Archez - a lovely village in the Axarquia

We noted the unfortunate black outs in Spain last week. Energy in some form is very necessary, even if it is the beautiful Andalucian horses.  Their dung can of course be made into biomass, but there are many technologies making up the energy mix. Solar is of course one of them, and again that was discussed in the context of installations in the Torrox area many years ago.  In the mountains, there are many opportunities to build mini grids and pump water using solar, and this is used on a small scale in places. Then there is the big solar farm near Almeria all off grid. Desalination plants in Spain using solar was also discussed.  The discussion took place on line, and the energy cafe run by St. Andrew University also presented solar in Cuba. All in all, a very Hispanic day. 

We spent many happy hours walking in the Sierras Almijaras, especially around the Competa area. The route to Acebuchal from Competa to Frigiliana was one of our favourite places. We discovered qumkwats and other exotic fruit. Now wish we had been more artistic and looked more closely. We were though, looking at history, and the history of Acebuchal is fascinating in itself.