A 90 year old man recalls rural life in Spain's depopulated villages

Prudencio Martínez Gómez, a 90 year old man, shared his memories of rural life in Yémeda, a small village in the province of Cuenca, Spain.

He described a past defined by manual labor, where farming required intense physical strength and endurance before the introduction of tractors and modern machinery. He worked the land alongside his father, cultivating gardens and preparing small agricultural plots known as quiñones.

Martínez Gómez also recalled his diverse work history, including fifteen years operating machinery in kaolin mines and working in earth-moving projects. Despite moving away for several years to live in Motilla del Palancar, he eventually returned to his birthplace. Today, he continues to maintain a small garden and care for chickens, though he recently shared part of his land with a neighbor due to a poor harvest. The village of Yémeda has changed significantly over the decades.

It currently has only 18 registered inhabitants, and many essential services have vanished, such as the local school and the railway station. Martínez Gómez expressed concern that the loss of these services and the abandonment of a local spa project threaten the future of small towns. He argues that good roads and communications are essential to prevent these rural communities from becoming isolated.