La Alberca

Spanish writer Federico Garcia Lorca once said: “In Spain, the dead are more alive than the dead in any other country in the world.”

Thus far, this has been the truth. You cannot walk too far in Spain without coming upon a monument to a writer, the old convent of a saint, the house of a famous politician, or the ruins of an ancient culture. There are monuments abounding in Spain, but, perhaps there is not better historical ambience than that which is found in the mountain town of La Alberca.

Located in the northern slopes of the Sierra de Francia, La Alberca is a quiet mountain village with uneven, narrow roads, a small city square and a peaceful quiet that fills her streets. La Alberca is best known as one of the typical small towns that were popular in the Spanish past but are few and far between these days.

Houses are still kept up with great care in the appropriate architecture. Flower boxes grace every balcony and the gong of the church bells still serves as the town’s main time piece. In the shops, open canvas bags of dried peppers, beans and spices create a mixed aroma, inviting shoppers to scoop the appropriate amount into their plastic bags. Life just seems simpler in the mountain town.

By the church in La Alberca there is a statue of a pig that commemorates a tradition that continues to this day. In July, a pig is let loose through the town and it wanders the streets, being fed by different families each night, until in January it is awarded to a lucky family who promptly butchers and eats the pig. This tradition mixed with the current mass production of pork, evident in the crowded Jamonerías, creates a feeling of being in two worlds at once: both the present and the past.

According to Lorca, nowhere is history more alive than in Spain. And according to La Alberca, nowhere is Spanish history more alive than in the streets of their small town.