I have learned more about Rodalquilarte, the project that has turned the whole village into an open air art gallery. It was the idea of a painter from Almeria, Encarna Morales, who brought 77 artists together, including painters, poets, sculptors, fiction writers, potters and ceramicists, weavers, and musicians. They all share this area in common, either because they live here or because they come here regularly in search of inspiration from the light and the unique landscape - a friend who visited us yesterday described the landscape as being "like the end of the world", a phrase I found very striking and apt.

Many of these artists are Spanish but by no means all - of the 77 artists brought together by Encarna Morales, some are German, Dutch, Belgian, French and British as well as Spanish.

The inhabitants of the Cabo de Gata are curiously diverse. Besides the artists described above - many of whom are not well off, but come here out of passion for their art - some of the residents of the area continue to live much as their ancestors would have done 100, or even 200 years ago. This applies to the goat and sheep herders, who can be seen all over the countryside with their animals, like this beautiful herd of goats we saw grazing on the clifftop beyond the tiny hamlet of Los Escullos:

The countryside is so arid and barren that it's impossible to pasture cows upon it, so all the cheese from this region is from goats or sheep, and made just as it always has been in the past.
 The fishermen, too, still live and work much as their grandparents would have done, usually in the poorer villages.  These fishing boats are pulled up on the beach at Cabo de Gata San Miguel:

I photographed these fishing boats at the small coastal village of La Isleta del Moro:

Then there are the locals who run bars, cafes, and village shops who struggle at this time of year, sometimes only opening at weekends and taking temporary work to keep going over the winter months.
On the other hand, on the outskirts of larger, more wealthy villages, such as San José which is popular with holidaymakers and "expats", and also on more isolated parts of the coast there are large, ostentatious villas, usually owned by incomers to the region and used as second (or even third) homes.
Finally, there are the Spanish who own more modest properties in the area for weekends and holidays, and also to let out to tourists, and maybe to move to when they retire.  As I've mentioned in previous posts, this applies to a lot of the houses and flats in Rodalquilar which are frequently left empty at this time of year.