Thursday 19 September 2013

El Chorro


I came upon this relic in a gloomy corridor of our old hotel in Sevilla, and I can only think that it must be an energy-saving light-bulb that once belonged to St. Thomas of El Chorro. If only they had wired it up and turned it on, we might have been able to see it properly.

I first thought that 'El Chorro' meant 'The Gorge', as the mountainous area is famous for it's gorge, and the idiots who clamber around on a crumbling walkway that runs - intermittently - around it (look it up on You Tube for some of the most hair-raising footage you will ever see), but when I asked our friend who lives there, he told us it means 'The Drip'. He left it at that, so I have no idea how it got it's name, other than that the locals steal their water by tapping into a gigantic reservoir at the top of the highest peak, by simply sticking little pipes into the banks and running them down to their houses on the lower slopes.

17 comments:

  1. St. Thomas, the Drip ... hmmm. That's some 'relic'. Have you ever seen the relics in St. Mark's in Venice? My son couldn't wait to show them to me -- hands and fingers all gussied up in some kind of fancy metallic armour. By the 'case-load'...

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    1. I couldn't be bothered to queue to get into St Marks, but I did see the arm of John the Baptist, wrapped in gold in the Topkapi at Istanbul.

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  2. I've bought, and eaten, Churros on street corners in Madrid, but 'El Chorro' stretches my Spanish beyond its limit.

    I like the idea of stealing water direct from the reservoir; it sounds rather Nigerian, I believe they do that with oil.

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    1. Difficult to run cars on water, though.

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    2. Correct cars don't have much buoyancy do they ? (snigger)

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    3. I thought you were on a spiritual walk? I even turned my phone off and got H.I. to read me your blog whilst I lay in a darkened room.

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    4. If only... I knew how to be modest I'd blush :)

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  3. Nice to have you back Tom - life has been a little duller without you.

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  4. Was St. Thomas the one who said: "And let there be light."? Har, had, snort, snort ...

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  5. Love the little pressed metal thing. Sorry - I'm sure it has a proper name. Perhaps it was just a bulb display feature as opposed to an actual light?

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  6. That fixture is quite pathetic. I believe chorro means anything from a lot to a little bit of water. A drip. And the fixture is a luz(er).

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  7. Are you calling me a pathetic, loser drip, Joanne?

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    1. Are you a light fixture in a corridor in a hotel in Spain?

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