Doña Redoña – El Palacete – Cuevas de Almanzora

What would a town be without its doña Redoña. That gossipy and nosy woman who does not care about the time, progress or technology, she reminds us that the human being remains basically the same.

But Doña Redoña of Cuevas del Almanzora goes a little further…

It turns out that an atomic bomb fell on the Palomares beach, south of Villaricos. It was an accident! An American B-52 plane crashed and a bomb fell on it, which luckily did not explode, did it? Ask Doña Redoña. It was 4 thermonuclear bombs! Two of them exploded when they fell, although it was a conventional explosion that did not activate the chain reaction, another shattered and the fourth was lost in the sea. For 80 days, a dozen warships and submarines searched for it to no avail, until Paquito, a local fisherman who was later nicknamed the bomb, told them where it was.

And so it is that Paco the one with the bomb had seen it fall while he was busy going about his business.

It almost hit him on the head! What a scare he got!

The Americans claimed that the incident had no repercussions and that the radioactivity was minimal. As compensation they built the Parador de Mojacar.

But Palomares belonged to Cuevas! Doña Redoña was indignant. In retaliation she was quick to go public with a top secret piece of gossip that she knew. The CIA had gone to the Mojacar town hall to examine, or rather “disappear”, some important files. Apparently Walt Disney, yes the one from the cartoons, was the son of a Mojaquera woman who emigrated to the United States and ended up giving her baby up for adoption so that he would have a better life. Good vision had the mojaquera!

The fact is that the CIA stayed in Cuevas and commented on their mission in English, sure that no one would understand them in that little town.

And Doña Redoña, who had studied in England and spoke English perfectly, found out everything.

What did those Americans think! Cuevas is much more than caves!

Doña Redoña learned that with all the gossip she knew, it was nicer to help than to criticize. She became a great matchmaker, and she knew how to present to those who liked her. She also knew how to put in their place the ones who deserved it. And information is power. With all that she learned from so many people over so many years, she helped more than the best psychologist.

Doña Redoña did not marry, nor did she have children, but she was never alone because she had made her family out of the whole town.