The old admiral and the sea and a poetry contest in Almuñecar

Monchéri likes the company of old men who had a full intense life. He likes to listen to stories of travels and uncommon things. When we stayed in Almuñecar a few days ago, as I was checking on some new places, he met the colorful Pepe who is a former admiral and now lives on the coast in Almuñecar, where he opened a modest small hostal. Tourists have not come in flocks yet so, his hostal was empty by the time we were there. We were about to go back to Granada and may be because he liked us or because Monchéri was all ears when the old admiral narrated his overseas adventures, Pepe proposed us to stay at his hostal for the extremely humble sum of 10€ a night ! So...we couldn't refuse, could we?Pepe generously gave us the room upstairs con vistas al mar, views on the sea and the beautiful metal weathercock in shape of a boat. The hostal was a bit dusty and neglected but oh well, our host was kind and pleasant. After sharing stories of his life in faraway countries, Pepe told us he started to write poetry some years ago and organized a poetry contest every year on a special theme. Everybody from any nationality is welcome to enter the contest, provided the poem is written in Spanish.

The best 3 poems receive a prize from 100€ to 300€. The night of the contest, once the prizes have been awarded and after a few glasses of good red wine and hearty food, poems are being thrown into the sea, inside a glass bottle. I found the idea quite romantic. Who knows if, one day, on the Morroccan coast, someone catches a glimpse of the floating bottle enclosing a poem written by a man or a woman some time ago. Actually, Pepe confessed with a broad smile on his face, that he did receive an email once from someone in Algeria, who had found one his poems with his email address. Isn't it incredible?

This year, the contest is on again and the elected theme is the crisis. Monchéri says he will try to write something. My Spanish is not good enough but I would love to write something too. To be sincere, I'm very curious to read what the participants will have to say about the crisis in form of a poem....

I must say, it's a topic which worries me rather than inspires me to write poetry !

edit to post : silly me, I forgot my Spanish speaking blogging friends (Yoli, Cynthia, Cuban, Susanna) and all of you out there could be interested. Here are the conditions of the contest. The exact theme is España en crisis*. Poesia.

The length accepted is a A4 sheet.
Deadline is : august 25th
Works are to be submitted at the following address : Hotel Playa San Cristobal, Plaza de Abderraman nº5 - 18690 Almuñecar (Granada) Spain.
3 awards will be given to the best poems
1st prize : 300€
2nd prize : 200€
3rd prize : 100€
Awards will be remitted at the Hotel Playa San Cristobal on september 5th.

*the crisis is hitting hard in Spain as the economy mainly rested on sectors of construction and real restate which have been severely slowing down