PEOPLE OF THE SUMMER 2011 (2)

People of Jimena: birds of a feather

Eduardo Sánchez Navarro (left) has been one of several taxi drivers in Jimena for many, many years (he wouldn't admit to exactly how many). That's his pride and joy tool-of-the-trade Mercedes in the photo.
Eugenio Domínguez de la Torre, on the other hand, is proud to have been in the business for 37 years, though, he says, he is looking forward to retirement in the not too distant future.
They and their fellows can be found just around the corner from the main square, opposite the banks; they take strict turns answering the phone (956 640 024) or taking the next passenger in line. It costs €3 to be driven up to the top of town, though they don't have published rates. A longer journey, e.g. to the airport, is negotiable on an individual basis.
(Watch this space for an upcoming magazine item on The People of Jimena. You might also like to use the Search facility at the top of the sidebar to see our past People You Should Know items; just copy People You Should Know into the box.)

People you should know: Jimena Councillors

(Image: Council website) This item has been updated since it first appeared on August 13, 2007. We all know who the Mayor of Jimena is, don't we? But do you know who the rest of the Councillors are? Or what party they belong to, or how much they earn? Below we offer a list, and photos, of each of the Executive Council, i.e. the ones who run the place. In brackets you will see how much they earned in August 2007 (it might have gone up since then).>

People you should know: Cajasol

Jorge Cárdenas Castillo is the manager of the Jimena branch of Cajasol. He is a native jimenato and the son and brother of well known local flamenco singers. His building society, which until last year was known as Caja San Fernando, is the oldest in town, Prospero believes, though it with Caja Jerez, which gave birth to Cajasol and thus becomes one of the largest in Andalucía. Cajasol also has a branch in Estación.

People you should know: Primary School Head Teacher

Juan Rondón is the headmaster of the primary school, the official name of which is Colegio Público Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles. As the school term ends, and if your child has not yet been to school, you will need to register him/her in June. It is worth turning up at the school (Secretaría, 1st floor, 1st entrance), to ask what you need to do. As far as I know, there is no-one who speaks English, although there is a teacher of English if you're desperate. The law states that all children have a right to free schooling, resident or not, though you will have to show a Certificado de Empadronamiento to show you belong to this municipality and obtainable from the Town Hall (Ayuntamiento, 1st floor, office on the left). As for the secondary school, if your child has been going to the primary school you will not need to register him/her as this is done automatically. If he/she hasn't, you will need to find out from the school secretary at the Instituto Hozgarganta, just below the medical centre. Sorry, don't know which door, but there is a glass booth on theright as you go in to the main building. And you need to be rung in at the gate, which happens when you press the bell.

People you should know: Tío Jimeno

Ricardo Gómez is the main cog on the TioJimeno machine. His journalistic instinct, his ability to be everywhere at once, his sense of humour and his commitment are the key to his success, and much to the benefit of everyone living in Jimena. Should anyone wonder why Prospero goes on about Ricardo, they have never tried to communicate with the majority of the inhabitants of the village as Prospero has. Ricardo has found the answer through his blog site, which started as a hobby took off astoundingly and much to his surprise. Even Google didn't believe his success and in the early days cut him off from their AdSense programme! Prospero could never have kept up with much of the local information you find on this site without him and his team. As has been said here before, THANK YOU, RICARDO.

People you should know: Unicaja

Francisco Benítez Bañón, popularly known as Paco Bañón, has been the manager of the Unicaja branch in Jimena for about twenty years. Most of his staff has been there for a number of years as well, which says a lot for the services they offer. Unicaja is the largest building society in Andalucía and ranks third in Spain.

People you should know: The Tax Office

The Municipal Tax Office (Servicio de Recaudación) is where you go to find out about all local tax matters. These include council taxes (officially Impuesto de Bienes Inmuebles, or IBI, but also known as Contribuciones), vehicle entry (Entrada de Vehículos) and car or other vehicle taxes, e.g. motorbikes (Circulación/Tracción Mecánica), among others.
María Luisa García Camacho (l.) and Santiago Sánchez Callao are the people you will see as you enter their offices at the Casa de Cultura, opposite the Town Hall. They and their workmates are there to help you. They will advise on when to pay each tax and make arrangements for direct debit from your bank. They won't accept payment at the office, though; that has to be done at any of the three building societies in town.

The second in a new section on People You Should Know, the team at Correos, i.e. the Post Office, is there, across the street from the primary school, to offer the usual postal service (letters, parcels, post boxes, next day courier-type delivery, etc.), plus such useful things as money transfers, Western Union service, banking (Correos works with Deutsche Bank as their branches) and a lot more. On the left is Inmaculada 'Inma' García González, who is usually at the desk, and Sebastián 'Sebas' Jiménez Fernández de Córdoba, who is the manager. Opening hours are from 8.30 to 14.00 Monday to Friday, and 8.30 to 13.00 on Saturdays.
The people who actually deliver the letters were doing just that when Prospero turned up with a camera, so he''ll catch them at another time. See some of them below>

People you should know

This picture marks the beginning of a new section on JimenaPulse. The idea is to offer an occasional photo of key people in the municipality and help you to identify them. Watch this space and make suggestions (via Comments below) about whom you think should feature here. Here is the team at the main chemists in Jimena village, Farmacia Regueira. From l. to r. : Francisco 'Paco' Barranco Lozano, Ana Pineda Conde and Héctor Regueira Mauriz, the chemist himself. Héctor speaks English, you might be pleased to know, and is very helpful indeed, as Prospero can attest personally. This is only part of the excellent team of people at this key spot. They are also the only opticians in town.