Spain Uncovered

Traditionally, Spanish children have received presents on the eve of Reyes Magos (the Three Kings) rather than at Christmas, however in recent years they have also received Christmas presents.  I remember reading a Spanish newspaper where they were asking children which fiesta they preferred.  One child said Reyes Magos, because it was traditional, however another child preferred Papa Noel, because he gave them presents regardless of their behaviour, whereas the Three Kings only gave presents to good children!

John and I decided to go and watch the Reyes Magos procession on 5th January as we knew from the previous year that it would be a colourful event. 

Children had already written letters for their Majesties and had left them earlier in the special postbox at the Teatro Vico.  Later in the day the Reyes had received the Magic Key from the Mayor, so that they could enter homes in Jumilla to leave presents for well-behaved children. 

We joined the excited children standing outside the tourist office, to watch the procession setting off at 6pm to parade around Jumilla. At the back was a lorry bearing presents, followed by one laden with coal for the naughty children!

Sweets, snacks and small presents were being handed out to the children watching the procession, and some of the watching pensioners were also given some snacks by participants who recognised us standing there!

Last year the procession had included St Bernard dogs and a black pig, for some unknown reason that even our Spanish friends could not explain to us.  This year they were missing (hopefully nobody had roasted the pig!) however there were plenty of horses in their place.  We enjoyed watching the various floats going past us: as well as the horses there were different local groups all in fancy dress, with the Three Kings near the back, followed by a fire engine.  Last year we had watched a couple of people being “rescued” by the firemen, which apparently was a traditional part of the celebration.   Right at the back were the lorry loaded up with presents and the lorry bearing coal.

We also enjoyed listening to the band from our barrio of San Juan, la Banda de Cornetas y Tambores La Misericordia.   They were wearing colourful outfits for the procession so at first we didn´t recognise them.

John and I decided to celebrate Christmas and New Year Spanish-style.  Not that we had much choice, as most shops, bars and restaurants in Jumilla closed early on Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) and Nochevieja (New Year’s Eve) so that staff could be at home with their families. 

Seafood plays an important part in any Spanish Christmas Eve, so I dutifully queued at the fish counter in Consum, pleased that there weren’t too many people ahead of me.  Of course I hadn’t allowed for the vast quantity of seafood that each individual was buying while I waited to purchase my miserly half kilo of langostinos!  John filled the basket with everything else on my shopping list while I waited at the fish counter then left me with it while he went to his bank.  I still hadn´t  been served when John came back, so I then popped out to my bank, returning just in time to ask for my langostinos!

Christmas Day was so warm that we were able to sit out on our balcony enjoying a glass of cava before heading for Restaurante San Agustin for lunch at 2pm.  Turkey and all the trimmings might not have been on the menu, and Christmas pudding was also missing, but we weren´t complaining.  John had roast kid while I chose monkfish in cava from the wide selection of appetising dishes.  The restaurant and bar were packed with other couples and families enjoying their Christmas lunch and wishing each other “Feliz Navidad”.

It was strange to find all the shops open on Boxing Day, which is a normal working day here.  My daughter Vicky and her husband Ivan had arrived to spend a few days with us.  We dragged them out at 10pm on Boxing Day to Los Chilines, a local wine shop, for a cava and chocolate tasting. Not that they were complaining – especially with the delicious home-made cakes and chocolates that were being handed out!  Everybody was given a party bag to get them into the party spirit, though we have discovered that Jumillanos need hardly any encouragement.

We took advantage of the car that Vicky and Ivan had hired and visited Mula for the first time.  We had decided to drive through Cieza, which normally isn´t a problem, however on that particular day a statue was being unveiled in the middle of a roundabout, so the Guardia Civil were diverting traffic.  This caused a bit of confusion to the GPS system, however eventually we found our way out of the town and along a slow, long winding road to Mula.  After exploring the town and having a very good lunch at El Hogar, we decided to take the longer less scenic route back to Jumilla to save time.

Things seemed a bit quieter after our visitors had gone, but we still had New Year and Reyes Magos to look forward to.  John and I enjoyed the New Year’s Eve concert outside the Teatro Vico, where the local youth band played familiar melodies such as Jingle Bells, White Christmas and Silent Night as well as pasodobles.  Luckily the sun shone down on them, though their conductor cast a few anxious glances at the sky as the rain clouds started gathering.

Our New Year’s Eve evening was low-key: we watched Spanish TV, ate our 12 grapes as the bells chimed midnight in Madrid, toasted each other with cava, and listened to the fireworks being set off to welcome in 2010. We could have gone out at 0045 when our local bar was due to open, however we decided to draw the line at that.  After all, we still had another week to go!  The fact that it was raining outside might also have had something to do with it…….

John and I retired and moved to Jumilla in 2008, in the expectation that by the end of the year we would be living in our dream home on a new golf development at Santa Ana del Monte a few miles outside Jumilla.  My book, “Retiring the Olé Way”, told the story of how our dream turned into a nightmare and we faced the prospect of losing all the money we had paid as a deposit on our new home.  By December 2008 we knew that the dream was over, however we made the momentous decision to stay in Jumilla and find another property, obviously with a much smaller budget.

“Why Jumilla?“, and “Where on earth is Jumilla?“, were the most frequent questions asked by our family and friends back in the UK.

Jumilla is a town in the north-east of Murcia province that is renowned for its wine – a fact which helps to answer the first question, as John and I have been known to enjoy the occasional glass of red wine.  Having said that our original plan had been to buy a property in or near a traditional Spanish town, away from the expat developments on the coast, a town that had plenty of amenities and was accessible by public transport.  As far as we were concerned Jumilla had met all our criteria, so the number of bodegas in town was a bonus.

When we were first taken to Jumilla on a viewing trip at the end of 2005, we were impressed by all the town had to offer.  It is an attractive town with plenty of gardens and  squares to explore and many historic buildings, including the splendid Castillo which overlooks Jumilla, many imposing churches, the lovely Teatro Vico, and the Cason. 

Through this blog, I hope to give a flavour of what life is like in Spain away from the costas.  The typical picture of life for expats in Spain is of people lazing by the pool with a cold drink enjoying the sunshine during the daytime, and watching British TV (thanks to an enormous satellite dish) during the evening. The alternative picture is of a more adventurous couple living in splendid isolation in the countryside (the Campo), driving to the nearest supermarket once a week to stock up and sometimes to pop into a local bar for a drink and tapas.  It has to be said that many expats who try this lifestyle eventually become bored of it and return to the UK once the novelty has worn off.

John and I have chosen a slightly different way of life to many expats: we don’t live in the campo and we don’t live on the coast in a large development, instead we live in town within a mainly Spanish community.  In fact we once asked a group of neighbours how many “ingleses” lived in the centre of town and the answer was “dos” as they pointed to the two of us.

I hope that you will enjoy reading about the ups and downs of living in the “real” Spain as much as we are enjoying our new life here.