March in Olvera

Wednesday March  23d.

 

 Before deciding to come to Spain in March and April I did some research into historical weather data.  According to weatherbase.com the normal rainfall for March in this area of  Spain is 40 to 45mm and 4 to 6  rainy days. 

Well...  Thanks to climate change or just bad luck, the weatherbase.com statistics have been no where close to accurate.  In the past three weeks we have had only a couple sunny days without rain. Also the temperatures have been several degrees below normal.  One morning last week there was snow on the higher hills to the west of us.  The locals tell us that they have never seen weather like this in March.

It's been quite disappointing. We are here to cycle and walk, but outdoor activities have been quite limited. We looked  into renting a car and going somewhere else but the wet weather system covered pretty much all of the area within reasonable driving distance  The forecast for the next few of weeks  doesn't look much better.  😞

During the first 10 days of the rainy weather we would not have been going anywhere anyway. We were both house-bound with a Covid infection.  We are both triple vaccinated (Pfizer). Neither of us experienced more than minor symptoms, similar to a chest cold with slightly elevated temperature for a couple of days.  It appears that Linda was infected first and I a couple of days later.  Luckily we had good supply of food in the house. A friend helped us by picking up medication and antigen tests at the pharmacy.  We both tested negative about 10 days after the onset of symptoms and are back to our normal activities.

Given the transmission rate of the Omicron variant, our Covid infection was not a surprise.  There does not seem to be any lingering issues other than perhaps a little fatigue. Or perhaps we are a little depressed with the weather. ???

 Finally this week we got out for a couple of nice rides to some local villages, El Gastor and Setenil. 

 This photo is a shot of Olvera taken on the way to El Gastor

On the way back we ran into herd of goats on the road.

As you can see there are were quite few clouds forming and luckily we just made it home 

before the rain started.

Yesterday we had a really nice ride and great lunch in Setenil with our friend, Bodil.

Setenil is a very interesting town. It is located about 15 K south of Olvera. Many of the houses and stores are built into the sides of overhanging cliffs. Because of the interesting setting and the fact that it was a Saturday, there were quite a few tourists, mostly Spanish families.

buildings under the overhanging cliffs

Linda and Bodil

Between rain showers yesterday we went out for lunch to "Lo Nuestro", a local restaurant, with our friend Bodil.    Below is shot of Linda's meal. It is a goat cheese salad. The goat cheese is hidden in phyllo pastry.

                                    

Wednesday March 30th.

It is cool and foggy this morning in Olvera.  There is a weather warning out for parts of the Costa del Sol, including Malaga and Granada. In conjunction with the rain, the wind has been carrying abnormal amounts of red  sand dust from the Sahara. The falling rain brings the wet dust (ie mud) to the ground and stains everything that it touches. Below is photo of the dust in the air, taken a couple of days ago

 

 

 

However, it looks like some better weather is moving in from the west.  We are waiting for the fog to lift and then we are heading for the Algarve on the moto. The weather forecast in Tavira looks nice for the next few days.  Hopefully it is correct!

 

 

The above photo is of a store front in Olvera. Obviously the initials do not stand for "Linda and Bernie"    They stand for  "La más Barata"....      "The Cheapest One"  !! 😉