034 - Little & Large & The Squirmingtons
Orgiva - 10th March 2005
Apreciados Amigos y Amigas,
We left you at the end of the last Bulletin as we were waving farewell to Tia Pesky y Tio Marco (Becky and Mark) over near Iznajar. Actually their nearest village, about 4 kilometres away, is a tiny one called Las Lagunillas but it doesn't show on most maps, so they tend to say to people that they live in the sticks in the triangle between Rute, Iznajar and Priego de Cordoba. They kept hearing from local people about one other English family who lived relatively near them (within a 5 kilometre radius anyway) and whose children went to the local school, but it was only when we were there and the couple were picking olives for Rafael's cousin up in the orchards close to Mark and Becky, that they all finally met up.
Although there are quite a lot of northern Europeans living down towards and around Iznajar itself, Mark and Becky were quite a novelty as 'incomers' at Las Lagunillas. The night we all had a meal in the local restaurant, when Wendy was on her flying visit to bring Sorrell out, we were the objects of much attention and curiosity. People kept peeping through from the bar to observe La Familia Inglés, or just coming and having a good stare, and were obviously trying to work out the relationships.
Rafael had told us that there had been much speculation in the village about the (strange?!) couple in the big Camping Car who'd been staying and who they were, and now there was una niña bonita y una otra mujer joven (another young woman). Presumably he was able to put them right about who fitted in, where and how - and maybe he even got to gloat a bit about his special relationship with la niña guapa!
Doors to manual and cross-check!
So, Lorry loaded - 'Stabilisers up! Gas off! Fridge to battery! Doors to manual and cross-check!' - we were on the road again. We took a bit of a loop round via Montilla (home of the Fino-like wine which, it is alleged, doesn't give you a hangover), round to Baena (famed for its production of the highest quality olive oil - and also its massive Holy Week drum-rolling contest!) and thence down the N432 towards Granada. Skirting round the ring-roads we headed down the A44-E902 southwards onto familiar territory, down towards our turn-off for the drive across the mountains towards Orgiva. Funny how that stretch of road, past the controversial Rules dam project, generates excitement for both of us - which naturally we were communicating to temporary Team Fruitbat members Soz and Chip.
Any of you who know that road into Orgiva will be with us on this one … it's always a treat to experience that stunning vista down into the Guadalfeo river valley and across Las Alpujarras towards the Sierra Nevada. The road hugs the side of the hills, twists and turns a great deal, then suddenly Orgiva comes into view. Hurrah! When you see the town from that perspective, even though it has grown a great deal over the last decade, it seems very small in the great backdrop of the landscape.
Over the 'seven eye' bridge we went and up the hill towards the town. We'd arranged to go straight over to Tijola to park up at Kait and Walter's place. Kait is our lovely friend Star's other sister, and she and her husband have had a house built a couple of kilometres along the road from Star's own place. They'd kindly agreed that we could camp on their land, although things weren't nearly as close to completion as they'd hoped by this stage. Star had warned us that the building team were still very much in evidence as there were finishing works going on inside the house and still an awful lot of heavy activity in the grounds, on the access roads and the landscaping. But they all said we were most welcome to go there anyway, so that was our destination.
Steep Slopes R Us!
Some of you may remember last year when we unsuccessfully tried to shoe-horn The Lorry up a very steep track, having hoped to park on one of the terraces behind Star's other sister's house in Tijola. Whilst the slope we had to negotiate to get up to Kait and Walter's house wasn't anything in that league (i.e. impossibly steep, narrow, a too-tight turn and for good measure - with a mini-precipice to plunge down in the event of slight misjudgement), it was far from easy. It was still a very steep slope up to the small terrace slightly below the house; the terrace on which Perez, the builder, suggested we park. The slope had a well-pitted surface, with a lot of loose gravely material … and, thank you very much, it needed to be tackled with The Lorry in reverse so that the front-wheel drive would shove the weight up the slope and we'd end up parked in the right direction on the terrace.
Oh gawd! Suffice to say, it all involved a lot of smoking from the tyres, burning of the clutch and a brace of open-mouthed builders gazing down from their work stations. It also necessitated Jeni hiding in the olive trees, facing in the opposite direction, with her fingers in her ears going 'La la la la laaa!'. At one stage it looked like it wasn't going to be feasible and we struck up a conversation about just giving up and going down onto the Camping, but Give-It-Another-Go-Dave tried again and on about the fourth attempt somehow succeeded, with Soz cheering him on. Phew!
