Lula a pulpeira: “Cocín botelos para a festa durante 15 anos”Lula a pulpeira: “I cooked bottles for the party for 15 years”Lula a pulpeira: “Cocín botelos para a festa durante 15 anos”
“I was the first” that would be the phrase that sums up the work of Lula A Pulpeira, Obdulia Fidalgo Real, related to the Festa do Botelo. For 15 years, she was the person in charge of having everything ready so that diners could enjoy the bottle on the day of their party in Vila do Barco. “It was very hard, we were all crazy for two days to get everything ready” explains Lula, who this year will see the party from the other side, as a guest, and on this occasion of honor because he will receive the Honorable Mention of this party in recognition of his work . A job as a bottle cook for many years and also as a duster throughout her life. In the region of Valdeorras it is rare that someone does not know Lula preparing rations of octopus at fairs. A job she shares with her husband Paco Piernas (Francisco Piernas Rodríguez), together they inherited the trade from his family and have been working for 32 years.
Question- How did you start with the BoteloParty?
Answer- It was the mayor, Alfredo García and councilor Eduardo Ojea who came to talk to me along with Pedro. We started in the old pavilion and then moved to the Condesa de Fenosa school gymnasium and in recent years to the Calabagueiros Pavilion. The first year we cooked for about 400 people but then at the Condesa it doubled and in the pavilion we reached 1000 people. At the Condesa de Fenosa, everything had to be prepared on the day of the party because before you couldn’t occupy the children’s space, it was very hard, we were all crazy for two days to have everything ready on the same day. Later in the pavilion it was already more relaxed.
Question- It was very complicated to prepare everything for so many people, so you are saying?
Answer- A lot, because it was for a lot of people and each bottle has to be wrapped in a piece of cloth so that they don’t break when cooked, then check if it’s cooked. Usually it is one hour of cooking per kilo of bottle but you always have to be attentive and especially when you cooked about 300 bottles. And then the potatoes, the vegetable that had to be washed, cleaned, peeled.
Question- What does this honorable mention on this year’s bottle mean to you?
Answer- Gratifying because you see that they remember you and that the work is recognized. I was very happy that they remembered me.
Question- What do you expect from that day and the act of proclamation?
