Ole! An Andulucian Village house/pet sit looking after Cheeky Charlie and the Lovely Lola

Wow, what an amazing house/pet sitting experience we had, in a whitewashed village, in the Andulucian hills.

Staying in a quirky house full of character set over 3 levels. Lovely verandahs on top two floors, overlooking the village. Whilst very comfortable and clean, there was no air conditioning and only 2 free standing fans and one was broken (OMG in the height of summer with temps of 40+ degrees!) The water was undrinkable due to high Zinc levels. Fortunately, the house had thick walls and with the aid of fans it was not too uncomfortable, just a bit hot and sticky at night. We were informed water could be obtained from, either, the “fuente” - a natural spring high up in the mountains, or the tanker that brings fresh water to the village 2 times a week or a 2 hour round trip to the “LOCAL” supermarket!!!

Unfortunately, there was no parking near the house (the streets too narrow for cars) so all shopping had to be carried through the lanes and “up the steep hill” ……No need for the gym then!

The two dogs were a joy to look after, although walks had to be taken very early in the morning and again late at night, due to the extreme heat during the day (36-44 degrees!). Walks involved walking up and down the mountains (very strenuous but I assured Tom great for the tum and bum!) and down La Rambla -a dried up riverbed

We also ended up feeding the neighbour’s dog (Bruce a lovable boxer), a goat, some chooks and a rabbit not to mention a tortoise, oh and another neighbour’s cat……so much for 2 dogs!

We didn't know what to expect from this assignment - thought we’d find ourselves in the middle of nowhere in a quiet little town in the mountains with only Spanish being spoken. Nothing could have been farther from the truth!

The countryside surrounding the town was very rugged, dry and dusty with rocky mountains, wild cactus, dust devils (mini tournedos) and tumbleweed……it felt like living on the set of an old western movie. We did find out that this area was actually used for the spaghetti westerns, Clint Eastwood and John Wayne made films here (you can visit Fort Bravo - Texas Hollywood where they made the Western Movies an hour or so away). They also shot some of " Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade" movie locally.

The town itself was quite sleepy by day, however, high up on the mountain there was a football pitch, tennis courts and a lovely swimming pool. Everyone headed for the pool during the heat of the day. It boasted a 25m pool and was surrounded by shady trees, It even had a wonderful tapas bar overlooking the pool. A great little spot that quickly became a favourite of ours.

The Spanish locals had to get used to us too! On our walks we would go around saying “Hola” and “Buenos Dias” to everyone we met. Initially, they looked at us rather strangely (as if to say "who are these funny people?") but as they got used to us, they starting to smile and say “Hola” back in a low guttural dialect that sounded more like a growl!

La Rambla’s (the dry river bed), our dog walking area, will definitely stick in our memory as this is where we kept bumping into the local goat herder and his flock of 80 goats most wearing bells….quite a sight and sound to behold! Only in rural Spain!

Also saw a lot of the townsfolk here beating the trees with bamboo sticks (?), Tom thought it was due to them drinking too much of the towns water, (as the locals do), but we later found out it was to get the nuts (almonds) off the trees. One of the locals had a nut crushing machine in his garage (of course like one would!) and once people had collected them they’d dropped them off to him for shelling. These were later sold at the markets or at the door by some of the local, enterprising, young kids.

The highlight of each week was the market day on Wednesday. A real buzz abounds and everyone takes to the streets, wander around the market or sits and drinks coffee in the main square. Lots of fresh fruit and veggies, as well as clothing and shoes (yes I couldn’t resist - got myself some shoes and a new top…well be rude not to when they literally bring them to the front doorstep!)

Getting out of the village on market day proved to be quite a challenge as the town was blocked with stalls the only exit was via the dried up river beds, also known as the local bypass. This was off roading at its best and a bit of a challenge for our car, could have definitely used some more horsepower like a 4x4……or maybe just a horse!

At night the town came alive with the locals hitting the bars (there are 3), the older folk play dominoes or cards whilst nursing a drink, you also see a lot of people sitting chatting outside their homes in the street. Seemed a very close knit community.

Our favourite was a bar called La Tasca literally a pub with a road running through the middle of it! Great tapas here….menu came in Spanish on a bit of paper torn from a notepad. A big night out -meal and drinks for 2 coming in at 20 Euros tops. The waitress crossing the road and avoiding traffic to deliver the food!

We discover that the Friday and Saturday nights were the nights it all happened at La Tasca. We met so many people on our 1st night there that we became friends and who we met up with several times during our stay.

The highlight of the stay was the week of the “Festival of the Immigrants”. Most Spanish return the villages where they grew up for this festival. The village was literally buzzing with lots of events taking place most days, from flamenco dancing, magic shows, egg and spoon races, tug-o-war and much more. The weekend had several competitions taking place from dancing, to climbing a 12m pole covered in grease to grab a leg of ham (the prize) from the top. Spent a very entertaining hour watching a dozen half naked young Spaniards covered in grease trying to get the prize….what a sight to behold!

The other event was to catch the slippery pig, teams of two, with legs and arms taped together had to run and catch the pig covered in grease. Sounded like it would be quite fun, but unfortunately the reality wasn’t, the pig was actually a piglet and the poor little thing was scared to death, squealing and trying to hide in the dirt. Think they should get a wild boar next time and even things up! Now that would be entertaining!

There was music over the weekend too starting at 12 midnight (!) through to 5 am in the morning, right in the middle of the town square, I will say one thing for the Spanish they know how to party….don’t think anyone got much sleep either of those days. To think we thought it would be quiet here!

We managed to get out and explore a bit of the local area it is 40 minutes over the mountains complete with hairpin bends and spectacular views before you get anywhere! Cartagena was the highlight a beautiful old town where they only recently discovered a lot of Roman ruins; these have now been excavated and restored including the Roman amphitheater, which we visited.

Lots of exercise on our 5 week challenge, dog walking 3 kms a day up the mountains, swimming laps at the pool and weight lifting the shopping up the hills. Thankfully both lost a bit of the excess weight we were carrying…..probably would have lost more if the tapas had not been so good!

All in all it has been an interesting and very enjoyable assignment

#spain #andulucia