The Lure of Almogía

 Almogía 

One of my favorite white villages is Almogía in the province of Malaga, just a few miles from where I am staying in the barriada of Los Nuñez.  It was in Almogía that my great grandfather, Francisco RUIZ Garcia was a math tutor (I didn’t get his math genes).  Each time I have walked the narrow, stone-laden streets, I left the village with more information stuffed in my head.  Today was another mind-bending day.  Lyn drove me up the mountain to help me find the cemetery (cementerio) because I’ve been focused on the sister of my great grandfather.  Her name was Antonia RUIZ Garcia.  I know when and where she was born and where she died.  Her great granddaughter tells me she is buried in Almogia.  I had never been to the cemetery there.  The information has not been digitized, so all the old documents are in antique books, locked in a cabinet inside the archives of the town hall, the juzgado.  My new Spanish friend was eager to help me and Lyn and said I could look through the books, but only if I knew Antonia’s date of death within five years.  Big sigh.

We walked down the deep incline to the cemetery to read the plaques in each niche, hoping to find her name.  It is different in Spain, where a “hole in the wall” stores the body behind a cement wall.  It cannot be opened for five years to put in another family member.  The prior inhabitant’s bones are removed and the newly buried person is placed into the niche.  Another body.  Another cement door.  Another five years to wait to add to it.  In this way, many of the plaques list several family members.  It was fascinating to learn this strange burial law.  In order to retain the family member in the niche, the owner or descendant pays 100 euros rent in full to fund the five years plus money for a special memorial ceremony.  To keep the family member in the niche, it is 20 euros per year until a new body is put in.  If the money isn’t paid, their family member’s bones are removed.

We viewed about 1,600 inches as we looked for my ancestor’s names.  And we found the descendants of Antonia RUIZ Garcia, but her name was not listed.  We were drenched in sweat and our aching legs took us back to the car...Lyn and I needed water and a swim.  My, genealogy research is exciting, exhausting and exhilarating.  Lyn is very sweet to go right along with me each step of the way.

Tomorrow, we have a lunch date in a nearby town with her choir friend also named Patricia.  As I finish today’s blog, she is cooking chicken and other foods as the delicious aromas permeate through the house.  Did we swim?  Yes.  Did we snooze beside the pool?  Yes.  Did we read our books?  Yes.  As Roberto would say, “life is sweet.”