Chorro de la Meancera
Recommended in spring and after rain; a trickle by late summer. Bring shoes you can soak.
The best of the Hurdes swimming holes, at the end of a short walk through stone terraces.
At a Glance
- — You are looking for a big set-piece waterfall, or you are here in a dry August
The Chorro de la Meancera is a waterfall on the river Hurdano near Caminomorisco, where the stream drops between slate walls into a pool you can swim in during summer. The walk in from the road through the village of La Dehesilla takes about twenty minutes on a path through stone terraces and old olive trees, and the fall is loud and cold and best after rain or in spring melt. It is small as waterfalls go, and that is the point of Las Hurdes: everything here is on a domestic scale rather than a scenic one. Take shoes that can get wet and do not expect a car park or a sign in English.
How it got here
Las Hurdes remains one of the most isolated districts in Extremadura. For centuries the population lived in profound poverty, separated from the rest of the province by rugged topography and poor infrastructure. Until the early twentieth century the comarca existed in near total obscurity, known only for extreme hardship and archaic customs. The land itself dictated the survival of those who worked the slate slopes and narrow valleys. This waterfall flows through a landscape that once drew the attention of ethnographers and writers who sought to document an untouched, archaic way of life that had persisted since the medieval period.
Where it sits
The stream drops through a narrow corridor of slate walls within a landscape defined by sharp inclines and terraces built for subsistence farming. Stone paths wind through orchards of olive trees from the village of La Dehesilla toward the river Hurdano. The flow of the water fluctuates wildly with the seasons, drying to a trickle during the heat of late summer and surging with winter rain. Hikers walk through silent, rugged country where the terrain determines the pace. No signs clutter the path, and the air stays cool in the shadow of the rocks even when the sun hits the valley.
What to eat and drink
The cuisine of Las Hurdes relies on the products of a mountainous environment. Cabrito, kid goat roasted with garlic and bay leaves, provides the standard rural meal. During the slaughtering season, people prepare cochifrito, small pieces of pork fried in olive oil with paprika and vinegar. The local honey from the hives placed in the surrounding heath is highly regarded, often served as a simple dessert. People drink the dry, full-bodied red wines produced in small quantities throughout the province of Cáceres, which cut through the salt and fat of the local cured meats like morcilla and longaniza.
Extremadura: the whole region
The emptiest region in Spain, and the one where the scale of the country is clearest: dehesa plains running to the horizon in every direction, hilltop towns built from the stone under them, and the best Roman remains in the country at…
Minimum 4 days · better 7-8 days · deep 12 days
In Extremadura
In Extremadura
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