Deep in the Alpujarra, there is a hamlet called Mairena, which is a municipal dependency of Nevada. This rural cluster has a population of only 247 inhabitants. One of them, a 37-year-old man, was arrested for allegedly converting the old school housing into a thriving Marihuana plant nursery.

In the olden days, small rural schools provided housing for the local schoolteachers; the hamlet of Mairena was no exception, but all over Andalucía they have been abandoned, given a different use, or just demolished. Teachers now have decent salaries and can afford to rent more modern accommodation or simply travel to work by car each day.

One local decided to rent the old teachers’ houses and put them to better use; much better, some might say. The locals were mystified as to why he should want to rent them and nobody was sure what he was actually doing with them.

But two and two make four. Firstly, when locals walked by, the houses had that singular smell to them, associated with ‘joints’ and at night, the sleepy hamlet was treated to a great deal of racket coming from these houses. Obviously, the houses and what was going on in them was a constant topic in the village bars, on the benches in the main square, in the little self-service shops, so before long, it became known in the Guardia Civil post in nearby Ugíjar… which proved the man’s undoing.

Before long, a Guardia Civil patrol car was seen parked outside the school houses, questions were asked about who rented them and a name was given; one that already had a reputation in police circles. So, they paid a visit.

The man answered the door and invited them in but after looking into a couple rooms it became clear that it wasn’t lettuces that he was growing in there, so they confiscated 500 marihuana plants, which took two small lorries to remove and transfer to Ugíjar. The place was also packed with carbon filters for the smell, halogen lamps, fertilizer, fans, air conditioning and all the necessary equipment for ‘the task.’

The hamlet has since returned to normal, albeit with one inhabitant less, where inhabitants are a scarcity.

(News: Mairena, Alpujarra, Granada, Andalucia)