"Mañana" - The Andalucia Guide & Diary

Ronda to Tolox - the 4 x 4 way

Driving home today was an adventure. I took my tonka toy style 4 x 4 truck from Ronda to Tolox without using a single road! 
Amazing, cut into the mountainside, across the Sierra de las Nieves natural park, are a network of tracks that cover hundreds of kilometres.
It was over 40 km from Torrecilla to Tolox and it took in some superb vistas from some an exceptionally privelidged view point. After a day of serious hiking, it was a luxury to cruise in style in my gas gussler and take in the views without getting any blisters or sunburn.

The routes are really well maintained - and as we were driving through we saw environment department staff maintaining the forests minimising fire rosk - looks like Andalucia is no longer taking it natural environment for granted.

We ended up in Tolox and joined the normal road at the Amargosa Spa / Balnario
- the spa health resort dating back to the last century. The natural, mineral spa waters are collected and given to clients as steam and baths...it's that whole sulphorous, magnesium thing goin' on...

Renewable Renovations

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Andalucia Burning

Warm, dry winds from North Africa are hitting southern Andalucia. Overhead gantry signs on the motorways warn passing drivers "No tire sus colillas. Alta riesgo de incendio" (never throw out your cigarette butts. High risk of Fire) as the warm winds make the countryside extremely vulnerable to fire. 2005 was devastating for Spain, with its extreme draught.  2006 was less so, yet still saw huges expances of countryside lost to fire. Risk comes in many forms - new roads bringing people into once isolated areas, campers, electrical storms and of course arsonists.  2006 saw huge expanses of the north west of Spain lost to fire, destroying homes, lifestock, timber plantations and natural parks. It was later discovered that most of these devasting fires were set deliberately by fire fighters!  Why you may ask.  Well, last year saw Asturias and other autonomous areas renegotiating expensive overtime and weekend rates for fire fighters. Cuts were made to teams that worked to protect the forests. In anger and as an illustration of their importance, firefighters started to set fires in the dry, oil laden eucolyptas forests that soon spread across huge areas, destroying homesteads, and even claiming lives. Needless to say, the issue of correctly funding fire fighting in the countryside became headline news across Spain.

Last week I was up in Gaucin, searching properties for my HomeFinder Service, when from the terrace we viewed a small fire that within minutes engulfed a huge amount of land. The warm breeze drove the huge flames further and further up the mountain.

I had viewed this dramatic blaze from the shaded and scented terrace of a finca home on the edge of Gaucin. In true Andalucian style, a formal viewing of a property had evolved into an informal boozy lunch. The owner is a genuinely talented painter, part of the artisan community in this area. There are plenty of wannabees, but there there are also plenty of real artists, like my host.

We left the table to watch in horror and amazement as the blaze took hold. Calls were made to the fire brigade.   Trucks, land rovers, helicopters and planes all arrived, but not before hundreds of hectares had been lost. Remarkably, the house in the centre of the blaze was saved, and many of the ancient cork oak trees seemed to have some natural defence that saved some as flames licked by.

Earlier in the month I had seen the full speed at which the Junta de Andalucia can respond to the threat of fire.  In Ronda a small fire had broken out at a country finca neighbouring patched fields.  Quickly the air and land teams assembled and put the blaze out in a less than an hour - impressive action.

Sadly, more and more often, these fires are set deliberately.  It was later discovered that the Gaucin blaze was started by a a angry Brit, settling score with a local land owner.  How much more will be accept to see Andalucia burning like this?

Green with rage!

