Yesterday’s drive to Barlovento was very nice, even though we didn’t go for the best of reasons (see previous post.) We got to the local police station, and found it shut. So we popped into the bar and had a coffee and a nibble. Then Theresa remembered that the insurance firm had given her a photocopied list with all the phone numbers for all the police stations on the island….
So I finished my day’s work and waved Helena and Theresa off. Then at half-past nine, they phoned to say, “HELP!” There they were, driving peacefully towards home, when a sizeable rock detached itself from the side of the cutting and leapt towards them, screaming “Banzai!” It bounced on the other side of the road and rolled to a halt just half a metre in front of the bumper. Of…
Customer at Barlovento petrol station. Photo: Theresa My friends from Franceses stopped off at Barlovento petrol station, and saw this man chatting to another customer. Yes, that’s a live parrot on his shoulder. Mind you, there used to be quite a lot of pirates around La Palma.
Sunday was busy. I left home with my son at 10 am to go to Puntagorda, so he could have a go on the Karts. Sadly, it turned out to be a demonstration of Karts, and he couldn’t have a go himself. So I took one very disappointed kid off to lunch at my friend’s house on the edge of the village. It was a nice lunch, with better company….
Yup, it’s silly. The original battle involved something like 80,000 men, which is almost the population of the whole island. So I was expecting a cut-down version. Heck, Shakespeare did battles by having one man come on stage and say, “Imagine the battle…” So Barlovento had a rather good toy castle with about 12 visible defenders, and the sultan gave a speech about the original battle. Then a ship came…
Lepanto is the Italian name for the Greek port of Naupaktos, where a famous naval battle took place in 1571 in which a coalition of Christians trounced the Ottoman Empire. (Actually, there were also battles in 1499 and 1500, but since the Europeans lost to the Turks, we tend to quietly forget them.) And for some reason they stage a re-enactment in Barlovento, every two years, as part of the…