Magical place in the mountains - part 2

In this final part of my post about my magical workplace in the mountains of Andalusia I will introduce very nice and interesting people I met at Anne's B & B.

There was Christoph who came from Germany. He is from the area we call Ruhrpott. Clear and precise during work without misunderstandings. I loved it :-).

I got once again the proof that the world is a village, I learnt how to make perfect pan cakes from a Canadian chef and I got to know to Chris Stewart the writer. Apparently almost everyone knew him apart from me...

Moreover I know now why siesta is in the afternoon and how important a sunhat is....

Clear and precise information.  So was the teamwork with my 'Ruhrpott' friend Christoph. I loved it :-).

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Different birthplaces but similar mindsets

At Anne's B & B I got to know to very interesting and nice people.

Here I would like to introduce 4 of them. I could introduce even more but that would be just too much. 

A real Malocher from Bochum

Anne already told me that one of her helpers is also from Germany.

When I first saw him I just thought: "A normal guy who immigrated to Spain." I also guessed that he might be very young. Maybe in my age. A tall blonde guy with a beard, blue eyes and a sympathetic tooth gap.

But I was totally wrong with my 'normal guy' opinion... 

First of all Christoph is around 10 years older than I am and is father of three boys. He came from Bochum what made him very sympathetic and had quite an interesting CV. 

For example he is also very musical and a singer in a choir. He never took Spanish lessons. He learnt it just from hearing. I was a bit envious :-). And he is able to do a lot of DIY things and repairing things on his own. His father never needed a craftsman at home: "We have never seen a craftsman. My Vatta did everything himself." By the way he grow soya and made tofu of it and sold it in Spain.

So not the normal story! A very interesting guy with a lot of skills and very modest about it.

Well, he was the one who repaired the broken toilet in the room and not the guys who turned out to be the Guardia Civil ;-).

I could really great work with him because we not only spoke the same language - we spoke exactly the same slang!

I remember when Christoph came to me while I was cleaning and preparing a guestroom and he asked me for Anne: "Do you know where Anne is?" "Neh! Wasn't she in the kitchen?" "Neh!". Clear and precise. :-)

German efficiency...  With Christoph I could really great work together and I liked talking with while we prepared the breakfast for the guests.

The world IS a village - Kinsale connection...

Every Monday at Anne's place took her Creative Writing Course place. The participants were Anne and some of her friends.

Anne introduced me to everyone. Also to Clem an Irish guy. Anne told him that I have been in Kinsale and I was immediately Clem's friend because he lived for a long time in Kinsale. That was the second person in a few days I met from Kinsale... Before in the nice hostel in Granada.

He organizes still every year a literature festival in West Cork and he is the founder of Fish Publishing an organisation for writing contests.

Like the Irish guys are Clem was very easy going and calm guy with glasses and a calm voice. He always wore his smoker equipment in a small leather bag around his neck like a necklace. I liked him immediately :-).

The world IS a village!

How to make perfect pan cakes - tricks from a Canadian chef

One evening I got to know to Wes. A very interesting guy from Canada. Wes was a chef and he sometimes cooked for guest on the weekends at Anne's B & B.

I was very interested to get to know to him and went into the kitchen to see him because Christoph told me about him and his great work.

Wes was very busy with cooking but he took his time to ask me what I am doing etc. I told him my story and he was very interested in it. A very tall, dark hair, charismatic, extroverted and interesting guy who worked very fast and was very multitasking skilled.

He told me that he used for cooking often things from the nature like flowers etc. He passed me on some yellow flowers and told me I should try them. Well, I saw those ones growing everywhere in this area and I tried some. They tasted very nice! Like honey and butter. Delicious. I had never reckoned it was possible to eat them.

Later I saw Wes again when he was finished and I was backing pan cakes.

Wes was looking at my work and said: "Darlin' let me show how they will be perfect!"

He gave a bit of the dough from the bowl in the middle of the hot pan and moved the pan so that the dough was well spread. Then he poured the rest of the dough back into the bowl. A bit waiting and then he turned the pan cake and waited a few seconds. Finish! Perfect thin pancake.

The pan cakes were looking like this. But the ones in the photo I made for my host in Orce after I left Anne's place.

One friend of Anne was an author and his name was Chris Stewart. He wrote the book 'Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucia' and other books. 

I have to admit that I neither heart about him nor about his books. Anne told me that his famous book was on the bestseller list in the UK. Interesting!

Well, I got the clue that he is that famous when my lovely friend Peter commented my Granada post and recommended me to read a book of Chris Stewart because he lives on a farm in Andalusia etc. Well, I just let him know that I met Chris a couple of days before :-).

Chris came one day around to Anne's place and she introduced me to him. We had a small talk together what I'm doing etc. A very nice guy.

I have to read one of his books...

People all over the world know and like him. There were five women from India who wrote to Anne because they thought she would be his wife. They wrote if they could stay on Chris's farm because they love his books.

Anne wrote back that she wouldn't be Chris's wife but they could of course come to her B & B. And they came :-). Very interesting woman who were very interested in what I am doing etc.

The reason why siesta is in the afternoon in Spain

I used the knowledge I got from lovely Ania about hiking and tried it out. But we didn't talk about how important a sun hat is....

I started very exciting my walk during siesta time (2 pm) through the nice landscape and I had the feeling that I have to touch everything what I saw. The nature is just stunning there.

Interactive nature... I just wanted to touch and feel everything there.

On my way I was almost alone there. I saw for a long time nobody there. Could be a bit scary but I loved it.

I also saw some of the yellow flowers with the butter and honey taste which Wes gave me to eat. I picked some and eat them. Very yummy.

Fig tree but not ready for eat.

Nice hiking path

Ruin on my way. It became one of my favorite places for mediation.

Here I'm still smiling on my hiking trip...

After an hour I reached the path I wanted to take but I felt for some reason very weak and dizzy... So I decided that I will turn back and don't take the path. I just took the following photo and went slowly back home.

I thought that I would be just exhausted or it is still the height I have to get used to. I had strong headache and my neck felt stiff and was painful as well. I also felt sick like I would have to throw up.

Hmmm, I ate those yellow flowers all the time... Maybe they are poison or something!

I came home and the feeling got worst. I had no clue at all what was going on. Then it came to my mind to check out the symptoms of a sunstroke.

Here you are! Google is my friend and told me that I had exactly the symptoms of sunstroke. It was very important now to cool my head because my brain was a kind of boiled...

If I don't act quickly, then it will be worst. I just wrapped a cold wet tissue around my head, went to bed, took some pillows more and took a nap. After it I felt better.

I told Anne about it and she explained to me that the sun in Spain reaches its zenith at 2 pm...

Oh that is the reason why the siesta is in that time... Makes sense.

After a couple of days I tried my luck again. But this time I was prepared! Anne borrowed me a sunhat and I could start again :-).

Next try! But this time well prepared :-).

Who knows maybe one day I will give at Anne's place a workshop or seminar about motivation... It was by the way her idea.

Bye bye la Alpujarra

What is coming soon

Thank you for reading my post. It brought my memory back about the great time I had in Ferreirolla where I met very nice and interesting people. That is what I love the most about my life know: Getting to know to different people and cultures.

Before I went to my next host in Orce where I worked in a cave house I spent the weekend in Granada again.

Read next time about my nice and rainy weekend in Granada where I enjoyed to stroll through the nice city by trying to avoid to step in dog shit which was not always successful...