots of little shops to explore. Wednesday morning is busy as that is the weekly outdoor market. For a bit of shady green there is the lovely Reina Sofia park with lots of ducks, terrapins, peacocks, and squirrels with kids facilities for playing. Costa Azul buses service the town and there is plenty of parking zones.
Please contact the tourist office to reserve your place on +34 965 724 488. The tourist office is also worth having a look at, as it is the last remaining barraca style house in the town, which has given way to modem construction
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Homeless showers by Dave Stewart
In April 2015 Norman Wheatley, President of the Grand Masonic Lodge of Valencia, presented a motorhome to the red Cross in Guardamar del Segura. The vehicle is equipped with first aid equipment, four hot showers, clothing, hygiene items, was designed to be used for those without homes.
Now it is to visit regularly Orihuela, which has set up a connection for electricity and water behind the Ociopia commercial centre. It will be available on Thursdays from 10:00 - 13:30 and volunteers will look out for homeless advising them of this new facility as well as offering support. The mobile day center also provides the same service in Callosa de Segura and plans are being made to bring it to Almoradi and Torrevieja, where REACH OUT has similar shower and laundry services in their day centre.
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y o j n E d pain S n a w o h S Live e l y & Lifest
16 ay 0 D 2 s , n e o n i t u J d r 3 2 Associa y e e r F orrevieja ThursdTa Christia nF Make the most of Living in Spain. Join a Club. o Fa mest mulig o ut av a leve i Spania.
Avda de
ellowship
las Valen cian Torrevieja as,68,
10.00am
- 3.00pm
Bli med i en klubb
Shoestring film festival Santara Resort, Gran Alacant 24: 25: 26 June 2016
www.ShoestringFilmFestival.com
FILM PREMIER: Scot Films: Trained to KilL sneak peek: Siesta Productions: the cucaracha club plus film talks surprize films, entertainment and more...
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Films made on the Costa Blanca on a 'shoestring' Free Admission. Charity Donation Only' . More information from: enjoy@shoestringfilmfestival.com' Gratis inngang. Charity donasjon på døren. Filmer laget på Costa Blanca på en shoestring ' Mer informasjon fra: enjoy@shoestringfilmfestival.com.
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4 June @ 20:00 Virgen Carmen CC
1st to 31st July
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