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On the edge of the reservoir, in the lower area of the town of Villaflora bell still stands there. For more than half a century, the locals used it to call the boatman who took them to the lands that had been left on the other side after the arrival of the reservoir, or to travel to some of the towns that one day were just a step away and the next were across a watery abyss. The boat that worked until the last years of the 20th century also remains there, moored, as part of the history of a place that has a reservoir and also a much more recent wind farm at the gates of the municipality. Here, there is plenty of energy, but not enough people.
Villaflor, once penalized by a reservoir that mutilated its boundaries and isolated its residents, is now a town with just 14 people registered. Many would speak of a doomed future, but among the families who live there and those linked to it who spend more or less long periods in their homes, there is no resignation, but a will to fight. One proof is the association At Barcawhich involves more than 60 people in this battle for the maintenance of services and the preservation of memory.
The secretary of that group is called Gerardo Hierro. He is from Asturias, although originally from Salamanca, and there in Avilés he met a woman from Zamora from Villaflor with whom he started a family and found a place in the world where he could breathe peace. This man is a geologist by training, but for years he cultivated a love for painting. Specifically, for watercolours. That never went beyond a hobby, but now it has become something more. Not because, now retired, Gerardo has begun to monetise the results of his art, but because he has used that talent to turn his adopted town into an open-air museum.
A facade decorated with tools. Photo Emilio Fraile.
It all started in 2017, when the association At Barca created a large mural on the floor. The painting was 70 square meters and lasted until the storm Filomena erased its trace. That work was a click in the head of Gerardowho saw here an opportunity to beautify the town and to try to make it a little better known: “It’s all to prevent it from dying, that’s the fundamental reason,” says the amateur artist, who dared to continue, with the help of the local mayor for materials.
Seven years have passed since then, and in Villaflor There are already more than twenty murals spread throughout the streets. The facades of the school or the clinic have become the canvas of Gerardowhich is about painting with motifs related to the town. Animals, plants found in the area, a shepherd with his flock or a catalogue of tools from yesteryear appear in the corners of the town. The latest have been a Montpellier snake and an ocellated lizard.
“I try to make sure they are things from here,” says Gerardo, who takes between three and four days to complete each mural and who paints with a brush and without a realistic vocation: “I like the impressionist style,” admits the resident of Villaflorwho hopes that his creations will attract attention and serve as a loudspeaker for the fact that, in this corner, there is a town that refuses to be a victim of the demographic epidemic that is devouring the villages: “The essential thing is that this remains alive,” he insists.
Mural of a shepherd with his flock. Photo by Emilio Fraile.
Rural culture
The association itself exists precisely with that vocation: “We have as a member even the last teacher that the town had, who is not from here and lives in Valencia“Gerardo points out, as proof of the involvement of different people in defending Villaflor. Meanwhile, the town tries to fight against the fact that no one goes to his clinic regularly anymore, despite the fact that the facilities had been recently repaired, or to resist every time the cold arrives and the bulk of the people leave. In summer there can be 200; in winter, it barely goes over 10.
“If this is emptied, all the value of rural culture will be lost,” explains Gerardo Hierro, who regrets the neglect of “those who really have the means to do something” and who gives as an example what happens with the boat. “When it stopped working at the end of the 90s, it was left lying there and we picked it up and treated it ourselves with used oil. Now it needs another hand and we only ask that the workers from the City Council come to do it, since they can,” demands the neighbor. Villaflor belongs to the municipality of Bread Molars.
Between one demand and another, Gerardo continues painting. “The town is already very pretty in itself, and we want to protect it,” says the artist who decorates the streets. His creations shine under the Villaflor sun, between empty houses that lead to the reservoir. August has passed, the year is heading towards winter and it is time to apply the art of survival again.
The old village boat. Photo Emilio Fraile.
