It was the discovery of gold in 1883 in the mine, las Ninas, that began "gold fever" in the Cabo de Gata. A number of small mines, privately owned, operated until the early 1900s, but the area lacked the technology and finance to mine gold successfully. The hills around Rodalquilar are peppered with tunnels from these mines. In 1929, a company financed from Britain opened a large mine above Rodalquilar, which operated until the Civil War broke out in 1936.
When Goytisolo visited the area in the 1950s, it was ADARO, a company established by Franco's government that had taken over the mine. 
The miner's houses, built by the company, still stand on the edge of Rodalquilar.   They are empty now and many of them are in ruins. It is strangely haunting to walk among them.  Not so long ago each of these houses was somebody's home.

As I mentioned in my last post, on Christmas Day we went into the exhibition centre in Rodalquilar and it was fascinating. We discovered the village was the birthplace of a woman writer, Carmen de Burgos (1867 - 1932).  She was a journalist, the first Spanish woman war correspondent, a novelist, short story writer, translator, and a women's rights activist.
She appears to have come from a bourgeois wealthy family of businessmen. Her father owned a goldmine in Rodalquilar (gold fever first began here on the Cabo de Gata in the 1880s). Carmen was unhappy in this environment and she married young to a poet and writer. This turned out to be a mistake as she soon found her husband was unfaithful, alcoholic and abusive.  They had four children but only one survived.  By 1900, she had left him, taking her daughter with her.  First she trained to be a teacher, then to work in teacher training, until her own writing career took off and she was able to keep herself and her daughter through her pen.
In her novels, she wrote about the inequality between the sexes, gender issues, homosexuality and transvestism - all highly transgressive subjects in the first half of the 20th century.  Under Franco's regime, she was eliminated from the literary canon and her work was apparently forgotten, but in the last 20 years she has been reclaimed.  In Rodalquilar, not only is there an exhibition about her but the cultural centre is named after her too.

Sadly, my infection has become a lot worse and so today we went in search of a pharmacist who might sell me some more of the medication I was prescribed in the UK.  There is a consultario in Rodalquilar but we have never seen it open and there is no sign or notice on it to say when a doctor will be there.  I find this is often the case here - even the church gives no indication of when (or if) services are held.  In fact, we have only seen it open once when we came upon a smart wedding happening at the church.  It looked like a scene from a Pedro Almodovar movie, with gorgeous young women in tight dresses and impossibly high heels and young men in sharp suits.
When the local exhibition centres or bars do put up notices with their times of opening, they often don't keep to them.  On Christmas Day we were ushered into the village exhibition centre by a man who was clearly in charge, even though the notice outside stated that it was closed that day.  Perhaps he wanted to escape the tensions of a family Christmas for a few hours.

Fortunately, on the high street in Rodalquilar there is an advert for a 24hr pharmacy in the small town of Campohermoso, so this morning we went there.  Camphermoso means "beautiful country" but since the town lies outside the Natural Park, it is quite ugly surrounded by a sea of plasticulture.  However, this does mean it's productive country, even if it's not pretty.
With the help of some kind local residents, we found the pharmacy and I was able to buy the medication.  Let's hope it works this time!

Today there is a new road leading into Rodalquilar. The mining company's road is still there, but now it's barely more than a dirt track through the hills.
You can still see a "sentry box" for the guard on duty, such as Sanlucar's friend would have had to use.

In Campos de Nijar, Juan Goytisolo travels by bus and foot from Almeria into the Cabo de Gata. As he is walking along the road in the blistering sun, a truck driver stops and offers him a lift to Rodalquilar - much to Juan's relief. He comments that it is difficult to get a lift any longer because the Civil Guard fines drivers  25 to 50 pesetas if they are caught giving a lift to hitchhikers. The truck driver, Sanlucar, makes Juan get down and hide on the floor of the truck as they pass the Civil Guard on the road.
He tells Juan that there are two roads to Rodalquilar, one belonging to the mining company (by far the best), the other is a local road used by the buses that go to the town. The company road is guarded to stop locals using it but Sanlucar says he thinks a friend of his may be the guard on duty, so he's going to risk taking the better road. They are in luck and when they reach the barrier blocking the road the guard lets them through.
Sanlucar asks after his friend's brother-in-law, who was clearly injured working in the mine. He asks if he got any compensation but the guard says he is still waiting.
The road takes them along the edge of a ravine, looking down over the company's panning-sites and the 'town' (as it was then) of Rodalquilar. Juan comments that the waste from the mine has invaded the valley of Rodalquilar, creating a sea of dry yellow mud.
Even today, waste spoils from the mine can be seen around Rodalquilar although many of them are now grassed over. Here is a photo of the old mine pans, used for sifting and washing the gold, and a photo looking down on the mine from higher up the old mining company road, with the village of Rodalquilar in the background.

The Cabalgata de los Reyes Magos was a low-key affair with only one float but, even so, it wasn't able to start until the local police and the civil protection officer had both arrived to escort it through the village!  The local children seemed to have a great time scrambling for the sweets.
Traditionally 6th January, Epiphany, was as important a celebration here as Christmas, and it was the day that children were given their Christmas presents because the Wise Men brought gifts for the Christ Child, but today I think most children have their presents on Christmas Day judging from all the new bicycles we saw about on 26th December!.

Today the Cabalgata de los Reyes Magos will be held in Rodalquilar - the procession of the Three Magi through the village, throwing sweets to the children.  This happens all over Spain although I imagine it is more elaborate in the major cities.  I think a lot of children will be visiting here for the festival, grandchildren, etc. of the inhabitants, since there are very few permanent residents living in the village.  According to a German lady who runs the panaderia and pasteleria (with a good line in local wines and cheeses too!), there are only 80 people living in Rodalquilar all year round.  She said the population is as low as it was before the gold mine was in operation.