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Guaro prides itself on its nuts:
almonds to be precise. Signs on the approach roads to the village
declare it to be the "Paraiso Natural de las Almendras"
(the Natural Almond Paradise), and it boasts an almond college.
In
making such a claim, the village seems to be clutching at straws
in a bold effort to find itself an identity. For although it is
an old village it has succeeded either by fate or design to avoid
stumbling into the limelight for centuries. It does not appear to
have featured in any notable historical event, and seems never to
have rated a notable fortification. However, a castle of some kind
presumably existed in the sixteenth century, when the Duke of Arcos
garrisoned his troops in the village as they moved in to quell a
Moorish revolt.
 As the world moves inexorably into
the 21st Century, the small mountain communities of Andalucía,
at least those which have not managed to attract tourists and new,
wealthy expatriate residents, are finding it increasingly difficult
to survive. The streets of Guaro are curiously devoid of young men
- so many having moved away to find work in the thriving cities
on the coast.
But
Guaro is not giving up without a fight. As a slogan, "The Natural
Almond Paradise" may not generate the tourist-pulling power of Disneyworld,
but it is a start. And as a pointer to their hoped-for future the
people, led by four students of the local building trade training
centre, got together in 1997 to turn an old Guardia Civil barracks
into the town's first hotel: the unimaginatively named Hostal Villa
de Guaro. Actually, giving the hotel the town's name may not be
as banal as it first appears. If it is to survive and attract visitors,
the first thing the town needs to teach people is its name. True,
the hotel has only eight rooms, but the people have shown that if
need be, they can soon build some more.
And in the meantime they grow their
almonds and wait. But for how long?
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