Ethnography · Huertapelayo
Portillo Tunnel: The Road Carved by the People of Huertapelayo
Portillo tunnel, on the Huertapelayo road, was opened in the mid-20th century through hacendera, communal work: the residents themselves cut through it with dynamite, without public funding, taking turns by the day to load, blast and clear rubble. Mayor Bienvenido Villaverde Embid led the work. Previously, the passage between the rocks beside the stream had only carved steps.
Lands and landscapes
From here, follow the memory of the territory
These readings connect Portillo Tunnel: The Road Carved by the People of Huertapelayo with the history, work, and villages around it.
This place across time
Which eras you can read here
A single place can preserve traces from different eras. These layers connect what you see with the stories in the atlas.
- Municipality
- Huertapelayo
- Province
- Guadalajara
- Altitude
- 963 m
- Communal work
- Mid-20th century
- Built by residents
- El Chorrero
A passage between rocks
To reach Huertapelayo, in the heart of Alto Tajo, you must pass through El Portillo, a narrow defile between walls that drop vertically down to the stream. Until the mid-20th century there were only steps and passages carved into the rock, enough for people and mules, but not for a car.
Made by hand
When the village needed a road, the residents did not wait for any government ministry. They opened the tunnel in hacendera, communal labor: without public budget, through everyone’s effort and money. They took turns by days: some loaded the dynamite, others set it off, others cleared rubble and stone and leveled the road surface. Leading them was mayor Bienvenido Villaverde Embid, so fondly remembered that the village social centre bears his name.
Today
The road cuts through the rock beside the waterfall of El Chorrero. The full story of the craft of roadmaking is told in roads and drove ways.
Location
● Reference point · ● Villages · ● Places
Location diagram. Detailed map with tracks and names loads on zoom.
Reference villages: Huertapelayo · Huertahernando · Armallones · Zaorejas.
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