HOW many words in English came originally from Spanish? Probably many more than we think. With the increase in foreign travel during the latter half of the 20th Century, lots of words entered the language as a direct result of tourism. But the origins of many “borrowings” go back much further, having entered American English from Mexican Spanish and other Latin American countries several hundred years ago.

WITH the trains not running through the valley at the moment, while the track is being upgraded, a regular occurrence is that walkers find themselves stranded without means of transport back to their own vehicles.

Today saw three Spanish ramblers, who had trekked from Ubrique via Cortes de la Frontera, stranded in Estacion de Jimera de Libar with one of their party slightly injured and consequently hobbling.

THE floods have receded leaving a different river bank. The river is now 50% wider with a lot of trees and shrubs missing leaving a more open aspect. Flocks of up to 20 Cormorants arrive daily flying from the coast up the valley. Obviously the number of Barbel in the river have not declined because of the flood. The deeper water makes the fish easier to catch as Cormorants need to dive to catch the fish. In the last week of the month several Short Toed Eagles have been spotted in the area. Perhaps the sign of an early spring.

FOR the next two weeks, estoy de Rodríguez. This widely-used Spanish expression refers to a man who has temporarily been left at home on his own working while his wife and kids have gone away, usually on holiday.

THE day after the Cortes de la Frontera Rock Festival - raising money for Haiti on 13 February - Bar Allioli in Jimera de Libar is putting on a Bingo Night (14 February) - as they do every Sunday. But this one has a special twist to it - it will be another money raiser  for Haiti.

GEOCACHING was made possible following a decision by the US government in May 2000, to switch off a feature that had historically degraded GPS accuracy – this meant that civilian users of GPS devices could pinpoint locations up to ten times more accurately.

WE all know the term guiri, or, if not, we should - it’s what the Spanish call us foreigners. But is the term good or bad; positive or negative; affectionate or nasty?

I AM new to blogging - this being my first. And with the challenges I was having at the begnning, first with dear old Telefonica and, more recently, with the weather, it has been a bitty sporadic. Also, I find that, having committed myself to writing a blog for the website I am not yet quite sure what format will evolve.