Grab your dancing shoes, and an empty stomach, because something sweet, spicy, savoury and fun is about to fill the streets of Rincon de la Victoria.

Streets full of food and family fun

For the second year running Rincon de la Victoria is bringing back its Gastrolatino Festival from August 13 to 16, transforming the Plaza Al-Andalus into a lively, bustling meeting point of food, music and culture for four flavour filled evenings. Organised by the town’s Department of Culture, Fairs and Festivals, the free-entry event is bringing the local area a taste of Latin America.

Each day kicks off at 6.30pm with ambient music and children’s entertainment, before the main musical acts and animation shows take over from 8pm onwards. Every evening will close with a tribute concert. Festivities will wrap up at midnight on Sunday, 16 August, following a tribute performance dedicated to Colombian star Carlos Vives.

Food, drink and entertainment on offer

Visitors can take a proper culinary journey without leaving the Malaga province. According to Rafa Urquiza, the event’s producer, attendees will be able to sample delicious Colombian arepas, juicy Chilean sandwiches and flavour filled Argentinian cuts of meat, with sweet treats including artisan ice cream and buñuelos rounding off the menu for those with a sweet tooth. A dedicated tropical cocktail area and a foodtruck zone will complement the stalls, giving festival-goers plenty of reasons to linger well into the night.

Dance fans will not be short of options either, with salsa, bachata, merengue and vallenato rhythms ready to fill the square across the four days.

Entry to the Gastrolatino Festival is free throughout. Whether you are a local resident or a holiday maker, make sure to wear your stretchy trousers and drop by the Plaza Al-Andalus to eat, drink, dance and sample what the town has to offer.

For anyone travelling around Spain, some journeys are so familiar that the idea of changing the aircraft itself might seem unnecessary. But what if a future flight between Barcelona and Ibiza could be made without conventional aviation fuel? Or if smaller aircraft could connect Spanish cities and islands while producing no emissions during the flight?

That is the idea behind technology being developed for regional aviation, with Spanish airlines Volotea and Air Nostrum backing work on electric aircraft. The technology is already being tested, while Spain’s Aviation Safety and Security Agency (AESA) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) are involved in the regulatory process needed before passengers could ever board one.

The short flights that could change first

Electric aircraft are not being developed as a replacement for the large jets used on long-distance routes. The initial opportunity is much closer to home: short regional journeys where smaller aircraft carrying fewer passengers could make better use of electric propulsion. Dovetail Electric Aviation, the company developing the technology, is working on converting existing small aircraft rather than designing an entirely new aircraft from scratch.

Its battery-electric system is initially aimed at aircraft carrying fewer than 20 passengers and flights of around 100 to 150 kilometres. Longer-range versions using hybrid technology could eventually extend that distance considerably. That makes some Spanish routes more realistic candidates than others. A short connection between mainland Spain and a nearby island could potentially suit an electric aircraft, provided the final aircraft range, passenger load and certification requirements allow it.

Volotea and Air Nostrum have backed the technology

Volotea and Air Nostrum are not newcomers to the idea. In 2021, the airlines joined aviation technology company Dante Aeronautical in a project to develop a 100 per cent electric aircraft by converting existing planes. The proposed aircraft was designed for nine to 19 passengers, putting it firmly in the regional aviation category. The project also looked at the potential for electric aircraft to serve island connections, an area where Spain has a large number of short-haul flights.

The two airlines subsequently invested in Dante Aeronautical, which later developed into Dovetail Electric Aviation. Their involvement is significant because the technology is being considered from the perspective of airlines that already operate regional services rather than solely as an engineering experiment.

Could Barcelona-Ibiza become an electric route?

Barcelona and Ibiza are the kind of destinations that demonstrate why short-range electric aviation is being explored. The distance is far shorter than many of the journeys flown by conventional passenger jets, while demand for connections between mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands remains high. A future electric aircraft with sufficient range and passenger capacity could potentially serve such a route. But that does not mean an electric Barcelona-Ibiza service is about to launch.

