I've written here before about a middle aged couple who sold there house a couple of years ago for a huge amount of money and hit the road. I don't know them all that well but they have included me on their travel emails and I've read each one with great interest.
For the most part, their travels to India, Southeast Asia, the southern United States and now Spain have sounded wonderful. However, with a bit of "reading between the lines" and a whole lot of "imagining what it must really be like", I've concluded this nomadic lifestyle is not for everyone.
They haven't settled in any one place for any length of time. When they do return to Canada, their emails are pleas for temporary accommodation such as house-sitting opportunities and the like. In situations like this, "you gets what you pays for" and I can't imagine these so called opportunities have always been wonderful.
Their many months traveling the back roads of India involved a lot of intestinal discomfort (as in very sick for along time) and if that's someone's idea of a good time, good on them.
Their emails paint each experience in the most positive light but the last one from Spain really does seem wonderful given all the sunshine and fresh food.
"This is our last week in Orgiva. The first two weeks were
very hot summer weather and then the temperatures dropped to a very
comfortable level. It is sunny and warm today, with lots of clouds,
and there is thunder rumbling...this lovely Spanish-style house is
cosy...
We know the village well now. We do the 20-minute walk to town every
few days or so to buy food. Every Thurs is market day with the local
farmers and hippies selling their wares. We combine market day with a
visit to the local thrift shop which is run by a women's group (made
up of mainly foreigners) with all monies going to help battered women.
One of the volunteers is a young woman from Oakville, Ont. Orgiva has
two health food stores. We know where to buy local fruits and
vegetables in the village. There are two small supermarkets that carry
a large amount of British food b/c there are so many Brits living
here.
We have found a favourite inexpensive Spanish red wine. We have been
enjoying some wonderful French cheeses and a local Spanish cheese. We
add local olives to our wine and cheese and (rediscovered & updated to
whole grains) British Ryvita crackers for our late afternoon
'indulgence' as we sit on the terrace admiring the view of the
orchard/garden and the Sierra Nevada mountains behind.
For dessert, after our mostly vegetarian dinners, we have found an
excellent store-bought flan, and dark chocolate with almonds. I tried
making homemade honey vanilla almond (no sugar) ice cream but it
didn't turn out well. Perhaps it was using goat's milk instead of
cow's milk that made the difference. No one else liked it so I had to
eat it all -- all by myself!
We know how to pick and dry almonds, when to pick pomegranates, how
to seed them and the best way to eat them, and exactly when the figs
are ready for eating right off the tree. We are still trying to figure
out how to pick the walnuts b/c they are covered in a black ink which
stains everything in sight! We have huge respect for 'water' after
overseeing the weekly acequias water irrigation allotment with
Antonio, the Master of the Water, and his one-eyed dog.
We both enjoyed reading Chris Stewart's "Driving over Lemons" and "A
Parrot in the Pepper Tree" which are all about his life as a Brit
settling and farming outside of Orgiva with his wife and daughter (who
was born here).
We have met several British people who have made a life for themselves
here...We met one fellow and his little 6-year-old daughter, Carlotta,
as we walked to town recently. Carlotta speaks German b/c her mother
is German, French b/c her father is French, English b/c they were
living and working in London, and Spanish b/c she is going to school
in Orgiva for the year. She seems to have very little confusion with
the separate languages. She spoke English to us and French to her
father as we walked along. We also met in town a young woman from
Montreal (very few other nationalities besides Brits have settled
here) who lives in a yurk outside of town with her French partner and
two-year-old son, and no electricity or running water. We talked with
her for quite a while...so interesting the choices people make...
We have explored some of the surrounding small Moorish villages, and
hiked some of the Sierra Nevada mountain ridges and valleys with
English friends (avid 'walkers') who came to stay with us...
Recent Comments