Our sister city, Almogía — Part 2

By Woody and Rebecca Fridae Special to the Express

Mayor Cristobal Torreblanca Sanchez was reserved, polite and dignified. He was very familiar with our sisterhood and had been friends with Miguel Ruiz, the Winters citizen whose idea sparked the sister city idea over 30 years ago. Miguel (Mike) was born in Winters but decided to return to his parents’ homeland when he received the inheritance of a small home and piece of land from his father, Bernardo Ruiz. Miguel built a roundhouse in Los Nuñez and lived there for several years.

The mayor remembered that Miguel offered to sell him the roundhouse, called la casa redonda, when Miguel had to leave Spain after his wife had a heart attack and there were no such services available to the Ruiz family in the province of Almogía. Miguel kept his dream alive by uniting his beloved Almogía and the place of his birth in California.

Mayor Torreblanca had traveled to Winters in 1993 as a councilmember to help celebrate the initiation of the sisterhood of the two cities; he and two of his fellow councilmembers marched in the Winters Youth Day Parade. He remembered having dinner at our house when we hosted the delegation, as I had been on the City Council during the time the process of the sisterhood began.

The mayor also recounted meeting Craig McNamara, who, he said, also raised almonds, as Mayor Torreblanca still does today. He said that the types of crops that grow in Winters are very similar to those grown in Almogía because the latitude of the towns is very similar. Winters is 38.5 and Almogía is almost 37 degrees, a difference of only 1.5 degrees.

Many of the original settlers who left Spain to find good land and work opportunities arrived in Hawaii first, but when the land and work was not as promised by the sugar plantation barons, they left and sailed into San Francisco, where they eventually discovered Winters.

There were many families who came to that route, not only from Almogía, but other rural towns in southern Spain. The Lopez, Ruiz, Martinez, Carbahal, Martín, Ramos, Fernandez, Carrión, Molina, Campos and Rubio families came from similar parts of this region, Andalucía.

Much flatter, but with similar climate and rainfall, they discovered that they could raise similar crops to those of their homeland. It must have seemed like a dream to them at the time; great, open, flatter land, similar growing conditions, and room to grow. Little by little, families and friends heard about the good land opportunities in California and followed the exodus from Hawaii.

While in Almogía, the mayor and councilmembers showed us the council chambers.

There, prominently displayed on the front wall, was the Declaration of Sisterhood with Winters. The mayor proudly accepted the framed proclamation we had brought from Winters, and he gave us a similar framed document, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Sister City adoption. I had not realized that it was the 30th anniversary until that moment. We all posed for photos, holding both proclamations. They also displayed their Almogía flag, like the

See ALMOGIA, Page 4