El suelo sobre el que se asienta la ciudad de Málaga y el de los montes que la rodean es de un color pardo, al que las luces del alba y del atardecer consiguen extraer unas tonalidades rojizas que llegan a ser muy bellas a la hora del crepúsculo. Sobre este fondo, además, el blanco ofrece un contraste muy marcado.
Menciono esto porque el monte en cuya ladera vivo recibe -además del nombre oficial de Monte Victoria o Cerro San Cristóbal- el apodo popular de Monte de las Tres Letras, que es con el que lo denomina la mayoría de los malagueños.
Este sobrenombre lo recibió, según parece, en el año 1939, cuando alguien tuvo la lamentable idea de realizar un remedo cutre y abreviado del letrero de Hollywood para proclamar su pertenencia a Acción Católica. Para ello se pintaron con cal en su cima las iniciales JAC, de varios metros de altura, que resultaban visibles desde gran parte de la ciudad. El bodrio siguió allí hasta los setenta, ya que los autores repintaban las letras con una tenacidad digna de mejor causa cada vez que las inclemencias atmosféricas amenazaban con borrarlas. Con la llegada de la Democracia, sin embargo, el rótulo se convirtió en un curioso campo de batalla dialéctico, y unos días amanecían sobre la piedra las consabidas JAC, mientras que otros habían sido sustituidas por las iniciales CNT.
Un buen día, en fecha reciente, y en un arrebato de nihilismo muy adecuado a los tiempos que corren, las letras pasaron a decir PEO. Como se ve, el mensaje cambia, pero las letras son siempre tres.
The soil on which the city of Malaga sits and its surrounding hills is of a brown color. When the light of dawn lies on them, they show some reddish tones that become very beautiful at dusk. Against this background, in addition, the white color provides a stark contrast.
I mention this because the mountain on whose slope I live on receives official name of Monte Victoria or Cerro San Cristobal, but is better known with the popular nickname of Mount of the three letters.
It received its nickname in 1939, when someone had the unfortunate idea of making a seedy and abbreviated mock of the Hollywood sign to proclaim its membership in Acción Católica. Thus they painted with lime at its peak the initials JAC, several meters high, which were visible from much of the city. The mess continued there until the seventies, as the authors repainted the letters with a persistence worthy of a better cause whenever inclement weather threatened to erase them. With the advent of democracy, however, the label became a curious dialectic battlefield; some days the stone would show the usual JAC, while others they might have been replaced by the initials CNT.
I mention this because the mountain on whose slope I live on receives official name of Monte Victoria or Cerro San Cristobal, but is better known with the popular nickname of Mount of the three letters.
It received its nickname in 1939, when someone had the unfortunate idea of making a seedy and abbreviated mock of the Hollywood sign to proclaim its membership in Acción Católica. Thus they painted with lime at its peak the initials JAC, several meters high, which were visible from much of the city. The mess continued there until the seventies, as the authors repainted the letters with a persistence worthy of a better cause whenever inclement weather threatened to erase them. With the advent of democracy, however, the label became a curious dialectic battlefield; some days the stone would show the usual JAC, while others they might have been replaced by the initials CNT.
One day recently, and in a fit of nihilism well suited to the times, the letters went on to say PEO*. As seen, the message changes, but the letters are always three.
* dirty word in Spanish.
