Spain's depopulation: "The fools who have stayed"

Spain's depopulation: "The fools who have stayed"

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For more than 30 years, Juan Martin Colomer and his wife Sinforosa Sancho have lived alone in a village in Spain's eastern highlands that once had more than 200 inhabitants.

"Everyone has gone, we are the fools who have stayed," laughed Sinforosa, who turned 85 this month, sitting on the steps of a pink-fronted building that was once the local boys' school.

. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera
Sinforosa and Juan Martin light a fire to cook meat on the grill.

"We have always lived like this. When it's cold, we make a fire. We sleep under blankets. You are here, you have chickens, rabbits, the land, and you manage," she said.

. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera
Pollen flies in the wind.

Nestled in a valley in the northeastern Aragon region, where pollen drifts over pine trees that have gradually spread across the formerly arable land, the village is at the centre of a creeping population desert.

. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera
An abandoned house.

Residents began abandoning these rural towns and villages to seek work in cities when the civil war ended in 1939, leaving behind an area twice the size of Belgium that is set to become the least populated in the European Union.

There are fewer than eight inhabitants for every square kilometre, and those who remain are ageing, a drastic sample of a society where across Spain deaths outpaced births last year at the fastest rate since records began in 1941.

. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera
Juan Martin feeds one of his dogs.

Juan Martin and Sinforosa's son Vicente was the last child to live there, and he had to go to school in a nearby village after the local teacher left and his school closed.

"If there are no children, there is no life," said Juan Martin, 84.

. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera
Juan Martin jokes with Sinforosa as he sets up a fence around their field.

The pair live on a pension of around 1,200 euros ($1,400) a month between them. They keep rabbits and hens for meat and eggs, and drive to a nearby town to buy other food which they cook on a butane stove or their open fire.

. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera
A single light is seen inside the house of Juan Martin and Sinforosa.

Until 10 years ago they relied on oil lamps for the rare occasions they needed artificial light, but now they have solar panels to provide electricity.

"We have never had a telephone line, and there is only a mobile signal in the cemetery," Sinforosa said.

. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera
The overgrown cemetery.

Neither misses society, and despite owning a house in nearby Villafranca, they only go there to visit Vicente and his family.

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Slideshow

Sinforosa dozes off on the ground in the only square in the village.
. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera

Sinforosa dozes off on the ground in the only square in the village.

Sinforosa scares one of the more than twenty cats that live with her and her husband.
. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera

Sinforosa scares one of the more than twenty cats that live with her and her husband.

Sinforosa and Juan Martin walk along empty Calle Mayor.
. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera

Sinforosa and Juan Martin walk along empty Calle Mayor.

A "For sale" sign is seen on an abandoned house.
. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera

A "For sale" sign is seen on an abandoned house.

Sinforosa throws cat poop through a hole.
. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera

Sinforosa throws cat poop through a hole.

Sinforosa and Juan Martin chat surrounded by their cats in the only square.
. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera

Sinforosa and Juan Martin chat surrounded by their cats in the only square.

Socks are left to dry.
. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera

Socks are left to dry.

Sinforosa takes a break from helping Juan Martin.
. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera

Sinforosa takes a break from helping Juan Martin.

Juan Martin goes for a walk with one of his dogs.
. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera

Juan Martin goes for a walk with one of his dogs.

Juan Martin sets up a fence around his field.
. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera

Juan Martin sets up a fence around his field.

Sinforosa prepares to open the door to the church.
. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera

Sinforosa prepares to open the door to the church.

Sinforosa checks a mop in the church days before a pilgrimage.
. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera

Sinforosa checks a mop in the church days before a pilgrimage.

Offerings are seen behind the altar at the sanctuary.
. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera

Offerings are seen behind the altar at the sanctuary.

Morning light bathes an old confessional inside the sanctuary.
. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera

Morning light bathes an old confessional inside the sanctuary.

Juan Martin uses a LED hand lamp at night.
. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera

Juan Martin uses a LED hand lamp at night.

Sinforosa tries to pull a splinter from her husband's hand.
. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera

Sinforosa tries to pull a splinter from her husband's hand.

Sinforosa and Juan Martin prepare to eat dinner leftovers for lunch.
. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera

Sinforosa and Juan Martin prepare to eat dinner leftovers for lunch.

Sinforosa and Juan Martin finish dinner.
. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera

Sinforosa and Juan Martin finish dinner.

"We have grown up in solitude and we like it," said Juan Martin, but he does not expect anyone will want to live as they do in the future. "La Estrella will die out with us."

. La Estrella, SPAIN. Reuters/Susana Vera
The village of La Estrella.