Zahínos 2008
When we go to Extremadura, we stay mainly in my mother-in-law's hometown of Higuera de la Serena (Fig Tree of the Serene). But we also always visit my father-in-law's hometown of Zahínos. Higuera de la Serena is a very small town, but most of the people we see there have moved away to the Basque Country and are visiting on vacation like we are. So, despite the size of the town, Higuera de la Serena feels more urban because of the people there. But Zahínos is still full of the rural people that have always lived there, so Zahínos really feels like a small town. Marga's uncle, íngel, after suffering three heart attacks, no longer works, accepting a social security check and spending his days renovating his house and working on his farm. And, because it's small town Spain, the thought of íngel's wife or two daughters ever having a job has never occurred to anyone. So things are reeeally laid back, since the family members we visit there are all on permanent vacation. The most interesting thing we ever do there is go to íngel's farm.
During the two-hour drive from Higuera de la Serena to Zahínos, we pass right through a vineyard that stretches from horizon to horizon.
The pigs rush to the gate because they know what's coming.
íngel dumps watermelon rinds to the pigs. He claims that this is pretty much all they eat.
Oink oink. Snuffle snuffle. Pigs eat very...vigorously.
So would these be pork rinds? I crack myself up.
He's got turkeys too.
Gobble gobble.
A circular well with a rectangular wall.
The way we go to íngel's farm is in his backseatless truck. This year it was my turn to be in the back.
We were there for the annual town festival in Zahínos. The only real event we saw was the Ribbon Race. The event consists of riding a horse at full gallop under a bar upon which ribbons tied to metal rings hang. The competitors have to stick a pencil-sized stick through the metal ring, capturing a ribbon as they gallop by. Needless to say, this is very difficult. There are quite a few residents of Zahínos with some excellent equestrian skills. It was very fun to watch. I tried for some action shots right by the ribbons, but I ended up with 15 photos of the ribbons and the sky. Not a single horse. Let's just say the iPhone isn't for photographing fast things.
"Whoa!!" They use that word in Spanish, too. Although I guess it would be spelled guo. You can see the ribbons there on the left.
He looks like he's in a hurry to go write something.
Afterwards we went for some drinks. There were several "parked" horses at the bar saloon.
Fried frog legs. Pretty good food. I don't eat much amphibian.