It's Spring in Andalucia

For the past three weeks we've had about 5 days of sunshine. One was yesterday and another is today...our last day here.......it's like 70 degrees.....and full sun.
We've just heard from friends in the states that we're about to come home to a 12" snow storm. Who knows when we'll actually make it back to Hudson!















This photo was taken yesterday...a restored windmill in the background and the almond trees in full bloom!

I have a few more thoughts so if I don't get to publish them before we leave I'll do it when we get back.......

Campico de Honor and El Albir

I never know what to expect when I go to work with Ramon. Sometimes we go for coffee and then to the invernaderos to look at eggplant, other times we meet with reps from seed companies and do field inspections of plants and twice I have been in a car, shoulder to shoulder with Andalucian farmers, on a field trip to look at tomatoes. There are days when Ramon is too busy to do much talking so I use that opportunity to listen to everybody speak the Andalucian dialect of Spanish. It can be VERY hard to follow...not only do they speak very fast but with this dialect they drop the “s” from the end of the words. So my training with Rosetta Stone (and the other times I've heard Spanish being spoken) is a bit for naught as “Buenos Dias” becomes “Bueno Dia” and “nos vamos” (let's go) becomes “novamo”. Combine that with that fact that in Spain the “c” in the middle of a word no longer sounds like “see” it becomes a “th” sound and you have the word “Gracias” morphing into “Grathia”. As I have told our new Spanish friends, if I can learn Spanish in Andalucia I will be able to understand it anywhere in the world. I Have learned a ton but it's rather daunting....

Anyway, I digress.......One work day earlier this month, I met Ramon and we headed out to an unknown (at least for me) destination. The drive started on the highway and after a few minutes we exited onto a smaller road that took us toward the barren hillsides. You can see from a few of the photos on this blog that the landscape here is pretty desolate..dry, scrubby, mountainous land with no trees for windbreaks and the ever present ruins of former stone cortijos.
Within a couple of kilometers of the highway, the narrow paved road took us into un pueblo pequeno, or at least the remains of a pueblo. There were a number of centuries old, crumbling stone houses right against the road; with the same missing roofs and windows and broken stone walls that I described in an early posting. They're really quite fascinating.....
As we crept further into this pueblo (if you were driving 30mph through this town and blinked you would miss it, seriously!) we saw a broken, old car with a Mastiff chained to it. This scenario was close enough to the road that when the dog lunged for our car, the short chain stopped him within a meter from my passenger window. There was also one or two scraggly old trees and even a row of about five new concrete and stucco condos...they seemed quite out of place in this very old and seemingly abandoned settlement.
We turned onto a drive between two of the stone ruins and after about 100 feet, and around a little bend behind the old buildings, there was a long, stucco wall that was one story tall.


It was freshly painted and the small garden in front of it was fully landscaped. At one end of the wall was a heavy wooden door and a sign that said “Restaurante” and another sign that read “Timbre” with an arrow pointing at the bell.

Ramon parked the car and we sat for a few minutes talking our Spanglish. I thought..maybe this is just a quiet, out of the way place where we are going to have our intercambio today. Not that we ever do that (he is working after all) but...since we arrived about 11 am and there was no one in this town except for the chained dog and an old lady who gave us the evil eye as she passed us in her car, I thought maybe we were playing hookie.....Nope! A few minutes later, who pulls up but the farmer I had met a couple of weeks prior (the one who's mother had the hog hanging in her kitchen). It was another work related meeting (this time about watermelons) and I guess this restaurant was the halfway point between Ramon's office and this guy's farm.
We rang the bell and Juan, the restaurant's proprietor, greeted us warmly in both Spanish and English. The restaurant was not yet open for business that day but he obviously knew we were coming and to my surprise, through that door and behind the well kept, rustic wall was something completely unexpected......
That long stucco wall made up one side of a very large enclosed courtyard. The floor of the entire courtyard was a stone and tile terrace broken by an in-ground pool, an in-ground hot tub, some landscaping and plantings that created privacy screens around the two outdoor showers.
The wall that ran along the parking area had a tiled, shed roof extending into the courtyard which created a shady refuge from the intense sun, and the other walls had openings cut into them allowing you to enjoy the Andalucian mountains beyond. Also within this courtyard were a number of thatched palapas and off to one corner was the restaurant of post and beam construction with wall to wall windows to enjoy views of the courtyard and the countryside.
It entire site was a beautiful, rustic oasis!

Before starting their meeting, we were offered coffee and once Juan found out I was American, he offered me Johnnie Walker! Of course I declined and while Ramon held his meeting, I wandered around the intimate restaurant, taking in the views through the windows and poking my nose in the wine list and menu. This menu was like none other that we've seen since we've been here! They served pheasant, trout, lamb, beef and pork (of course), mushroom crepes and apple strudel ????! The menu also showed where the food came from (names of purveyors, farms, etc) and it also gave a short history of the town (you can read more about it here it's really very interesteing). There were stories about the restaurant cut from magazines as well as on line reviews written by very, very happy guests......I remember one review saying it was their best meal in Spain! My first thought.....Where are these people from?! They couldn't be Spanish! (sorry but we have yet to find any restaurant that comes close to serving this kind of menu. We've been out to eat a few times and most of what is offered -for lunch, the big meal of the day-is pizza or the balance of a menu which is fried; a lot of pork and usually french fries with a fried egg on top...seriously! ). My second thought......You bet your bipper we're going to be eating here before we leave!

At a break in the watermelon negotiations (we're talking like thousands of plants) Ramon told me this restaurant was incredibly good and, even though I had only met the farmer one time and he spoke no English, he told me the same thing.
Come to find out Juan worked as a chef for 20 years in England, now he and his German wife Renata (hence the apple strudel!) lived here in Campico de Honor (seriously, the middle of nowhere) and run this wonderful little gem called El Albir.

Before leaving I also noticed their Indian menu (looked fabulous!) and their Valentine's Day special (ditto!) which mentioned they were filling up quickly.
So...with all of this information I came back to nuestro casa and reported to Christopher and we came up with a plan..since Christopher's parents, sister and friend were in town and seeing it was Valentine's Day we decided to make a reservation for an evening out; I called Juan and made that reservation for the evening of the 14th.

At the appointed time the six of us headed to the restaurant (about a 45 minute drive from here). I had told everyone about the menu and the atmosphere but not really about the location. With Christopher driving and me navigating, we made our way to the correct exit off the highway and followed the side road into the countryside. One thing to note about driving in Spain...unless you're in a village there are no street lights and because we're in rugged Andalucia, there are very few villages and the ones that are here are not near the highway. With that said, the drive on the highway was dark (with the exception of the few passing cars) but the two kilometer ride from the highway to the restaurant was in total blackness; thank dios the road signs were a little reflective or we never would have found the way!
From the minute we turned off the highway there were mumblings of nervous doubt coming from the back seat. All anyone could see was the narrow road framed in our headlights and the shadows of the roadside brush as we passed. There was not another car to be seen and thank dios (again!) I had paid attention to the where the little drive between the buildings was or we could have been driving around in the black Spanish night for a very long time...... there was not even one street light in this town.

As we pulled up the long stucco wall we noticed there were only two other cars parked there. I know I read the notice that said the place was filling up for the Valentine's Day celebration and I also knew Spaniards kept late hours so I thought with the 14th being a Sunday and it being 9pm there would certainly be more people there by that time.....What I failed to realize was even holiday meals (and romantic ones at that) happen midday, we soon found out that El Albir's busy time had come and gone. The six of us had the entire restaurant to ourselves!
Juan and Renata, knowing we were American and that we did things differently then the locals, never batted an eye when I asked for 9pm reservations (and I asked for 9pm reservations-late for us-because I didn't want to be the first people seated at the restaurant!). They had already worked a full day with a restaurant full of patrons yet they let us stroll in for our main event when they should have been resting their weary selves. They were truly gracious and warm and funny and they didn't even seem worse for the wear.
Our spot-lit table was already set and waiting for us in the center of the restaurant and we had Nina Simone serenade us while Renata poured the bubbly.
Without being too much wordier as this is one long blog post!, I will tell you that Juan worked his magic and brought to our table just about everything on the menu....the appetizers were of his choosing (and we could have stopped eating then as there were so many of them!) and included sliced tomatoes topped with poached eggs and tuna with a curry sauce, salmon carpaccio, avocados with gambas and even a little pate. For the main course we had pork ribs in an orange glaze, roast pork loin with cracklins!, beef fillet , roast pheasant and the best of all... leg of lamb....it just melted in your mouth. We were really beyond full but we certainly could not leave without tasting the apple strudel, which I have to say, was better then any I had ever had, even in Vienna! I also remember a mountain of profiteroles and orange crepes......we rolled out of there! All of us were truly taken by our wonderful hosts and the incredible food and the intimate atmosphere. It was probably the high lite of the trip.

This last photo is of our hosts after a very long day! Juan is in the Rod Stewart wig!

Ruins and Graffiti

As we drive across this region and especially in the Natural Park, we see the ruins of casas and cortijos (ranches) that we're told are hundreds of years old; the remnants of these rugged, stone, plaster and stucco dwellings dot the landscape. Even with roofs, windows and doors gone and the two ft thick walls crumbling, you can see some of these buildings were once well apportioned....built in, plaster book cases and cupboards, corner fireplaces and interior trims leads one to believe these were once home to more then the average peasant.

What I tell you here may be totally wrong but this is how I understand it....since the inception of the Natural Park (20+years???ago) there has been a moratorium on building (to help prevent the blight of condos springing up in this lovely place, I would imagine). Close to the small villages that were already established there are now zones that are allowed some
restricted development. Beyond that you can only build in the park if the property you purchase already had at least the remnants of a (former) dwelling. So, it seems the owners of these properties remove the roofs so the building is no longer livable-hence making it less taxable(?????) and keep the ruins so there is a higher probability to sell the property as a potential homestead (and for more money)..Like I said, this is my hypothesis and it might be complete rubbish...

In any event, these ruins not only prove this was once a very vital region and add a richness and human element to this rugged landscape, they also, sometimes, provide a canvas for some rather beautiful (depending on your point of view) graffiti. Today we were finally able to drive around and capture some of these works of art.......

Playa de los Muertos

Here's a quickie for you...(I'm working on a very long post so I'm going to fill in with a couple of little ones....)
The name of this beach translates to ...The Beach of the Dead. As near as I can figure from the multiple stories we've heard, this beach got it's name from dead people washing ashore from shipwrecks. We've heard the shipwrecks happened nearby and we've heard the shipwrecks happened all along the coast but due to the strong currents, all of the dead bodies arrived here....I'm not sure which is correct but since one never hears of shipwrecks these days and since we didn't see any bodies when we were there, I assume the name came to this place a long, long time ago and the reason has long since been lost in folklore.
A couple of things we do know for sure...soon after entering the water, the ocean floor drops off quickly and deeply and the currents here are very strong so if you're not a good swimmer,you could prove the name to be true!
Truly fascinating things about this beach......the shoreline is arrow straight, as you can see from the photos we took for the cliff above and once we climbed down the rocky path, we found the beach to be more like pea gravel then sand and the stones were incredibly beautiful ….....

Jabali

For this holiday in Spain I planned on continuing with my new running program, and I have done very well with it considering the rainy weather (that great PR line about...”There are 360 days of sunshine in Las Negras”...is total bunk!!!!). Prior to leaving the states I asked Tom what crazy wildlife I needed to be aware of before I set out running in the desert of the Natural Park. I asked this because I had heard of people in the states (mainly on the west coast) setting out for a seemingly routine run or walk in a remote place when they were suddenly drug into the brush by that stray (and obviously very hungry) mountain lion; I didn't want to be one of those causalities.......
Tom responded by saying the only potentially dangerous animal he'd heard of were the wild boar (or jabali, as they're called here in Spain), but...they were only dangerous when they had young ones or if they were cornered and in all of his nine years of living here, he'd never seen one.
I was also a little concerned about scorpions and poisonous snakes but Carlos said they were sleeping this time of year. Great! Runs in the desert and working in the garden would come without any trouble.

Needless to say we've had many walks (and runs!) in the park both far from and near roads and civilization, and we have yet to see any of these beasts (although a rather curiously patterned green, black and silver snake was squished in the road last week, hmmmm.....?).
These jabali however, have recently piqued my interest. While walking through the wilderness, I have been looking more closely in all of the ravines and canyons- since those are the places there is cover (small palms, shrubs and tall grasses) as well as water and mud---always a pig's favorite! But we've seen nothing! Nada!
After more then a month of this, we were talking with our friends Antonio and Manolo about my obsession, when they told me that Antonio and their boxer Moss (as in Kate) had come across a few jabali just the day before! He said he was startled when three of them darted from under some brush and took off running in three directions down the hill; Moss took off in hot pursuit but was not able to catch one. I have since come to learn that was probably a good thing.......

Being raised on a farm I know what a pig is all about....some can be huge and mean but for the most part they aren't too scary. I've also seen the wild pigs in Florida that graze along the runway as your plane is trying to take off, these are smaller (at least from the seat in the plane they look that way) with short hair. The jabali are very different.....

Recently, I let me buddy Ramon know about my intense need to not only see a jabali, but after hearing how good they were on the BBQ, my even bigger obsession to EAT one! Ramon is the guy to tell these things to, he knows everybody! So, for the past couple of weeks he's been making phone call after phone call trying to find a farmer or a friend of a farmer or a farmer's cousin's friend's mother.....that may have a couple in their barn. Not sure how legal this is as they might be protected but it seems there are a number of farmers that house a few of these animals. The problem has been this....we're always a few days short of a sighting as the farmers have been eating them too!
Well, as luck would have it, Ramon struck gold yesterday! After a few, long, rain soaked days, the clouds parted as we drove through the maze of invernaderos and found a farmer waiting to show us his jabali. It was like a sign from god! I was finally meant to meet one of these creatures!

Let me tell you this....they are a bit scary! The most surprising thing was how hairy they were. I would guess their coats were a good 4 or more inches in length and thick, like bear fur, and they were an all over agouti color. Their ears were upright and very furry! Another surprising thing was their shape....their profile, with their heads down, was similar to a bison with their tallest point measuring at the top of their shoulders. From this spot, their short backs and rumps slopped in a continuous line to the base of their tail which was shaggy and hung straight to the top of their hocks. They were very funky looking creatures that almost reminded me of a werewolf! And the reason I think it was a good thing that Moss didn't tangle with one......these things are big! The shoulder of the male jabali was a good 4 ft tall and he weighed about 180-200 lbs.....he'd have torn her up!
Even though they were a bit scary, I did found them a touch endearing...I think it was the furry ears.
However! I'm still not above eating one!
So with that said, we have asked a fabulous restaurant, El Albir, (introduced to us by Ramon-gotta love this guy!) to cook some for us and they have agreed! Next Tuesday, with only 36 hours left in Spain, Antonio, Manolo, Christopher and I will dine on the loin and fillet of jabali....although not the one I met......

(These photos show the progression of the pig....from top to bottom: domestic, feral, jabali.)

