Mourning in Cartajima

A very special man, Juan Corbacho, passed away on 16th September 2009, at 12:30, in Cartajima. When we met Juan, he had been cleared from throat cancer for many years. But sadly, the cancer came back at the beginning of the year.

He will be missed by all his family and friends. Yesterday was his funeral (17.09.09), our first funeral in Spain. As is the custom here, family, friends and neighbours go and present their condolences to the family of the deceased and accompany the family and the deceased during an all night wake. We went to the family house to say our farewells to Juan and offer our support to his wife, children and family in the afternoon. The house was so full of family, friends and neighbours that we didn’t stay very long but went back again in the evening when there was a little less people in the house.

Juan was so little in his refrigerated coffin, only his head showing amongst the white satin cloth. He had lost so much weight. His face though was peaceful. He died peacefully surrounded by his family. And he was taken the following day to the village church and the cemetery surrounded by so many people. We had never seen such a crowd in the village apart from at festivities celebrated in the village. We were told that people came from Ronda, Juzcar, Pujerra, Farajan, Igualeja, etc.

He was such a lovely man, that everybody couldn’t help but like him. We took to him as soon as we met him. He was a very generous man who would help anybody any time. He was down to earth, honest and direct as well as being sensitive and warm. He was witty and liked jokes and joking. We spent many an evening in his company at Baltasar and Amalia’s bar, laughing with him.

He was little and thin but so strong and full of life and so animated, always gesticulating his arms about while talking in his hoarse voice. He loved flamenco, a passion he passed down to his Down syndrome son, Adrian, and loved bull fighting. We have a better understanding of the art of bull fighting thanks to Juan. He would explain to us while watching some corridas on the TV, the rules, the reaction of the public, the passes, etc. And he would know immediately whether a bull would be a good one or should be sent off. He also loved collecting mushrooms and would go as far as Grazalema to collect them. I used to see him in the Sierra de las Nieves while walking with guests during the mushroom season. The mushroom season is about to start....

We will never forget you Juan. Showing us how to cut Jamon properly, giving us the key to his gate so we could park our vehicles somewhere safe from fireworks during any festivities happening in the village... We will never forget 2 years ago, inviting us to his house on Christmas Eve. What a wonderful night it was, spent with his family, feeling part of his family. And actually driving to our house on New Year’s Eve to physically take us to his house to spend New Year’s Eve with his family! Since we were on our own, he told us they were our adoptive family for that night! What an honour! And how generous and thoughtful! We will never forget these very special moments.

The church service was very quick; Juan would have actually laughed at it as the priest was talking so fast, it looked as if he was late to catch a train!!! Nobody stood up to say something about him, and I felt it such a shame that the life of such a man wasn’t celebrated (I guess, too short a time to prepare an eulogy or maybe not the custom), but I feel the need to at least do it here, in our blog.

After the short rather noisy service (the church was full and lots of people were standing outside), we all followed Juan and his family to the cemetery. Some of the villagers took some long church candles to presumably walk with them lit, but it was so windy and stormy that the candles never got lit. I wonder if Juan saw the funny side of this...

We then gathered round the “pigeon-hole” like tomb where his coffin was slid in, and everybody watched the village builder, Jesus, blocked the tomb with bricks and cement. There were so many people, and the alleys being narrow, we were spread out in the cemetery, amongst graves. We couldn’t see much apart from tops of heads and right in front of us, an expense of land in front of the cemetery full of cars, where a 4x4 was trying to get out and ran into 2 cars in the process while being supposedly guided by another man!!! So surreal, but a great reminder of the Andalucian practical outlook on life, life goes on. When Jesus finished his work and the crowd started dissipating, we walked down to the grave to hug again distraught Juan’s daughters and wife and immediate family.

Saddest day in Cartajima. We will miss you Juan. Rest in peace.