Garrucha: Swimming!

No, not us. But the consistently 70 + degree F weather we’ve had since we arrived convinced someone to enjoy the water today.

Garrucha and Mojácar are only about 7 km apart and have similar populations of about 6000 people, but you could hardly find two towns that physically look more different on a map. Mojácar has an intricate street plan typical of towns established during the years of Muslim rule, where nothing meets at right angles. In Garrucha, on the other hand, almost every street looks like it was drawn by a ruler. Garrucha actually was a Muslim village at one time, but that village was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1518. It was then rebuilt, flourishing first as a fishing village, and later becoming the port for the silver and iron mines located just inland from here. Like Agua Amarga, it had a 700 meter aerial cable that was used to transport the iron ore to ships. The cable and its support towers are all gone now, but the port is still active. We saw ships anchored just offshore waiting to take the place of the cargo ship that we watched being escorted out of the harbor yesterday.

Tomorrow: walking to Vera.Read more