Category Archives: Felanitx

The Massive Downpour of 1989

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In early September 1989, twenty-three years ago last week, the South-East of the island was surprised by a ferocious Gota Fría, bringing torrential rain and utter devastation with it. Entire stretches of road were swept away, trees were uprooted by the thousands and dragged away, three people were killed when a hotel basement in Portocolom was flooded, hundreds of animals drowned and chaos ensued everywhere. The area around Felanitx and Cas Concos des Cavaller was declared a disaster zone and Reina Sofía (the Spanish Queen) flew in from Madrid to visit the affected area and talk to some of the victims. Rain fell at 06h00 in the morning at a rate of 125 litres per square metre within just 30 minutes. That’s about the same amount of rainfall that one could have expected to fall in one whole year. I had never seen or lived through anything like it in all my life, nor had most Mallorcans.

You may know the mountain of San Salvador, the Felanitx monastery. Believe me if I tell you that twelve rivers originated from that one mountain (many of you would call it a mere hill, at 510 m of altitude) after that rain. One of these rivers passed through Cas Concos, demolished an old country stone bridge and took oak trees of a considerable age with its raging force all the way to the beach of Es Trenc, some 29 kilometres away. Ten days later, no rivers were left, only torrentes, dry riverbeds.

Today’s photo shows the external wall of the Felanitx cemetery. This cemetery filled up, then, like a swimming pool until the Marès built walls could not contain the masses of water any longer nor support the water’s weight. The very walls shown in the picture collapsed in the process and an avalanche of mud and debris swept onto the surrounding fields, including the corpses of four recently buried people. The cemetery of s’Horta was similarly wrecked.

I’m telling you all this because now is the time of the year when the Gota Fría might visit this island. Be alert.

The photo was taken in Felanitx, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: July 23rd, 2012. The time was 13:23:37.

The Balearic Mountain Championship

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The annual car race up the Sant Salvador mountain near Felanitx is the fourth out of six races making up the Campeonato de Baleares de Montaña 2012 (Balearic Mountain Championship). So far, races were held to Valldemossa, to Monte Toro and to the Castell de Son Mas in Andratx. After Felanitx, two more races remain in this year’s competition, up to Puig Major (October 6th-7th) and to Cala de Sant Vicenç (October 20th-21st).

Tomorrow, September 1st, will be a day of training sessions, starting at 16h30. The proper race will be held on Sunday, September 2nd, at 09h30. Thirty cars have registered to compete here in Felanitx. And the winner is …..

The photo was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of mallorcarallye.com.

Muchas gracias.

The Day When Felanitx Is Ruled By The Penyas

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Today, the town of Felanitx is celebrating its patron saint day, the Festes de Sant Agustí. Every year, August 28th turns into a bit of a bit of a pandemonium here, partly because there is a lot of drinking Pomada and other alcoholic beverages and partly because on this day, Felanitx is really ruled by the Penyas.

There are a number of penyas in Felanitx, perhaps six or eight, but El Cosso is the original Felanitx Penya and by far the biggest. The symbol of El Cosso is Sa Kika, a live domestic cock, carefully carried round the vila in a small cage placed on a velvet cushion. For the last thirty years, there used to be a bullfight on this saint’s day in Felanitx, where the Cosso made a noisy appearance, but not any longer. There are no more bullfights in Felanitx.

Last year, there was an incidence after the church mass, when local dignitaries and politicians from Palma were reputedly harassed by some local Penya youths. A local police officer saw fit to use some teargas much to the surprise of onlookers. The disturbance ended in court and a number of rather draconian sentences were handed out to a dozen youths of 5,000 € each. It is rumoured that the Palma elite will not make an appearance at today’s church service which would really give the local Penyas the upper hand.

Tonight at 21h30, a Correfoc will be run from Plaça Santa Margalida to Plaça Pax. See you there, perhaps?

The photos (top and centre) were taken in Felanitx, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: August 28th, 2012. The time was 10:37:25 and 09:41:39, respectively. The photo (bottom) was chosen from my archive. It was taken in Felanitx, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: August 28th, 2011. The time was 09:10:47.

