San Isidro Livestock Fair, 2011

Statue of Saint Isidore the Laborer


This weekend they're holding the second biggest livestock fair on the island, at San Isidro, in Breña Alta. (The biggest is San Antonio del Monte, in June).

It starts off with a procession which brings the statue of the saint from the church to the fairground at 9 am on Saturday.


Cattle at the fair of St. Isidore, Breña Alta

People bring their animals, and there are prizes for the best milk cow, best bull, best goat, etc. Most of the animals are tied up in big field while they wait for the judging, and you can go around admiring them. (I hope someone brings them water later.) The priest blesses the animals at noon, and they have a competition to see which bulls can drag a heavy load the fastest at 4 pm. During the day there's a drawing competition and Wii games for the children. Later on Saturday night they'll be a dance.

On Sunday, there's a cycle race during the day and a horse race at 7pm. And later, a procession takes the statue of the saint back to the church.

Calf at San Isidro far, Breña Alta

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Robert's Wall (la pared de Roberto)

This photo was taken from the viewpoint at Los Andennes, where you get a spectacular view into the Caldera.

From here you can see a dyke called La Pared de Roberto (Robert's Wall). It's about four metres high (13ft).

[Volcanic dykes are formed when moulten lava fills a crack in the rock and solidifies slowly into very hard rock called basalt. Later on the softer, surrounding rock is eroded away, leaving the harder basalt sticking out like a wall.]

The story is that Roberto was madly in love with a girl who lived the other side of the wall, and he couldn't get through. Eventually the devil appeared to him and promised to carry Roberto's body through in exchange for Roberto's soul.

Roberto was daft enough to agree.

With a great flash of light, the devil blasted a hole through the dyke and left Roberto's dead body on the far side. He'd already taken the soul.

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