And now for something totally different!

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

I had a close encounter today with an 
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Iguana!

It was sitting in the middle of a lane when I went to drive to the bar at lunchtime for coffee. It didn't want to move from the middle of the lane. I spent about half an hour flagging down vehicles, well about 8 cars, to prevent it being run over. One guy got out to help, he eventually managed to persuade it to move to the side but it was hissing and spitting like a good un. Must of measured about 1m from nose to end of tail!

I then went knocking on doors to try to find it's owner. Have you ever tried asking a complete stranger, in Spanish, if they have lost an iguana? Funny looks don't come into it! 
Eventually a very nice lady who spoke good English said she would phone SEPRONA (Spanish Civil Guard that deal with animals) and ask if they could collect it. At this point Iggy climbed through the wooden fence into an uninhabited property and I left for my coffee. I asked at the local shop and the bar which caused great hilarity and I think only served to reinforce my reputation as 'that strange English woman'. The old boys in the bar did pass my phone around to check the pics - one of them found it so funny he had tears rolling down his cheeks - perhaps my pronunciation left a lot to be desired or actually implied a different meaning? Who knows … 

¿Has perdido una iguana?

  

[Emmi Smith]

Well done for trying Tamara.  I am sure you were understood, but I think the concept of a "guiri" being so concerned about an iguana is odd to the Spanish!

[Can the Man]

Yes well done Tamara poor Iggy could very easily have been run over. I hope he wasn’t just dumped there because he became to much to handle for his owners, as he is not native to here and could cause damage to local fauna.
Perhaps the authorities might get someone from Oasis Park to try catch it.

[Archer]

Maybe he escaped from Oasis Park. A long walk....

[windermeregolfer]

Maybe he escaped from Oasis Park. A long walk....

Didn't realise it was called Mandela - Long Walk to Freedom 

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Iggy obviously hadn't heard about the lock down ……...  

I've been trying to follow up and find out if he was taken into custody by SEPRONA but I've not been able to go and speak to the lady that was going to phone them due to the restrictions.

Full name: Iggy Mandela
Got quite a ring to it!

[Gone Fishing]

Just as well you saved it from being run over Tamara ... or it would have been Iggy Pop   

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Update on Iggy!

The lady I mentioned previously was working in her garden today when I drove past so I stopped and had a shouted chat with her! SEPRONA/MedioAmbiente collected Iggy soon after she phoned them and were taking him to Oasis Park if they hadn't had any enquiries in 24 hours. So hopefully he's tucked up warm and safe and fed, along with the other Iggys down there. I'll visit him after lockdown! 

[Perrypower1]

We loved the story of Iggy.  It reminded us that just a little under three years ago, we were looking at our place via our security cams and were amazed to see something in our pool, trying to get into the skimmer opening.
At first, we thought it must be a plastic bag, but it seemed to be swimming and we noticed it had legs!
We then realised it was a turtle.  Not the small one that floats and holds a pool thermometer (top left corner of pool) but a real one.
We contacted International Turtle Rescue via WhatsApp (aka Steve the Pool man who lives on the road below us).  He came over with a friend and they rescued Tilly Turtle.  It took ages as each time they tried to net it it swam to the bottom of the pool.
In the end Tilly was rescued and went to a person in Caleta who keeps turtles in a special pond.  We tried to find the owner but to no avail.
Now I know you are thinking it just got away or was released but you need to understand the position of our pool in the scheme of things.  As JohnR (lives across from us up one road) and Captain (lives below us and down one road) know our Villa is difficult to just wander into.  There are walls that are not climbable on the left and right of the rear garden where the pool is.  The drop between our back fence and the road below is four meters. The only access to the pool is down a flight of stairs from the carport which is about a three-meter vertical drop.  It would not be something easily accomplished by a turtle.  The access to the carport/drive is via a gate that is closed and goes from the floor (no gap underneath) to about four feet tall, so it did not get in that way.
Either turtles have evolved to fly or maybe it got picked up by a large bird and deposited into our pool.  But it would have to be an exceptionally large bird as this turtle was 20plus cm across and weighed a kilo.  The bird would have had to weigh at least two kilos to pick it up and fly with it.  It looks like it has some damage to its shell so we think it either fell down the stairs, but we cannot figure how it got in, or was dropped.

[Emmi Smith]

All certainly very odd.  Can only imagine your theory about a bird dropping it,may be what happened.  Any idea what sort of turtle it was, as there are about 7 species?