Spanish Summer Timetable - Life in the Sierra…
by Ben Curtis
Like thousands of families around Spain, Marina and I have left the heat of the city and headed for the in-law’s house in a village in the Sierra above Madrid, not far from El Escorial, to try to cool down. The same thing is happening in Seville, Valenica, Malaga… wherever there is higher ground nearby, it is typical for those that can afford it to have a summer mountain or hillside retreat in which to live out the hottest two or three months of summer. The trouble is, that at only 300 metres (1,000 feet) higher than the capital, it’s still pretty damn hot…. Here is an outline of yesterday’s timetable, a fairly typical day in the Sierra:
9 a.m.: Wake up, annoyed, having seen the time. The only cool part of the day, from 7 until 9 a.m., is now lost, the sun is up and already burning. It is still 30º C (86º F) inside the house. Feeling horribly dehydrated from the two, just two, glasses of wine I had late last night with dinner.
12 a.m.: Having worked for a couple of hours outside on the terrace, under the shade of a thick stripy awning, it is now just too hot to be outside at all. It’s the switching point, where the house, now up to 32º C, is noticeably cooler than the fresh air in the garden, so I retreat inside with my laptop.
1.30 p.m.: The in-laws go down to the small pool in the garden to wilt by/in the water. Aperitvos might be rustled up, some jamon and queso, patatas fritas… lunch is still a loooong way off. It’s at least 36º C (97 ºF) down there. I jump in and out of the water, but retreat back to the shade straight away. “¡Qué ingles eres!”, how English you are, they call after me as I run from the sun.
2.45 p.m.: Time to start preparing lunch, slooooowly.
3.15 p.m.: Nope, still too early for lunch. Time to swim again, apparently.
3.30 p.m. - 4.30 pm.: Lunch! Followed by a long siesta for most of the family. Too hot to sleep, I continue to stare drowsily at the laptop. Doing anything productive is impossible.
5 p.m.: The hottest part of the day. I wander listlessly through different rooms of the house, out onto the terrace, into the garage, looking for, feeling for, subtle temperature differences, trying to find somewhere, anywhere, that it’s cool enough to think. No air-con here. It is insufferably hot everywhere.
8 p.m.: The family is down by the pool again. I wait half an hour to join them, when the sun has gone behind the trees and the temperature outside finally begins to go down, minimally.
9 p.m.: Desperate for beer. Decide, mistakenly, to wait for dinner.
10 p.m.: Desperate for dinner.
11 p.m.: As pubs across the UK are shutting, expelling their drunken clients to stumble home, we arrive at a local bar for the first beer of the evening, and dinner, which is served by a resigned looking Argentinian waitress 30 minutes later, at 11.30 pm. Children from the age of 3 upwards run energetically amongst the tables, no sign of bedtime yet. At last the temperature outside has dipped just below 30º C (86º F), and it feels wonderful to be eating in the fresh air. We finish dinner half an hour past midnight, a touch late, but still perfectly normal in these parts!
1.45 a.m. Lying in bed, stomach full, no breeze, still 30º C in our bedroom… waiting restlessly for the usual too-full, too-hot, crazy dream sleep of summers in the Sierra above Madrid…
This summer-sierra lifestyle is getting hard-coded into me as the years in Spain go by, and despite the struggle with the heat, I wouldn’t change it (the occasional welcome breeze, the cool of the pool, the aperitivos, midnight on lively bar terraces) for anywhere else in the world…
Posted: August 5th, 2007 under Living in Spain.
Comments: 26
Comments
Comment from Andrew
Time: August 5, 2007, 12:00 pm
I’m amazed how you survive living in Madrid when you really don’t like the heat. I’ve just been there and it was absolutely boiling. Still loved it even though it was impossible to go out between 11am and 8pm without feeling totally drained. Have you offered to pay for some air-con for the house in La Sierra or could you take a portable unit with you when you go - they’re not too expensive. Anyway, really glad that you blogged it. Thanks.
Comment from ValenciaSon
Time: August 5, 2007, 12:07 pm
I was going to ask, is AC too expensive to install in homes in Spain or is enduring the heat part of the culture?
Comment from Ben
Time: August 5, 2007, 1:15 pm
Air-con is expensive to install in a house this size, not sure how much, but probably 2000+ euros, which for a house that is only used to live in full time for a couple of months a year, makes one think twice. Having said that, I think the suegra is thinking about it for next year! And yes, I think enduring it is part of the culture, and it is bearable most days! Andrew, I don’t really mind the heat, it just makes life more difficult if you want to get much done!
Comment from Ben
Time: August 5, 2007, 4:05 pm
Update - today we had lunch at 4.30 p.m.!!!!!
Comment from Andrew
Time: August 5, 2007, 4:12 pm
Lunch at 4.30? That’s merienda time!
Comment from Edith
Time: August 5, 2007, 5:03 pm
I remember the last two heatwaves very well. With temperatures soaring to unprecedented heights, production slowed down to a minimum - even in my neck of the woods. But sitting next to a rotating fan does help, if only a little!
Comment from ValenciaSon
Time: August 5, 2007, 5:13 pm
No AC? Yikes! If the house had ductwork already installed, you would be almost half-way there. I’m sure it would raise property values. I guess you can tell I’m a big fan of AC. Sere yo mas Ingles que un Ingles! I hope you drink plenty of fluids (besides canyas and tintos). Now I’m in the mood for a cold Tri-Naranjus! 4:30 lunch, wow, I forgot how much later lunch and dinner is in Spain.
