April 13th, 2003 | The lowdown by Jeffrey Goodkind

Garcia Lorca's Early Days.

The road to Fuentevaqueros attests to the countryside nature of Spain. Unlike the urban sprawls of Los Angeles and the Bay Area, my two previous homes, here you find little villages here and there, with miles of countryside in between them. A small mountain range with some sexy curves and a fertile valley outline the landscape.

The most prominent part of the country is a tree called a "Chopo," a white-barked skinny post which grows like wildfire. The locals cultivate it for wood, but from an artists'perspective, the even rows and rows of the chopos create a sense of order, solitude, and the cyclical life and death cycle of all living things on earth. Near the road one can get a glimpse of extensive tobacco fields and the brick "secadores," where the plant is hung to dry after harvest. It's a quiet life.

Tourists seem extremely out of place in downtown Fuentevaqueros. Small town, slow pace of life, agricultural workers. The locals, I'm sure are used to this awkwardness, as Federico Garcia Lorca's reputation around the world brings in many who would otherwise miss this modest location.

There are two museums here concerning Lorca: his birthplace house, where he spent the first three years of his life, and the house where he grew up until the time he left for college in New York City (for insight into this part of his life, I suggest Lorca's The Poet in New York).

I love Spanish style homes. The home is restored just like as it was during the time Lorca lived there. As a pianist, I took special note of the piano, of course, but my primary interest was the fact that this environment bred a talented and passionate artist.

Many of Lorca's poems come to light during the visit of these two houses. Much of his imagery had been shaped by natural symbols that are found in these two houses. The crowing of the roosters, for example, could well have been developed from the chicken coop behind the house. The many scents from the flowers around the house as well stimulate one's senses.

So talented was Lorca that he became known as a poet, playwright, artist, and composer. His poems and plays especially evoke the spirit of the Spanish countryside and of the close-knit rural human relationship. Try out this short 2 hour trip out of Granada city and get the feel for the romantic Spanish countryside.