El Cotillo Fiesta

The children's games continue to be a casualty of this fiesta.   No coverage (again) on Day Ten.

At 19.00 the 'Grand Prix' commenced.   This was a team game and a competition between El Cotillo and Villaverde.   El Cotillo were in blue vests.

The first event was a relay race which started at the furthermost point of the harbour quayside where a woman enters the water and swam twenty yards before handing off to a male swimmer.   On reaching the beach he had to retrieve a ping pong ball from yet another bowl of noxious liquid with his mouth and place it into a bucket.   At this time the next female entered the water.   All this had to be achieved in a limited period and at the end of this time the ping pong balls were counted.   Villaverde were the victors.

The next activity was another race against the clock.   The first person was given a water filled balloon which had to be transported throughout clenched only by the teeth.   They then ran stepping into tyres in a row, climbed into a sack and hopped a distance to another bucket where the balloon had to be lodged intact.    As the amount of water in each balloon was only about half a pint the hopping process caused a pendulum effect, sometimes blinding the competitor and sometimes just punching them in the face.   Not all the sacks were the same size and as luck would have it (or possibly by design) the tallest seemed to get the shorter sacks.   Taking into account the bouncing balloon and the difficulty in reaching down to the sack some competitors had a bumpy ride.   One poor man had also to content with a dog who thought the swinging balloon was there for the taking and chased him all the way lunging at his face.   El Cotillo levelled the score.

Event three saw one team balancing on a telegraph pole that was laid upon the ground, their feet like those of budgerigars clinging to a perch.   One blindfolded member of the opposing team was then tasked with removing them by lobbing a space hopper from a distance of approximately fifteen yards.   Between attempts the blindfolded 'tosser' had to retrieve the space hopper guided only by a voice shouting instructions.    Inevitably all the crowd tried to assist in this task resulting in the thrower becoming deafened, totally confused and disorientated.   Much laughter ensued.   Villaverde once again proved more adept.

Activity four evolved with a simple task.   Each member of both teams was to collect as many items of clothing as possible in a given time span.   This is where the home team had an advantage and spectators freely disrobed handing over, with pleasure, any piece of clothing they could decently manage without.   The count of items proved to be too much for Villaverde, who scored 18.   El Cotillo took the prize with 143.   Whether every villager retrieved his “own” shorts will remain a mystery.

A large mat with brightly coloured squares was the instrument of torture for the next game.   Two contestants from each team were selected and each person had his legs tied together.   The goal was for both members of each team to struggle to the mat and take possession of a specific colour square.    Many extremities were in evidence as they fought to claim the desired square.   No limbs were broken during this exercise but no doubt in the morning bruises will be in abundance.   El Cotillo inched ahead by winning this event.

The penultimate game saw excitement rise as the task was revealed.   Each team had to select two participants.   One to bandage the other to a state of mummification using toilet rolls.   Villaverde drew level.

The deciding round was a quiz.   At this time an anticlimax was felt by your reporter as her grasp of the Spanish language was not yet sufficient to understand the questions let alone the answers.   However, it was clear that as each answer was given the score see-sawed between the two teams until the final question was answered successfully by El Cotillo who retain the Trophy.   Bad luck Villaverde, see you next year.

During all this excitement the entertaining band arrived and started to set up the stage and volunteers erected a make-shift bar-b-que from breeze blocks covered with two large sheets of metal.   Sawn up pallets provided the fuel.   (lets face it there are no trees to cut down).   Once the fire was ablaze, approximately 22.00, the catch from Day Seven was laid to cook on the metal sheets.   Plates appeared with Canarian potatoes and Mojo sauce, beer pumps were being installed along the counter and diners started to gather. 

You will see in the first picture above the volunteers turning the fish with paint scrapers attached to broom handles.   The fire stokers stood back in a corner and enjoyed some refreshment from a beer tap dedicated to the volunteers.   Approximately twenty people were to share this barrel.

The second picture above shows the patient crowd, four and five deep at the counter awaiting their free supper, which was on an “as much as you can eat” basis.   Please note there is only one beer tap available to this awaiting throng.   So my conclusion was that 'it sometimes pays to volunteer'.   Happily many barrels were in the wings and no person was allowed to go short even though no money had changed hands.

Cooking, eating and dancing continued for several hours.    When this reporter took her leave at 02.30 fish were still being applied to the hot plates and beers were still being drawn.   At this hour the party was just getting underway and continued until dawn.

This is Your Cotillo Correspondent signing off, stuffed, watered and weary.