Chewing the Crud
So there we parked up - a lovely spot with big old olive trees around us, two terraces of orange and lemon trees below and a view out into the river valley and across to the Sierra Contraviesa beyond. Idyllic. Well, it would have been idyllic if it hadn't been for the films of concrete dust which settled all over us in the next few days and the growing sense that it wasn't a great boon for the builders to have a large motorhome, a small dog and an inquisitive child in their midst.
Soz was delighted by our campsite and was thrilled with being able to go down into the orange groves, pick fruit and come back to squeeze fresh orange juice. Dave did her a treasure hunt to follow across the land, and she started to make a map of the trees with the best oranges for eating and squeezing. She loved taking Chippy on walks through the orchards and she, Jeni and Chip found some 'fairy steps' cut into the bank near the acequia which lead up to the next level and took us on a little path back round to the top of the land. There, lo and behold!, Soz would find the builders on whom she could practice her Spanish and find out what they were up to. They were all totally charmed by Soz, of course, and charming to us all.
All good fun for a seven year old and a small dog (especially as one of the builders had a puppy there who was keen to play with Chip), but not, we thought, very safe. Being boring, practical adults we thought that any public liability insurance the builders had wouldn't cover accidents involving small dogs and girls, and we really didn't want Perez to have anything else to worry about. There were several little dumper trucks tootling to and fro and still the occasional heavy lorry rumbling up the slope past us to bring materials or take away rubble and rubbish. A bit hazardous, to say the least. On one such occasion, as the resulting cloud of dust settled on our lunch plates, and we picked the particles of building debris from our teeth, we decided that it would be better all round if we enjoyed Kait and Walter's hospitality at a later stage, when their idyll had settled into being fully and completely idyllic.
So we explained to Perez (as best as Jeni's Spanish would allow), decided that there was definitely a look of relief on his face, and off we went back down the hill a short way, to Camping Orgiva which we'd enjoyed so much last year.
Old Friends and New
Well, wouldn't you know it! Despite the fact the Camping was very, very quiet in this pre-Christmas period, there they were waiting for us - Steve and Sheila and Daisy Dog from Normandy! This was the very campsite on which we'd first met them nearly a year ago, so it seemed apt to link up with them yet again, right here. And of course, there was the lovely Annette who works on the Camping, a couple of people who'd been there for almost two years and Señora Limpiadora, the ever-singing cleaner (who we actually learned is called Lola), all of whom remembered us. They were pleased to see Chip as a temporary member of Team Fruitbat, since they all remembered Mark and Becky, with whom Chip had then been residing, and the time when Chip arrived with them. It was indeed at Camping Orgiva that we first 'puppysat' for Chip and fell for him, big time.
Soz's disappointment at leaving Kait and Walter's soon disappeared as she got to know a couple of young Spanish boys who were staying in a caravan with their delightful parents. It wasn't long before there were knocks on The Lorry door every so often with the boys, Carlos and Demi, asking if 'La Niña' could come out and play. They couldn't get their tongues around the name 'Sorrell' or even 'Soz', so she continued to be 'Girl', Niña, to them. Nor could they get their young heads around the language barrier issue so continued to talk to her in rapid, excited torrents of Spanish, with Soz every so often picking up a toy and trying to learn the Spanish word for it and teach them the English word. Somehow, rather like her interactions with Rafael at the other end of the age spectrum, it didn't matter, and in this case the language of play was tantamount to a universally understood Esperanto.
Winter Wonderland in Sunny Spain
By this time we were well stuck into sharing meals with Star up at her house, renewing our acquaintance with the neighbours in Tijola (including the fabulous Paco, Star's elderly vecino) and reminding ourselves about the best nooks, crannies and shops in Orgiva. Meanwhile, Kasheen, Star's daughter now aged 12, had adopted Soz as an honorary younger sister and they were getting on famously, with Soz doing occasional 'sleep-overs' with Kasheen and some of her friends.
The festive season was fast approaching, as Soz reminded us every morning when she ate the day's chocolate from her Groovy Chicks advent calendar, and other friends and members of Star's extended family were starting to arrive for the holiday. A few days before Christmas, Soz, Kasheen and Star made a great event of putting up the Christmas tree and decorations at Star's house, and we had numerous trips to the markets and shops for small gifts and contributions for the festivities.
What better than to spend Christmas Eve up in the snowy heights of the Sierra Nevada? The weather down in the valley and around Orgiva had continued to be warm and sunny during the days, with chill, starry nights, so we thought that a day up in the winter wonderland, where there had indeed been a modicum of snow, would be a fun contrast. Star's niece Lucy and her husband Tom, plus a couple of South African friends who were also over visiting with them, all decided to have a day's skiing from Solynieve, the ski village high up in the Sierra Nevada (the village's name means, of course, 'sun and snow', and we got both on our visit). The rest of us just planned to enjoy the atmosphere, have lunch and lark around in the snow a bit, which is precisely what we did.
