Thursday, December 22, 2011

Why are we here?

We wanted to live somewhere completely different from Britain, where we grew up. To us it is important to immerse ourselves in another culture and surround ourselves with another language. Our ideas of what we want to do with our lives are uncertain (like most people) but we are travellers, and feel that this embracing of change helps us to learn. We do not want to be tied to one place - especially by work - which is why we develop our skills in universally applicable roles. 



Our yearning to head West to the Americas in the near future is a key reason why we have ended up here on the Mediterranean coast; where, when the time comes, we can flag down a passing boat and hitch a watery ride.

Javea Marina


We also arranged our destination according to available Helpx positions - which happened to land us here in between Valencia and Alicante provinces - a land so thickly populated by English and German speaking people that it is difficult to gauge yet how much actual Spanish culture remains.  It is an all too common experience for us to feel the opposite of culture shock - an imposition of English culture in a foreign land.  

But here we are, and here, too are the mountains, the cacti and the jasmine flowers; the traditional baked Spanish delights and the ever-changing colours of the sky. Despite the English pubs and English-language pop music which is as painfully mindless as it is in Britain, it's still an exciting change for us.















Who knows where our journey will take us..?






Monday, December 19, 2011

La Sella

The mountain has two peaks, which swoop up from the flat plain to join in the middle through a narrow ridge, pine-coated and always dappled with sun. 




The climb to the top of the Northern peak is punctuated by sweet and tangy smells of Mediterranean herbs, incomprehensible patterns drawn in the limestone by countless drops of water, and the ever-present cacti waiting disconcertingly to catch a climber off-guard.


From the top we can see sierras (mountain ranges) stretching to the distance on three sides, and to the North and East, the Mediterranean sea. Just before the sea looms the friendly, rounded lump of Montgรณ, where eagles soar. 




The December sun is shining bright and warm, and over-excited people are setting off fireworks in the nearby town.  It's hard to believe that just over a week  ago we were shivering in the gloom of English winter.