Viva la Valdepenas

I met Maria's boyfriend David at three in the afternoon outside the train station; 'I'll be the girl with the big rucksack' I said, thinking that it would be busy. There was no one else there which David kindly chose to ignore, agreeing with me that it was a very big rucksack. The Valdepenas flat that David and Maria shared was such a pad, it had a rooftop terrace and nice big rooms and their happy menagerie of animals (cat, cat, dog) clearly knew they had landed, all having previously been strays. David showed me to my room, which had Royal Tenenbauns, Manhattan and Breakfast at Tiffany's posters on the wall. And so, like cat, cat and dog, I was more than content with my new abode for the next few days.

David and I enjoyed Moroccan tea and some lunch and looked through his film collection. Maria and David had met at university in Cordoba when they were both studying Vetinary but a few years ago David quit his job and went to film school. Since then he'd made an award winning short film called two tomatoes about ecological and genetically modified food which was very famous in Spain. 

Maria returned from the doctors for a large bowl of lettuce, which she was eating to combat the toxins she'd inhaled from being sprayed by pesticides in the street. Maria wore her hair short, with little dragon fly hair clips which pinned her curls away from her face and she instantly offered me a pair of owl slippers to put on, a custom which a lot of my Couch Surfing hosts practiced and made me feel it home. After having a siesta, Maria invited me to go for a 6 mile run with her and her friends which I politely declined with 'I've been doing quite a bit of walking'. It wasn't until later that I realized that Maria hadn't read about my mode of transport on my CS request, which we both found pretty funny.

The next day David drove me round Valdepenas on the back of his vintage Vespa which I found exciting to a dawkish level. I didn't think we'd make it up out of the underground car park but the ped managed the magnificent feat and we came out almost flying. David seemed almost as excited as I was and told me how he'd fallen for them in Rome because 'if you don't ride a Vespa in Rome, you will never ride a Vespa'. Valdepenas didn't have many long straights, so we went careering around corners until we arrived at a bar where we met David's English teacher and a friend for a drink. We ate this really yummy sheeps cheese with honey and almond and tostadas, definitely a demi god dish. My Spanish found its fluency after a few glasses of wine and the Vespa felt like it had wings. We returned to the flat in time to have lunch with Maria and then we all had a siesta before Maria and I walked into town to buy vegetables. Maria had founded a group a few years earlier which employed two women from a village on the outskirts of Valdepenas to grow organic vegetables for them. The membership had grown exponentially since then, and they met each week in the community centre, where they could also buy homemade bread and other products. Everyone there was incredibally friendly and passionate about organic food, and afterwards we all went out for tapas and a drink and watched Atletico Madrid vs Chelsea. David and Maria suggested I stay another night which I was grateful for, seeing as it was midnight and there wasn't any sign of us going home.

Thursday was a workers day so Maria did not have to go to work and we made a spinach empanadilla together for the picnic that evening. Meanwhile David trundled around the house in basket ball shorts, a Captain America tshirt and slippers with a feather duster in hand; 'everything you have heard about the fiery Latin lover Hannah has been a misconception. This is the reality.' He said, with a flourish of the duster. Maria and I went to a town nearby in the afternoon which was very beautiful and famous for its theatre festival. The heat was intense and we clung to the shadows and went for a drink in a beautiful hotel with a Moorish patio.

It turned out the picnic site was a working farm which Maria and David's friend worked for, which was being set up as a place to host inner city children for weekends so that they could learn how to grow their own food. It was absolutely beautiful, set in a vast plane and backed by a small peaked hill which made it feel open yet homely. Most of the organic veg crew from the night before were there for the picnic and we all looked around the various patches and green house dome which the workers had designed and built. There was a massive happy Alsatian, hammocks and this beautiful house with a blue boarder and quilts and wind chimes. I was in absoloute awe of everything, and what was even more amazing was that there was this German girl Josephine who was there doing WWOOFing. For anyone who doesn't know, WWOOFing is where you go and volunteer on organic farms for bed and board and is a great way to travel without spending much money. It was something I was really interested in organizing to do out here in Spain but my time frame didn't allow it. Josephine had been a dance student and fell in love with Spain when she did the French Camino some time ago, returning to the country after dropping out of dance school and WWOOFing her way around. There was also an Italian guy who was volunteering on the farm and they each had their own little cabin for their bedroom.  After walking and talking for a while, the sun was setting and we set up a long table outside for a banquet. I don't think I will ever forget that evening; every single person around that table was glowing with their own special gift of joy which they gave without inhibition. The way I feel, oddly enough, could be compared to the character of Colin in Love Actually; 'I'm Colin the Sex God, I'm just on the wrong continent'. My name is Hannah and most of my life people have told me I am strange (this is not a sob story dw) but I'm not. I'm really normal, I've just been living in the wrong country. And so the night of the Gypsy Kings drew to a close and the next day I would head for Andalucia.