Cool in the Pool

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You may be surprised when I tell you that we do not possess a swimming pool. We had guests staying with us the other day, for a week or so. Friends of theirs, who were here on holiday, were aghast to hear they stayed with us in a house without a piscina. The truth is that I would quite like to have a cooling-off swim basin but my wife is not in favour of my idea. You may also be shocked to hear that we don’t have air-conditioning in our house, either. I am totally against the environmental insanity and the harmful effect of air-conditioning, health-wise. Luckily my wife agrees with me on that one. Okay, it is hot out there right now, I grant you that. But temperatures will drop within a week or two; so, what’s the big deal? We keep our shutters shut all day long, and there is always a slight breeze and sufficient circulation of air in the house.

As for swimming: there is a large municipal piscina less than a mile down the road from our house with two large pools, a jacuzzi, a steam room and a sauna. And even better, there is the sea less than twenty minutes from here, by car, with two dozen bays and coves and beaches within half an hour’s drive, and some 250 beaches in Mallorca, all told. Would you rather swim in the pool or would you rather float in the Mediterranean Sea? That’s an easy answer, I would have thought.

The photo was taken near s’Alquería Blanca, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: August 22nd, 2012. The time was 22:40:14.

A Screech, a Bang And a Spin

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Last night, having just finished a latish supper, our son was waiting for a friend to arrive. They were ready to go to some verbenas in Montuïri, a pueblo half an hour’s down the road from Felanitx. Suddenly we heard a screeching noise and a bang. Our daughter wondered if it was a fire cracker. Then the phone rang. It was our son’s friend, saying that he had just been involved in a car accident. We went out immediately, because the accident scene appeared to have been just down the road from our house judging by the bang that we had heard.

As accidents go, this luckily seems to have been a minor one. Even though there was considerable damage to both cars – one of them spun out of control and came to a halt only inches from a shop front – there was no serious personal injury as there might have easily been. Yes, our son’s friend was shocked and appeared bewildered by the force of the impact; he had also suffered bruises to his shoulder from the seat belt. The municipal police arrived at the scene within minutes, and a few moments later, the Tráfico (Traffic Police). Measurements were taken of skid marks and distances to stop signs, and alcohol tests were administered with breathalyzers; both drivers’ samples proved negative. Our son’s friend was then taken to the medical centre for further tests of a possible whiplash injury. No verbenas for him tonight. We hope he’ll be alright.

The photo was taken in Felanitx, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: August 18th, 2012. The time was 22:51:53.

Coca de Albaricoques

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I know, I have left this a bit late as we now are at the tail end of the apricot season but, still. You must try one of the delights of Mallorcan pastry marvels, the Coca de Albaricoques before the Summer is over. This pastry is one of the most common traditional Mallorcan sweets and is usually made with fresh apricots. As the apricot season is no longer than ten weeks, fresh apricots can also be frozen to be used for the Coca de Albaricoques later in the year. Don’t use the dried variety.

Here is what you need to make and bake a Coca de Albaricoques: 1/2 cup of milk, 1/2 cup of olive oil, 1 cup of sugar, 4 eggs, 250 gr white flower, 1/2 package of baking powder, 10 or 12 apricots. If you want to do the Coca de Albaricoques the authentic way, you would also include small pieces of Sobrassada but, you would be forgiven if you didn’t.

The photo (top) was taken in Felanitx, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: June 24th, 2012. The time was 11:26:51. The photo (bottom) was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of riquisimas-recetas.blogspot.com.es.

Muchas gracias.

A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed

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Yesterday, I was reporting on the pneumatic collection of household refuse in the island capital, Palma. In country properties up and down Mallorca there is a different problem, that of wastewater and its reclamation. In the countryside, you would normally not have a communal or municipal conveying system of ducts or channels to collect fecal waste. It is rather a matter of each one to his (or her) own. Country properties would have a private septic tank or pozo negro on their property, usually a construction of three inter-connected chambers with the last one allowing the waste liquid to flow or leak slowly through porous material or small holes. The non-liquid stuff hardens with time and fills up over the years. Friends of ours had the need to have their septic tank emptied yesterday and, luckily, the friendly set-up of Limpiezas Toni & Jaime S.L. was available and willing to come and do an emergency suck-away job. It took them less than 30 minutes to empty the full septic waste tank. I don’t know where they take the fecal waste matter but I suppose it will be to a municipal treatment facility. The charge was 120 € in case you should be interested.

