Life in Extremadura - coping with the climate

Living as we do in an old village house we have learned to "go with the flow" as regards the climate. Being built with pizarra, which is a sort of fine slate-like sandstone, the house has two storeys with external walls which are tapered in thickness. At ground level their thickness approaches a metre and at roof level it's half that. The upper storey is bare apart from storage shelves but it has ample windows back and front for ventilation. The sheer bulk of the structure ensures that the house warms and cools slowly relative to the outside. It stays cool inside on the ground floor at around 28° during the torrid months of July and August when midday temperatures are frequently in the 40s.
We have a Jøtul 602 wood burning stove in the living room which keeps the whole house warm in winter.

The one precaution necessary to preserve general comfort is to have a thermometer with a little wireless sender unit outside in the shade. With this device the internal and external temperatures can be monitored so that summer heat or winter cold can be excluded by opening or closing blinds, door and windows. It's a strange fact that draught excluders are just as necessary in summer as in winter. The drill in summer for instance is to get up before dawn and to open as many windows and doors as possible to encourage a good airflow through the house to cool the structure as much as possible. This airflow coupled with the watering of patio and garden plants brings a wonderful freshness to the early morning. As the sun gets higher the outside temperature rises steadily and by 10:00 it's clear that the cooling effect is lessening and unless windows and doors are soon shut, at that point the house will start to heat up.

By 11:00 it's hot outside and heavy work is ruled out as far as I'm concerned. Time for breakfast and to do some reading or surfing. By 12:00 fans need to be switched on to keep the air moving and by 14:00 the sun is at it's highest (GMT +2 hours - most of Spain is further west than Greenwich!!!) Outside it's very hot and, in Extremadura at 1600 feet, very dry. Time to eat lunch at this point. Unlike the natives we tend to have a simpler meal of ham or tuna salad with a cold fruit juice. This intake of food seems to increase our readiness to take a nap - it's not difficult to see why the siesta was invented.

By 17:00 the heat is slackening and after a cool shower I start to get moving again - usually in the direction of the bar for an ice-cold beer or two. All around the village neighbours are up and about, many having already gone back to work until 20:00. Out come the tapas to keep the body fuelled up until supper-time at 21:30 ish. It's a really wonderful time of the day - cold beer, olives and sheep's milk cheese with the warm breeze blowing across the square and the day's heat radiating from every stone. The village shop is busy with old ladies in black buying potatoes, onions and peppers etc for the evening meal.

Finally at 23:00 Inside and outside temperatures are the same and the doors can be opened to cool the interior. We eat outside with plenty of lamps burning citronella oil to keep the mozzies away. Cool drinks and visiting friends keep us going until 2:00. Perfect.

As I write this winter is approaching and towards Christmas I'll add a few more reflections on the seasonal changes involved.



¡Hasta luego!