Wisteria, Acequias y el Huerto de Carlos

The profanity post is taking a back seat for a bit, proving to be more difficult than expected. It's in the making but I'm still trying to figure out the right approach. It might be one of the posts that I'll have to turn on that "adult content" setting in blogger when published.

In the meantime we'd like to share a few more Spain experiences with you...

We walk by Wisteria Wall every day.

As the the sun becomes more intense and her heat mixes with all the scents of our barrio, we close our eyes and experience la primavera in southern Spain, through our noses. They are stimulated by the sweet smells of Wisteria wafting up the narrow cobblestone paths. When we walk down to the market around 11am the warm air has begun to rise, making its way up the Albaycin. At many corners we stop in our tracks because the aroma engulfs us. This smell is so sweet you can taste it on your tongue. It's like lavender-infused honey.

When we ride or hike above the Alhambra the heat brings out the earth smell of the freshly tilled, red soil around the olive trees. It smells so good you want to do a face plant into it.

This acequia flows down from the Sierras into the Alhambra.

And the crystal clean snow melt from the Sierras rushing down the acequias, Arab irrigation channels dug centuries ago, is so fresh that you wish you could drink it forever (you could drink from the high mtn. acequias but not near the Alhambra). Here are a few that we found on some of our hikes outside of the city.


It's amazing how much effort has gone into these natural gravity flow systems. They are essentially found in every main canyon coming out of the snowy mountains down to Granada. The main acequia that provided water for the various sultan families originates 6km. above Granada. This acequia and a few others provided water for the working people of Granada living below the fortress as well, including the people of the Albaycin. There is even a "ditch" located near the Generalife called the "Sultan's Royal Ditch". Here's a clip for your viewing pleasure of our little adventure in the Alhambra and Generalife gardens.
                                      
The Generalife are the spectacular, fantasyland gardens above the Alhambra fortress where the sultans were able to just get away from it all (we all now how sultan life can be so taxing at times) and romp in nature, fall into a meditative state while gazing into the glass reflections of elaborate water passageways and bubbling fountains and simply contemplate how to become closer to their divine Allah.

This is an acequia we found above La Zubia. We decided to take a look inside and Myles and Owen ran down the hill inside it exiting covered in spider webs. Good thing the flood gates weren't open up above.

Long ago before advanced methods of dispersing water in the city were constructed, water flowed down into the city via the acequias and was stored in structures called aljibes. Imagine carrying your water jugs everyday to your local aljibe to gather water for the day. This is the aljibe located in front of Myles and Owen's school. Now it's a play structure for the kids.

Here's a link if you're interested in seeing some other aljibes in Granada.  They are all strategically located around the Albaycin.

http://www.granadatur.com/en/routes/theme-routes/arab-water-tanks-aljibes-in-the-albaicin/

The Arabs had a thing for water. Well, you can imagine, coming from the dry desert, that water was king for them and they settled around it as well as went to war for it...similar to what we might do someday instead of oil...good thing we live by one of the largest fresh water lakes back home (except for the fact that everybody and their dog will invade us when it all goes down).

A pick-up game on level V - Owen is the little guy.

Moving in a different direction...You may recall that we live by a park called the Huerto de Carlos. I don't know who Carlos is or was but if he influenced the construction of the parking structure underneath the park, I bow down to him. If it weren't for Carlos our kids wouldn't have a park anywhere near our apartment and we'd have less funds than we already do because we'd be going out on the town more than we already do. Here's a little history of the huerto and how it pertains to Chisholm life in Granada...

The underground parking structure below was a great idea. There is little or no parking here in the Albaycin, another genius idea, in addition to excellent public transit, that forces you to choose a car-free life. I don't like to be forced to do anything, but I'm ok with this ultimatum. The underground garage construction left quite an eye sore above ground and within a short amount of time a park was born.

Let's talk about the intricacies of this park.

There are five levels. The level you choose to go to on any particular day is highly dependent upon your time frame, emotional and intellectual state of mind, clothing, creativity and more.

 Levels I, II, and III of the Huerto (left to right)

Level I:

The lowest level in the park. This is where all the absolutely adorable Spanish and international children play. There is a slide and climbing structure, fountain and teeter totters. You're always safe here and are guaranteed to see someone you know (so be prepared to have to socialize). This is where all the cumples (birthday parties) happen where you can generally set up some food and drink without getting raided by the hippies.

Level II:

If you frequent this level you are perhaps the intellectual type or in love, bringing your novel, artist tools to sketch the vista of the Alhambra, your SLR camera, your notepad to write down your thoughts or poetry, your clarinet or guitar practicing your scales, jazz-infused flamenco or oldies but goodies like the Beatles greatest (and if so, everyone in the huerto eventually joins in singing and gathers around if you're a good musician). You may also desire to experience coolness via osmosis and look hip by simply being present at this level. You will leave after a few hours feeling quite beatnik.

Level III:

This is one step up towards the main level of the park (level IV) in both elevation and riesgo. Right now as I type this there is a nice Indian/Arabic style of music being played. There are always, always, always drums and usually a couple guitars and perhaps a reed instrument. So far, there has only been one night where I cursed the musicians but I think his inability to hold a tune had a bit to do with his consumption of altering substances.

Level IV of the Huerto

Level IV: This is where it all goes down beginning around 14h to 16h lasting until after midnight during the week and 2-3 am on weekends. Our living room window looks directly out to this level. Often times if I have the windows open and I'm cooking dinner people ask what we're eating and if they can join us. The boys like to stand on the balcony, eat pipas, spitting the shells onto the cobblestone street below and watch it all. It's pure entertainment. There are musicians, jugglers of all sorts (flames, pinballs, balls, etc.), poi performers, dogs and more dogs (which usually leads to a dog fight eventually - we all know which dogs are the problematic canines), lots of dreads and people putting beads in others' dreads, hippies bathing in the fountain, oh, and did I say great music? And of course, there are the alternating substances which generally are fairly natural with many, many 40 ouncers. Did I mask that enough so that only the adults know what I'm saying?

Level V of the Huerto

Level V: Myles and Owen spend most of their time here. This is the physical activity level and every day, multiple times a day, you can get yourself in a game of futbol, with players young and old. The only issue is if you wait until later in the day, after the crayola men have raked the earth/sand mixture, and picked up the botellón, you have to be strategic in your moves, avoiding the mierda del perro. 

I'll leave you with a couple videos of recent activity in the huerto and a few quotes.

                                    

                                    

"All you have is lame Led Zeppelin. I want something fresh."

"¡Hombre, estáis enamorados!"

"¡But mom, that's how Spaniards eat!"

"¡Pero mamá, queremos ser españoles!"

"And if it's a bad word, don't blame me 'cause that's what my friends told me and YOU brought me to Spain!"

"Do lunchboxes exist in Spain?"

"There's so many cool things on these streets."

"Go chuche, go chuche, go chuche, go guche..." (danced with arms raised in the ceiling pushing motion)