REDACCIÓN DE CALAÑAS

 

It was January 3rd, 1982.

My mother María had 14 years old, she lived in Barcelona and migrated to Calañas, a town in Huelva that had 5185 inhabitants.

                            Calañas

My mother and grand-parents went to live at her grand-mother´s house Victoria, on a street called "Real Segundo" (close to the windmill). My grand-father, at the time, found a work in the square "Jose Antonio", now known as "Plaza de España", as a waiter in the restaurant M&M.

The municipal council was in front of my grand-father´s restaurant. My mother says that only the main entry has changed. There were marble stairs before and on the wall the some slabs with Quijote´s story. Now, the main entry has stairs and a ramp, and the wall is composed of bricks.

The mayor was Pepe Romero. He lived in La Zarza, a town that belonged to Calañas.

    Municipal council now (left picture) and then (right picture)                                                                                                     

My mother told me that she had to fetch water from the town´s wells. There was a well in the neighbourhood of "Paseo Nuevo", another one in the "Real" ( but now it´s a fountain with horses),  and a little bit further from the town there were the Garcia and the León fountains. My mother preferred go to fetch water from the "Real" square´s well than from the García fountain, because she had to pass through a field where often the cows were slipping away. 

They bought food at the market, located in the "Plaza Coronada".The square had a lot of benches, trees and a monument with a statue of the Virgin Coronada. On the right side there was a newspapers stand called "San Diego", and in front of the square we could find the Church.

        Plaza Coronada and market now (left picture) market at 1980 (right picture)

People lived from farming, agriculture and specially from the Almagrega mine, that was very important in the town. 

My mother María told me that she usually went to play at the club, that was on the street Julián Hernández. She played a few games there with her friends: chess, parcheesi, pin pong and listened to music. this is also where she met her boyfriend, who is now her husband, and my father.