Dave and Soz hired a toboggan and found some snowy slopes for an hour's play, whilst Kasheen met up with some school-friends and did likewise. Our guidebooks are very uncomplimentary about Solynieve, which is essentially just a ski village and pretty much deserted in the summer, apparently. It's the most southerly ski resort in Europe. Probably because we were in a big and jolly group, were determined to have fun and the place was bustling with people enjoying the Christmas Eve atmosphere, we didn't share our guidebook's misgivings about the place at all. It was a beautiful drive up there through the mountains and up above the snowline, and after lunch we took the cars higher still towards Valeta, the Sierra Nevada's second highest peak. There we slipped, slid and skated on the icy slopes. Chip, naturally, donned his best fleece lined overcoat - it was seriously chilly up there for a thin-coated dog! We were getting achey sides from laughing at him trying to run across the slippery snow and him obviously wondering why his legs were staying in the same spot.
Eventually he decided to stop trying to chase Dave, Soz and Kasheen on their mini-toboggans and simply stand and bark encouragement from the bottom of the slope. Poor Chip, how undignified. (Mind you, the up-side for him was that he got to snuggle down an awful lot of coats and jackets that day, so he didn't remain Frozen Chip for long!)
¡Feliz Fiestas!
Well, we had a many-peopled and boisterous Christmas lunch hosted by Star. Much food was consumed, many gifts exchanged and most important of all, lots of laughter and hugs shared. We spoke on the phone with members of the family back in yUK and felt close to them too, despite the distance in miles. That's what it's all about, eh?
By the time we were ready for that traditional Christmas afternoon walk, a brisk breeze was blowing across the valley, though it was still bright and not exactly cold. Off we went - a great stream of about a dozen of us and the five dogs, the latter in frolicsome mood and well ready for their outing.
Five dogs. That's Little and Large and the Squirmingtons, as they had become known. 'Little' is of course young Chip (or 'Salchicha' as they'd been calling him in the village - sausage - or even 'Salchichina' - something akin to 'cocktail sausage'!), cutting a dash in his little red harness and bounding along, ears akimbo, keeping up with the best of them. 'Large' is Henry, Star's huge Boxer-Great Dane cross, or Big Hen to his friends. And the Squirmies - Daisy Bat Dog (remember her from last year?), with Roxanne and Ella her growing-up-fast puppies. Roxanne is also known as the Meer Cat as a result of the way she stands on her back legs with her front paws a-dangle, and Ella is the pretty little one who's definitely at the bottom of the pecking order and permanently grateful for any love meted out to her. What a pack! Big Hen lopes along in a dignified fashion, whilst the Squirmingtons race back and forth, chasing each other in and out of the bushes, having mock 'bundles' and ending up in a big squirmy mass. Chip wisely keeps just outside the ring on these occasions, but runs alongside barking encouragement, and doing sudden swerve turns to hide behind Big Uncle Hen if he thinks he's in line for being Squirmed.
So this was the entourage that set off for a wonderful hour's walk along the great river valley, through the high bamboo and into the edge of the eucalyptus woods, along the tracks with the river tumbling alongside, birds of all kinds swooping and twittering all around and every so often a blast of the smell of wild herbs. Fab. It's such an amazing place, encircled by the hills with the fertile plain stretching out at the far end of the valley. Not a bad location for the Christmas afternoon walk!
¡Hasta Luego, Niña Bonita!
With the festivities over, it was time for Soz to start thinking about getting back to her family and friends in England - for another round of presents and fun, as well as the small matter of getting back to school. She was sad to be leaving España after a whole month. She had definitely taken to Spain and been taken to many people's hearts here, and it was such a treat for us to see her loving the whole experience. Just for starters, Paco was distraught at the thought that he wouldn't hear her cheery shouts of '¡Hola, Paco!' as she toiled up the track to Star's, and Kasheen and Star were upset to be losing the new honorary member of their family and if Chip could have articulated his feelings, he would doubtless have told her how much he'd miss their silly playtimes together. However, with promises of a return for an even longer stay in the future, Soz accepted that it was time to go back … and as the day of departure came closer, got excited about seeing her Mum and sister again as well as her friends and other family members.
The amount of luggage she was taking back was so huge, that several of her bigger presents couldn't be packed and will have to go back home in The Lorry, to be delivered when we return in early May! So off we all set in the hire car to Malaga, Jeni clutching hers and Soz's passports and tickets, and it was '¡Hasta Luego, Niña Bonita!' for a little while.
Take care, amigos y amigas. Keep eating the fruit.
¡Hasta la proxima!
Jeni, Dave y Chip
xxx
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