Valverde de los Arroyos y de las sorpresas

Sierra Norte de Guadalajara Natural Park At the picnic area in Valverde de los Arroyos, next to the waters flowing from the Chorrera waterfall, a contour line marks 1,200 meters above sea level, compared to the 1,400 meters of the Despeñalagua waterfall. Together, they form a kind of hammock in which, whether you like it or not, Valverde de los Arroyos and its many surprises are gently swayed, like something out of a storybook, in a truly magical setting. With José María Alonso Gordo, the Official Chronicler of Valverde de los Arroyos, in addition to taking a dip in the Gollindo stream, we hiked the GR 60, the Black Architecture Villages Trail, from where we launched the drone, almost crashing it into the rocky cliffs of the Despeñalagua waterfall, which, despite the dry season at the end of June, is still gushing water. In this report, we focus on the Danzantes (dancers), and, as every saint has their octave, the Octave of Valverde also has its own, complete with a cultural event and a romantic evening where it's traditional to share a kiss here, in one of the most beautiful villages in Spain. With José Luis Bermejo, mayor of Valverde de los Arroyos, we see that the mayor always has to lead the procession, because if the mayor doesn't go, nobody goes, explains Bermejo, in a municipality of just over ninety registered residents where the Town Hall has its own resources of approximately 95,000 to 100,000 euros annually, mainly from property tax revenue. With this limited budget, Valverde de los Arroyos has managed to transform itself in the last four decades from a village with unpaved streets to a pedestrian-friendly municipality recognized by the association of the Most Beautiful Villages of Spain. Our report concludes at the Ethnological Museum, which opens wide the book of many lives in this Valverde de los Arroyos and, of course, many surprises.