Women’s Stream

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Villanueva de San Juan. Arroyo de las Mujeres

The various ways in which the so-called Arroyo de las mujeres (Women’s Stream) has been used by the town of Villanueva de San Juan and its inhabitants represents a tour of the history of the town and a barometer of the climate and landscape changes that occur in the area.

Since the foundation of the town the stream was used as a source of drinking water and as a washing place by women, who reached the stream along a path of less than one kilometre located to the south of the town. The stream and path were therefore an important social meeting point in those early days, its name coming from the fact that at the time it was the women who were responsible for the tasks carried out there. Later, with the arrival of running water these uses disappeared, the stream now only being used as a watering place for livestock. In modern times, the town used the water from the stream to supply the municipal swimming pool, until it was finally closed.

The Arroyo de las Mujeres and Los Tajos, the name given to the canyon through which the stream runs formed by the erosion of the water over the centuries, is a place of outstanding beauty, suitable for hiking, with a microclimate that mitigates the high temperatures in summer.

Region

Sierra Sur