Putting the "blanco" back in the pueblo

Arcenses take the designation of their town very seriously: as the quintessential "pueblo blanco" of Andalucia (as some guidebooks describe Arcos), townspeople take great care in keeping up appearances. Spring cleaning for inhabitants of the old town means scraping off the last year's layer of whitewash and reapplying bright new coats of the calcium-based cover. And what better way to remove an entire wall of paint than with a butter knife? And why not reapply with a paintbrush best suited to fine detail work in small watercolors? These seem to be the tools of choice for my neighbors...

Painting with a mini-paintbrush:

Because chipping paint off with a butter knife requires supervision: