Story of the Month September 2003 from Spanishforum.org: "I didn't know I would have to speak Spanish."

I had agreed to come to the Costa del Sol under the impression that I was going to experience a holiday akin to the 18-30 type holidays! (which was what I wanted.) A friend of mine said she had a house near Malaga and I had visions of Torremolinos or Marbella but little did I know that she lived in a “real” Spanish village, where I would have to speak Spanish! The village in question was Iznate and when I arrived eleven years ago Iznate was home to just a few foreigners.

At that time there were only four bars in the village and though this should be enough for any young woman to entertain herself in, I wanted a hundred! And I wanted young, tanned Spanish men in every one of them, not old toothless dwarves. My friend who owned the house in the village quite rightly tried to ensure we didn’t cause too much of a scandal and kept us out of the really male dominated bars, but the first night in the local discotheque changed all that. Here were young tanned dark- eyed men and I was in seventh heaven because they all wanted to talk to me!

I had the time of my life. It took me all week just to be able to say hola, instead of the olé which kept coming out of my mouth. I had to learn a few words of Spanish, as there was no-one there who spoke English and I had to be able to communicate with that gorgeous Spanish Man!

There was no going back for me after this, I did return to England at the end of that week, but only just - because I nearly missed the bus that was taking us back to the airport! However I was smitten, and not just with that Spanish Man but with the village itself. I came back and back and back, it was as if I had finally found my resting place. It felt more like home than home did.

If you asked me why, I wouldn’t really know what to say because how can you describe the feelings that are evoked by looking out over the Sierra Tejeda Mountains at sunset, the gap in those mountains leading to the province of Granada which provides such a feeling of enormity and space. How do you explain to people the passion that was awakened in me by the honest talk of the villagers, the discussions that go round in circles and never end but at least they are talking to each other! How they don’t mind telling the truth.

To start with, I hated the fact that all the Spaniards I met would comment on my increasing weight gain over the years (not that I hadn’t noticed it myself!). But then why shouldn’t they because after all, you can’t hide these things however hard you try! And the good thing is I know my Spanish family and friends will not have said anything behind my back that they wouldn’t say to my face and although they have hurt my feelings sometimes, my Spanish is good enough now for me to defend myself.

It appears the British have discovered Iznate at last and 11 years after my first visit, there is an English run bar. Business is better for the other bars, which are full of villagers who’ve sold plots of land or property at good prices (to foreigners of course). The council has created an extra park, improved the street lighting, and any day now a municipal pool will be opening up on the outskirts of the village. You can still see donkeys and horses tied up outside the bar and the locals still cough and spit wherever they like, but the foreigners just keep coming back for more abuse.

But most of all, Iznate is finally being appreciated for what it really is - a wonderfully friendly village where anyone can fit in quickly. The views are incredible and the characters as numerous and diverse as the number of people who live there!

More about Iznate

Iznate is a small village, situated in the hills to the west of Velez Malaga with open views of Sierra Tejeda and only 7 kms from the sea (800 metres above sea level). It has a couple of “historical features”: a church that dates back to the 14th century, and its natural spring dating back several centuries to the time of the Moors. The name Iznate came from the Moorish phrase “Hins Aute” or Aute brothers – to you and me! But Iznate’s prime attraction is its “Spanishness”.

Iznate is host to three fiestas a year: the fiesta of Semana Santa (April) when the Saints are brought out and paraded around the streets; the Fiesta of San Antonio in June; and finally a tourist fiesta in August called the Fiesta de la Uva Moscatel (the festival of the Moscatel grape) when you can walk around the streets sampling tapas of different typical Spanish dishes.

The villagers' primary source of income is agriculture and in particular they grow Moscatel grapes, which are dried and sold as sultanas. Unfortunately, when the Americans invented the seedless grape, demand for Moscatel sultanas dropped as did prices and the Iznate villagers were forced to look for an alternative crop. Nowadays, Moscatel grapes are still used for wine but avocados as well as mangos now provide a better income. Iznate’s inhabitants have always been farmers and although as recently as ten years ago it was considered a poor village, most families could grow enough to keep themselves fed.

Iznate has around 1,000 inhabitants and the village has its own town hall, medical centre manned by a doctor and auxiliary nurse, and a primary school. The village is well-stocked with general stores, butchers, hairdressers, banks, a Post Office, a pharmacy and of course bars and restaurants. Not to mention the municipal pool complete with clubhouse. So it is possible to survive here without having to stray outside its boundaries!

Ruth

NB: We've published the article in full, but there seem to be some minor differences between the facts given in this account and Iznate's own brochure.

This photo was taken from the village of Comares, the highest in the Axarquia, about 12 kilometres as the crow flies from Iznate.  The village in the distance is Iznate and Finca de las Pasas can be distinctly seen (well I can see it!) on the crest of the hill to the right of the main village.  To the south, behind the village, the hillside drops away to the Mediterranean Sea.