There may well be an economic crisis here in Spain but, believe it or not, there is enough waste matter around to make a living for the likes of Toni and Jaime. Their job may get a bit smelly but perhaps one can get used to the odors.

The photos were taken near Felanitx, Mallorca. The date: August 9th, 2012. The time was 13:40:54 and 13:41:34, respectively.

A Tale of Two Moons

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I like the Mallorcan moon. To me the presence of the moon, and in particular that of the Full Moon, is one of utter beauty and poise not often seen in Northern Europe.

You may have seen the Full Moon last night. There was nothing special about that; after all we have a Full Moon every 29.5 days. But wait, August 2012 is one of those rare months with two Full Moons. There will be a second Full Moon on August 31st, 2012.

Yesterday’s Full Moon was not what you might call a Blue Moon but the second Full Moon this month will be called that. When people use the expression once in a blue moon they are referring to the rarity of the occurrence of a second moon happening in the same given month.

The photo was taken in Felanitx, Mallorca. The date: August 2nd, 2012. The time was 23:42:34.

Twelve Olives at the End of Sant Jaume

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The Festes de Sant Jaume are celebrated every year on July 25th. Sant Jaume is the same as San Jaime in Spain and Santiago or Santo Xacobeo in Galícia. In Mallorca, the saint is acclaimed in pueblos such as Alcúdia, Algaïda, Binissalem, Calvià, Portocolom, Santanyí and Sa Pobla. In most of these places, festivities start a week or so before the saint’s day and they might conclude a few days after.

Last night, the town of Santanyí celebrated the end of its Festes de Sant Jaume with an act called Tic-Tac which was dedicated to the young population of the municipality, starting at 23h00. At the stroke of midnight, Sant Jaume‘s celebrations were concluded with everybody present eating 12 olives to the strokes of the church bells.

The custom dates back a few hundred years when everyone in Mallorca ate 12 olives at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. Olives were a staple food here on the island, as they still are to this day. The customary 12 grapes at midnight had not cottoned on here as it had in mainland Spain or as it has now.

To my knowledge no other pueblo in Mallorca upholds the old tradition of eating 12 olives, neither at the occasion of New Year’s Eve nor at Sant Jaume‘s. Should you happen to know better, please let me know.

The photo was taken in Felanitx, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: July 28th, 2012. The time was 18:33:28.

The Other Half

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The other day, a commemorative act was held in Portocolom to mark the 90th anniversary of the foundation of Spain’s first civil school for amphibian planes, the Escuela de Hidroaviación Civil. The occasion was reason enough for the President of the Consell de Mallorca, Maria Salom Coll, to descend upon this Eastern harbour town together with a few mandarins in her entourage. The festive act with self-important speeches by the political class was marred by a cacophony of ear-piercing whistles, shouting and booing by up to a hundred mostly young protesters. The audience attending was clearly divided into two groups of pretty equal numbers. The scene was a fair mirror image of today’s society in Spain and more to the point, Mallorca. La Crisis in Spain and here on the island seems to be affecting one half of the population whilst the other half happily pursues a routine of daily life as if everything were normal. I was shocked to see how seemingly far removed the political class present in Portocolom appeared from half their populace. They were all smiling and irritatingly cheerful, totally ignorant of the motives of the protesters who appeared to belong to the 21.3 % (24.6 % in all of Spain) of unemployed, or rather, 48 % in the case of youngsters under the age of 35, which seemed about the age range of the whistlers.

Massive protests have been seen frequently over the last six months wherever the president of the Govern Balear or his counterpart at the Consell de Mallorca made public appearances, either in Sa Pobla, Inca, Felanitx, Sóller, Andratx or Muro. Political decisions effecting cuts and changes in education, language, the health system, paired with effects of inflation, unemployment, taxation and dispossession have caused a lot of ill will amongst many citizens that the ruling body shrugs off without any further discussion. The argument goes like this ‘We have been elected with a majority and will now do as we please‘. A pity though that half the adult citizens did not vote Conservative and seem to feel utterly misrepresented.

It appears only fitting that just two days earlier, the government in Madrid had set up a new Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (Ministry of Homeland Security). I think that sooner or later the street protests in Spain will not be restricted to mere whistling.

The photo was taken in Portocolom, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: July 25th, 2012. The time was 19:27:48.