Dangerous treks

It’s day 4 in our Villa. The weather is consistently 20 degrees, even at Christmas. Our hosts were complaining the other night about the recent cold snap, 16, 17 degrees. Poor English Spaniards. We live in a 2 bedroom villa below our hosts. They have been super helpful and understanding allowing us to barge in here at the last minute with no food or plan. We are very isolated here; the closest town (Macastre) is 4km away which is next door if you have a car and a half a day’s journey if you don’t. The isolation has been good, especially after a week of Rome and Madrid.

Our front door opens onto a deck overlooking mountains, valleys, forests oh my. We go for walks each day enjoying the red Spanish soil and abandoned houses discarded by unsentimental descendants. Angie has a deep connection to each one of the places, walking through slowly while commentating on this and that to nobody in particular. She wants to buy them all so she can restore them to their former glory. She’s like that with old buildings. To her, they’re still alive, they just need to be loved. I’ve had similar connections to old churches we’ve seen so we’ve learned to humor each other for the sake of the marriage.

We decided to take the journey to Macastre on foot. Our host said it was exactly 4km and "follow the main road.” But he also told us his dog wouldn’t come. The walk began fine albeit with the dog. Half way there, we started to have our doubts. We had run out of walking room which meant chancing it on the fast moving highway or walking in the vineyards, farmlands and mud down below. We chose both depending on how curvy the road was and how beautiful the vineyard looked. As time and 4km passed we still had the dog with no town in sight. The road had gotten curvier, and the valleys deeper which meant our walking space options were now limited to the dangerous highway. After 5km we finally saw the bend up ahead leading into Macastre. It was too late though. 5km one way is a long way for anyone let alone kids clad in crocs and a panicy mother. I had also thrown out my back the day before and was shaped like the letter S, a bi-annual occurrence, and while walking is the best thing for it, I’m not sure if 10k is what Dr.Kraft had in mind. I looked towards the bend and finally admitted what Angie’s body language had been shouting for a couple k’s “yeah, so guys, I’m not sure if this road is exactly safe, I think we probably should turn back.” Angie was already half a k ahead by the time I finished the speech. As we began our walk back I wondered how we’d make it.

Our plan had been to rest and shop and eat in Macastre, energizing up for the walk back. While I was wondering I saw a familiar car and low and behold it was our hosts. Thank God. We piled into their 4 seater car (there were 7 of us including the dog) and headed back home. They couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. It turns out they had been thinking about us after we left and had started to wonder. They later admitted they had never actually walked the road and certainly not with 3 young kids and a road dumb dog. Oh well, just another experience in a land far far away. We have 3 days left that will include more walks, more reading (I just finished the epic Pillars of the Earth and am breezing through the sequel) more movies, they actually have english films, and a trip into Valencia to see their world famous Sea World. We fly to Palma late Monday night. Less than 3 weeks left, can't hardly believe it.

John

P.S. We do have internet but our connection is turtle speed so its difficult to post pics. We have dozens more we want to show so be patient. Also, you'll hear from Angie tomorrow. Ciao.