Those that know me will recognise that I am my no means an eco-warrior. I love cars, motorways, air travel and all the conveniences and luxuries of modern life too much to really have any credibility as a true eco-warrior.
Yet that doesn’t mean I don’t care about the environment in which we live.
I am now going to start a rant – so be warned this blog entry is long and fiery and I hope it motivates people to enter into some form of debate here in sleepy Andalucia.
My attitude to the environment as changed since I began my new life in Spain. It probably sounds inconsistent, but since the environment here is so different for me, somehow exotic, I notice more the impact of its destruction. Seeing a lush green field in England turned into a supermarket didn’t really have much resonance for me – well, there are plenty of fields, right? I realised how flawed that argument was when I moved here. I could see the exceptional speed with which land is eaten by construction every year, with little thought about planning, architecture, sustainability or aesthetics.Andalucia, I believe is an interesting case study for challenges to control the impact of urbanisation. Firstly, historically it has been the one of the poorest parts Spain, so welcomes development and the jobs and wealth they create with open arms. Secondly, the area, sadly, is less sophisticated in terms of social democratic structures, so the autonomous government, the local town halls, the judicial system and the independent tribunals etc, are all somewhat badly run, ineffective and prone to corruption. In a country with a young democracy, there are few effective checks and balances. Thirdly, you have a population of relaxed, laid back Andalucians that really don’t like conflict – when things go wrong, they are more willing to accept it than to challenge it. In the UK, when things go wrong, it mobilises debate in the media, amongst individuals in the pub and sometimes brings people out onto the street. That’s not often the case here.That’s why the operation here in Marbella against corruption is so interesting and so important. It shows that the tide is turning against the madness in construction in Southern Spain. Marbella is a beautiful part of the world and the environmental cost of the corruption in urban planning is not as bad as it could have been. Hotels, office blocks and homes have been built illegally with the support of the former corrupt town hall, accepting exceptional amounts of bribes from developers and land owners, together with the complicit support of the regional government, the Junta de Andalucia. Yet luckily the city still remains a beautiful place.
However, across the coast in just the few years I have lived here, I have seen the price of the appalling mess in Andalucian town planning. My favourite beach in Cadiz province, Bolonia, near Tarifa, with its stunning Roman ruins spill down onto the broad golden beaches, has been scarred by a huge concrete bunker that the Junta de Andalucía wanted as a “visitor centre”. Nothing was done to stop it. Then over time, the surfing community, the locals and the foreigners that loved the area mobilised popular opinion against it. President Chavas of Andalucia finally agreed to halt construction, but now this ugly, half finished hulk just lies dead amongst the sand dunes of Bolonia. The same is true of another half finished, illegal “visitor centre” amongst the ancient pines on the road from the Med up to Ronda. What madness?!
Closer to home, in Manilva the ancient vineyards that date back to Roman times have been butchered by the construction of illegal luxury holiday homes. Luckily, here too the corruption has been uncovered and construction stopped. In fact some of the homes are been knocked down as a signal to developers and investors that things much change; but this was only possible since the homes were not sold. Once foreigners have bought the holiday homes, it is almost impossible for the land to be recovered, as the impact on the holiday home market would be immense if people were to start to lose their homes without adequate compensation.For me the most depressing example so far of the madness in planning here is in the natural park of Cabo de Gata in Almeria. Yesterday we came back from Almeria, where we are spending more time, as Rafa is working there once a week. We explored more of the stunning Costa de Almeria, with its unique Cabo de Gata Natural Park. Yet, as we drove south through stunning scenery we were abruptly greeted by a huge concrete pyramid – a structure of over 20 stories high, starting from less that 50 metres from the beach, climbing right up the mountainside. This was a huge hotel under construction, within the natural park!
Can Spain really be trusted with its Mediterranean coastline? As members of the European Union, this is a part of Europe. This stunning coast is unique in the entire Mediterranean, and should be protected for all to enjoy – yet here was see a monstrous structure, blatantly contrary to all planning laws.
I was in shock. I wanted to find out more.  There is little public debate about these issues here in Andalucia. People have worked and lived on the land and for most, it is just a resource. Just as say a former Rover car worker probably has little nostalgia or feeling for the old Longbridge factory in Birmingham. It’s just a work place – nothing more.
I believe though, that the countryside has to be afforded some protection. There is enough space in Andalucia to easily accommodate the huge demand for holiday homes, hotels and new communities – it just has to be zoned. Somehow people have to be educated that the land, once destroyed, cannot be restored. Unlike a historic factory or mill that has fallen into disrepair, a carved up mountain side can never be restored to its former glory.
The huge hotel in the Cabo de Gata Natural Park is called “Algarrobico” and is slowly becoming the symbol of the fight here in Spain against corruption in town planning. “Amigos del parque natural de Cabo de Gata” are an eco group that has taken the battle to Europe. The local town halls and the Junta de Andalucia are so corrupt and out of control, that Brussels is now looking at the issue.
“La corrupcion urbanistica empieza a manchar la imagen de Espana”, reads the first line of a report in the group’s newsletter. Basically, the Friends of the Natural Park are highlighting how Spain’s image in Europe is being stained through the illegitimacy of its town halls. International bodies such as Transparency International see that corruption in Spain’s town halls and especially those in Andalucía is almost out of control. Democracy is young here and the generation that lived off the land and lived under Franco are still alive. So the challenges to build a transparent and accountable regional and local government system are hard. Transforming poor communities through cheap, profitable construction is far more seductive.
The illiterate, unemployed and disenfranchised in the country villages of Andalucia seem unable to comprehend the negative impact of the Junta de Andalusia’s flawed policies - or at least seem powerless to stop it.. Andalucia still has some amazing natural and cultural heritage that attracts high net worth tourists that are essential to the region's diversification away from the kiss-me-quick holiday makers that come to eat egg and chips in the sun.

Wake up Andalucia, or soon it will be too late!

If like me you want to do something about this – then make a donation to the Friends of Cabo de Gata Natural Park, by visiting their website at www.cabodegata.net

(newspaper clippings image taken from www.cabodegata.net site)