The aircraft currently being developed for battery-electric operation have limited range compared with conventional commercial aircraft. Battery weight is one of the biggest obstacles, as carrying enough energy for a longer flight also means carrying more weight, which itself affects how efficiently the aircraft can operate.

Palma-Madrid is a different challenge

The idea of flying electrically between Palma and Madrid is considerably more complicated. The distance is far beyond the initial range being targeted for fully battery-powered aircraft. A future hybrid-electric aircraft could potentially cover much longer distances, but that technology is at a different stage from the smaller battery-electric aircraft currently being tested.

It would therefore be misleading to suggest that Palma-Madrid is about to become an electric flight. Instead, the route illustrates the wider challenge facing the industry: the technology may work particularly well for some regional journeys long before it becomes practical for longer domestic flights.

Spain is already testing the technology

Dovetail has been carrying out ground testing of its batteries and electric motors and has received authorisation from AESA for experimental flights in Spain.  That is an important step, but experimental approval is not the same as permission to carry passengers.

Before an electric aircraft can enter commercial service, the aircraft, propulsion system and other components must pass the same rigorous aviation safety process required for conventional aircraft. EASA is also developing the regulatory framework needed to certify electric and hybrid aircraft. The agency has been working on adapting existing aviation rules to propulsion systems that do not rely on conventional jet engines.

When could passengers actually fly electric?

The technology still has several hurdles to overcome before an electric aircraft could appear on a scheduled Spanish service. Range, battery capacity, aircraft weight, charging infrastructure and passenger capacity all have to work together, while certification remains essential. Dovetail’s work is therefore aimed at developing aircraft that can eventually operate commercially rather than simply proving that an electric aircraft can get off the ground.

For passengers, the change is unlikely to happen overnight. There is no electric Barcelona-Ibiza or Palma-Madrid service that can currently be booked with Volotea or Air Nostrum. But Spain’s short domestic routes could eventually provide one of the first practical testing grounds for electric passenger aviation. If the technology reaches certification and the aircraft can deliver the required range, the familiar regional flight could one day involve a very different kind of aircraft.

Kids at a summer camp in Dietwil in Switzerland nearly choked on their lunch when a furry two-legged creature bounded out of the woods on Thursday. Some reckoned it was an oversized rabbit at first, but the long tail and proper leaping style soon put everyone straight. It was a wallaby, the smaller cousin of the kangaroo.

Camp staff tried tempting it with cucumber slices and lettuce leaves, yet the animal soon bounced off again. They rang Aargau cantonal police straight away. Officers checked around local farms and a regional zoo that keeps wallabies, but no one had reported anything missing. Three registered wallaby keepers operate in Aargau with eight animals between them, yet this one did not match any of those.

How a small hole sparked a media frenzy

Work on a water pipe had left a gap in the fence at a licensed wallaby farm in Inwil, just over the border in the canton of Lucerne. The marsupial squeezed through and covered roughly six kilometres before turning up near the youth camp. A short video of it hopping along the forest edge quickly spread online and kept Swiss journalists busy for a couple of days.

By Friday afternoon the search party, Aargau police, a vet and the owner – spotted the animal again in woodland only 300 metres from its enclosure. Christian Rapp, deputy head of the Swiss Large Animal Rescue Service, told regional broadcaster Tele M1 they managed to tranquilise it from a moving vehicle at a distance of about 17 metres. The wallaby is now safely back home.

Owner found and inquiries continue

Investigations tracked the owner to that licensed farm in Lucerne. Lucerne’s deputy cantonal veterinarian Tobias Frink confirmed checks are under way to establish exactly how the escape happened. Suitable steps could follow once the facts are clear.

This is not the first time an unusual animal has caused a stir in the area. Back in 2019 a fisherman reported what he thought was a caiman hunting ducks on Lake Hallwil. That turned out to be a large catfish with a water bird in its stomach.

Wallabies are still popular among a small number of private keepers as pets in Switzerland, though escapes like this one remind everyone how quickly things can go sideways if fencing is not perfect.