Comment from Ben
Time: August 5, 2007, 6:25 pm
vs - no ducts here, this house is about 40 years old… and yes, drinking water all day long!
Edith - no fans here unfortunately - time to buy one maybe!!
Comment from Edith
Time: August 5, 2007, 10:50 pm
Having a fan in the living room and in the office was such a relief, and I also used one in my bedroom! Really, it made all the difference.
Comment from greytop
Time: August 6, 2007, 7:57 am
I’d agree with using fans - we have at least one in every room so we only use the air conditioning if really needed (usually because of high humidity). It is also nice to sleep in a cool room so we use the AC most nights. The effects of alcohol are definitely detrimental to comfort in the heat - I find I hardly ever drink during the summer, just the occasional caña or vino tinto. Mainly it is granizados, horchata or refrescos and litres of agua.
Comment from leftbanker
Time: August 6, 2007, 12:21 pm
I asked the cute girl who works in the air conditioned Mercadona across the street from my apartment if I could live there for the next couple of weeks—preferably near the ice cream or in the wine aisle. I think that air conditioning is totally bourgeois, but I think anything I can’t afford is bourgeois.
Comment from ValenciaSon
Time: August 6, 2007, 1:44 pm
Like indoor plumbing and electricity, AC is essential!
Comment from luke
Time: August 7, 2007, 7:45 am
This summer timetable sounds very familiar to me; waiting for the in-laws to have lunch is agony. What is less familiar is the idea that the Spanish love to be in the sun and the English run away from it. Most of the Spanish I know live through much of the summer in darkened, cave-like rooms. The only time you might see the daytime sky through a window is if the cat manages to peek through. Whereas, the English seem to throw themselves at the mercy of the sun (I, however, don’t but I think I’m in the minority). Another thing I don’t recognise is English pubs closing at 11pm; wasn’t that in the 20th century before 24 hour drinking?
Comment from Ben
Time: August 7, 2007, 7:54 am
re the pubs - you are right, I left the UK in the 20th C! And re the sun, they don’t love the sun, but they will sit in it by the pool for half an hour before lunch - too long for me!
Comment from Uncle Drew
Time: August 7, 2007, 4:17 pm
When dinner is so late are you ever able to digest anything properly? My lady would have a fit if we ate that late!
Comment from Graeme
Time: August 8, 2007, 8:33 am
The idea on eating seems to be that if you are going to eat half a cow then you do it at lunchtime! Dinner is usually something light. It is a hard timetable to get used to when you first arrive, and only really makes sense in high summer with the heat and longer hours of daylight. I’ve more or less gone for the middle ground between Spanish timetables and the rest of Europe; dinner between 9-10 p.m. In the past going to a Spanish restaurant before 9 p.m. in the evening was almost inpossible.
Comment from Ben
Time: August 8, 2007, 9:47 am
@Uncle Drew - no, can’t digest a thing at that time of night. hence the crazy dreams later!
Comment from Uncle Drew
Time: August 8, 2007, 11:35 am
But what would we do without strange dreams?
Comment from Ben
Time: August 8, 2007, 4:37 pm
Sleep better! But you are right, I love them!
Comment from Arpi Shively
Time: August 11, 2007, 11:45 am
Excellent! At last - sane comments about the insanity of Spanish summers. I thought it was just me having sleepless nights, Fudge-brain Syndrome, trying to work and falling fast asleep on my textbooks. Though I agree there are magic moments - a cloud of jasmine scent on my early morning dog-walks, sweat cooling on a late night terrace, and school textbooks appearing on the shelves at Hipercor. Soon the hyperactive little darlings will be back at school and it will start raining again!
Hope it’s OK to link this to my own blog at Andalucid?
Comment from Ben
Time: August 11, 2007, 12:34 pm
Thanks Arpi, of course you can link it up!
Comment from natalia
Time: August 13, 2007, 9:39 pm
… and I always thought that people who could afford it bought houses close to the ocean! ;o) After living in Cadiz for 2 and a half years, I can tell you that nothing beats the heat as much as a cool breeze and a dip in the Atlantic. Take care!
Comment from celia s
Time: August 29, 2007, 8:27 pm
Ii enjoyed your blog Ben!At least Spain got to have a summer this year. The weather has been a total wipeout in the UK.
We had our first barbie of the year over the bank holiday (que alivio!).
My Spanish boyfriend’s Father asked me recently…’why is so cold and wet in England?’……
Comment from celia s
Time: August 29, 2007, 8:27 pm
Ii enjoyed your blog Ben!At least Spain got to have a summer this year. The weather has been a total wipeout in the UK.
We had our first barbie of the year over the bank holiday (que alivio!).
My Spanish boyfriend’s Father asked me recently…’why is so cold and wet in England?’……
Pingback from Suicidal Spanish Sunday Drivers - Notes from Spain: Travel, Living in Spain, Podcasts, Forum and Photos
Time: September 9, 2007, 8:58 pm
[...] can’t remember what the figure is up to now, but every time we drive up from Madrid to the in-laws place in the Sierra, a digital display across the highway reminds us and the other drivers pouring out of the city how [...]
Comment from zyclop
Time: December 11, 2007, 7:42 am
I would prefer the natural heat in Madrid or Malaga any given summer day over sitting in to 70º F by A/C cooled down houses in Phoenix, Arizona and be hit by a 115º F blast of hot air in the face each time you dare to leave your “protected” environment.
Or freeze your butt of in all A/C controlled department stores.
The only place in Spain to avoid in summer months is the old barrios in Barcelona where the granite walls of houses give off better than 30º C (86º F) after midnight.
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