Cala de Carnaje

The weather has turned cold and very rainy and there are only two days of sunshine forecast in the next ten…which is all the time we have left here in Spain…it’s all very, very sad.
With that, this may be the last posting that talks about hiking since we aren’t about to discover any new hiking spots in this dreich (that’s Scots for dreary/gloomy)!
I will venture to say Carnaje Cove was absolutely the best hiking of all! I have now been here three times and it’s chulisimo! (that’s Andaluce for breathtaking/gorgeous/fantastic/etc) at any time of day and in any weather. Ramon took me there the first time-at dusk, the second time was mid day in brilliant sunshine--with the crew and backpacks full of vino and vittles (that’s when these photos were taken) and the third time was just yesterday with Christopher, his parents, sister and friend Tina……when we had dry yet stormy skies and a very cold wind coming off the Mediterranean.
To reach this little gem you travel on the same road that takes you to Torre de los lobos but instead of driving all the way to those steel gates, you park midway along the paved road and take to foot on the dirt lane that heads between the hills and toward the sky.
A few welcoming, old olive trees escort you along this lane and over the crest of the knoll, where you are greeted by the brilliant Mediterranean framed left and right by the gently sloping hills. A kilometer ahead, at the bottom of your sight line, is a very tall, lone palm tree and just behind the palm is the beach. At first glance, and from this distance the beach looks like any other but as you hike further along this now very rutted, solid rock lane you begin to notice that this beach is a little different. The first thing is the color, it’s grey and as you get closer you realize there is no sand; the entire breadth of the cove consists of grey stones that have been tumbled smooth by the surf.

From the land side of the beach there is a gentle incline toward the sea and just before reaching the shore line the stones pitch downward at a sharp angle. Walking on these rocks is rather tricky, they slip against each other and out from under your feet giving the impression that there is no base for them to cling to and which leads one to believe these stones are meters deep. When dry, these palm and fist sized stones are grey and warm but at the water’s edge they turn cold and black.
What makes this cove most memorable is not its lone palm tree nor even the grey rocks themselves but the tranquility created by the sound of the waves as they recede from their crash against the shore. As each waves pulls back to the sea it trickles through the depth of the stones, knocking them together with a sort of musical clatter. You could sit and listen to this for hours.

The rocky outcroppings to the right of the beach show evidence (at least to my untrained eye) of a millennia old volcanic eruption. There is a deep layer of chunky black rock that rides atop the smooth, lighter sandstone which sits at the water’s edge. These layers of stone, being of opposing textures and durability have eroded very differently after ages of wind and surf.

Looking back on these coastal hikes I find myself wondering why they are always so spectacular and I’ve come to realize it has to do with all of the contrasts between the shore and the sea….the shore and surrounding topography with its rock, grasses and cliffs is craggy, static and impenetrable while the sea and it’s ever changing temperament can be smooth, changeable and yielding. It’s also a wonder that both of these giants of Mother Nature yield equally to another giant….light. In full sun the shore and the sea reflect their intense colors and with the simple passing of a cloud they are an entirely new vision of subtleties; one blink of an eye to the next is never the same…..

Torre de los Lobos

Just a couple hundred feet south from the turn off to the flat road in Rodalquilar is a another rather non-descript, single lane, paved road that heads into the hills. Parts of this road have been washed out by recent rains and other parts are filled with pot holes but its beauty lies in the way it meanders through the green valley floor, sometimes lined with olive trees and seemingly with no direction.
After about one kilometer you can see the road continue to wind up the hill (switchbacks ahead!) but you're faced with a locked, steel gate. Since this is the Natural Park and it's intensly hiker friendly, we park the car and walk around the gate to begin our 45 minute walk to The Tower of the Wolves.
Without being too much more wordy, I will say that we were joined by Christopher's parents and Laura (who's incredible eye provided the photos in the collage below). The afternoon's stormy skies opened up with a blaze of sunshine that allowed for the perfect photo op!

The tower is an ancient fortess (not really sure how old but we're talking a minimum of a couple hundred years)that has now, sadly become home to cell towers and satalites. It is, however, easy to look past all of the technology when you're faced with views as incredible as these!