Above the Río Poqueira: Moving day

We were sad to leave Cańar today, especially after last night‘s rehearsal for tonight’s concert. Ned’s comments from the point of view of a former conductor of a volunteer orchestra: They were great! The soloist, chorus, and chamber ensemble sounded professional and so well balanced.

We had time before we left for a long conversation with Robin, the owner of our apartment. He left Scotland 15 years ago and has lived in several villages in the Alpujarra since then. He told us that the water we saw coming over Dique 24 yesterday was very unusual for this time of year. Dramatic flooding occurred last month along with heavy winds. Many trees came down in the steep barranco, and the course of the river was actually changed!

As for moving to our next spot, it’s a good thing Ramón offered to pick us up in Cáñar. We’d never have found Casa Walhalla on our own. Even though we have cycled within a kilometer of here twice on our mountain bike trips, we have never been aware of the wild depth of the Poqueira Valley that was just south of our route. I have a feeling that it is going to be quite a challenge to explore.

Ramón and Michelle moved from the Netherlands to this remote spot far from any village two years ago. They have put all their effort into improving the buildings that were falling apart, creating a vegetable garden, nurturing fruit and nut trees, and being good stewards of the land. Ramón gave us a tour of the property. It’s so steep, all I could think of was why didn’t I grab my hiking poles before we started out! Luckily Ramón and Ned kept me from stumbling over the edge.

When we told Ramón that we were very interested in the numerous acequias around here, his whole face lit up. He said he loves being part of the acequia system! All the farmers in this area who use water from the acequias are obligated to work on the spring cleaning of the channel. Ramón said the first time he did it, it gave him goosebumps because it connected him so closely to a history that extends back more than 1000 years and because it is such a uniquely communal effort. Farmers are assessed the number of days they must work on cleaning crews by how much land they have. Ramón has a relatively small piece and must volunteer to work one day each year. His neighbor just below has a much larger plot of land and owes five days each year. If a farmer doesn’t work his required number of days on a cleaning crew, he must pay €60 for each day missed so that someone else can be hired to do the job.

Ramón is at the end of a branch of the acequia so he gets as much water as he wants whenever he wants it. But others closer to the source have an assigned day and time when they can lift the gate to allow the water into their land. So you could be assigned, for example, every Wednesday from 2 AM until 6 AM. Then you would have to get up in the middle of the night to lift your gate.

Ramón’s acequia was dry today, he explained, because just as the big storm last month rerouted the Rio Chico near Cáñar, it also changed the course of the Río Poqueira that this acequia is channeled off of. Now the beginning of the acequia is no longer connected to the river, and no water is flowing into it. This is a huge problem for all the farmers downstream on this acequia. Ramón doesn’t yet know what they are going to do about it.Læs mere