19 January 2014
A wildfire has swept through the beach La Caleta de Maro, near the town of Nerja (Malaga) early this morning, an area remembered by several generations of Spaniards because of it being the setting in which “Pancho” shouted “Chanquete has died”, in the popular TVE series “Verano Azul”.
This beach, called “Cala Chica” in the TV show, became the gathering spot for the gang of “Verano Azul between August of 1979 and December 1980. It appeared in each and every episode of this show, directed by Antonio Mercero. The show contributed to Nerja’s international promotion and a transfer of lots of publicity to the area.
The town’s Mayor of Maro, Javier López spoke to news agency Efe and regretted the wildfire. The beach, “virtually untouched” hadn’t suffered any alteration during the last decades.
The fire started around 2:00 AM and was controlled by four groups of the Fire Department of the province, from Vélez-Málaga and Nerja. The firemen have considered the fire had died down at 8:00 AM. At this point it, it is not known what caused it. A large area of shrubs and reeds has been destroyed as well as a nearby hothouse.
López lamented that “up to yesterday, the beach was just as we all remembered it from the time when we were all little children, and as it was when all Spaniards saw it in “Verano Azul”, but now, there isn’t even one reed left”.
