Dear Diary,
Yesterday, I met new friends from Spain for the first time and handed them the keys to my motorhome. They will embark on festival adventures, bringing Doula teaching to festival-goers throughout England for the summer.
Yes, it may sound crazy, but it's true - I met them for the first time and handed over my motorhome!
To make things even more adventurous, next week on Thursday morning, River and I will be travelling to their land near Orgiva in Spain to live off-grid for almost four weeks in one of their communities.
To many this exchange may seem wild. I don't know much about the communities we're going to and I'm aware that we'll rely solely on solar power. We'll need to refill our drinking water by driving the car to Lanjaron which is famous for its spring water with water bottles. The days will be scorching at around 40°C, while nights will cool down to 26°C.
There's a communal car we can use to drive into town for supplies and escape to the mountain if the heat becomes too much. The beach is a 45-minute drive away, and the area is home to three different communities that have flourished over the decades.
I'm familiar with some restaurants and activities in town from conversations with new friends who have been there or are there but I have no idea if we'll have close or distant neighbours on the land we'll be staying. As for food, I'm uncertain about fresh produce since we won't have a fridge, and I'm still unsure how often we can make trips to the supermarket.
You now know almost as much as I do about our destination! While this may sound terrifying to many, it fills me with thrilling promise.
We'll be staying on the land of a beloved member of the community - possibly one of the founding members. Vanessa and Nigel, the couple who took my motorhome, arrived at my house on Saturday. It felt like I had known them my whole life. As they drove away, excitement for their adventure filled me and I feel nothing but love for this extraordinary situation.
To add craziness to this situation I have just come back from hospital after tearing through my calf muscle (a grade 3 tear) at the climbing wall last night. After 6 hours of haggling with the surgeons they agreed that I could try a more conservative route and they have me in a boot with crutches and a no weight bearing route to recovery. Injections every day to hopefully avoid getting a DVT blood clot on the plane.
All fun times when I'm going to a very unknown situation with River but I feel like my body can heal and that the situation in Orgiva (los Cigarrones) will just flow. It feels right to still go!
We planned to fly into Granada early Thursday morning and had a flat booked for a couple of nights. River has his final philosophy lesson on Friday, and I have a three-hour life coaching masterclass on Saturday. So, we needed a place with reliable internet (and a shower and air-conditioning will be nice too).
I had secured tickets to visit the Alhambra, one of the seven wonders of the world, and I was thrilled to share this experience with River.
But this seems like not the best plan now so we are bending like willow and going with the flow. One of Vanessa's friends will kindly pick us up now from the airport saving us the trouble of figuring out how to get from Granada to a place that isn't even on the map with me only having one leg and maybe we will stay at their house for a few days instead of being in Granada where we need to walk so soon after this injury!
As wild as this adventure may seem to most people, it's becoming normal for River and me. I'm genuinely excited about the people we'll meet, how we'll cope with the heat, the new culture (although we've been to Spain several times, each region has its unique culture), and the community lifestyle we'll experience.
I look forward to trying new foods, meeting incredible people, engaging in enriching activities on our Spanish adventures and most importantly my deep instinct tells me we'll love it so much that we'll return. In fact, I'm already planning to spend the English winter in Spain, where River can continue his online homeschooling with English, maths, social studies, and philosophy lessons. I may find him a guitar teacher in Spain, while I continue blogging, studying as a life coach, and building my businesses from the comfort of a motorhome or the birthing school where we'll be staying. If all goes well, there's a potential opportunity for us to return.
Stay tuned for updates on how we get through the trip in the coming days and how we make it all happen.
Love and always ready for adventure,
Emma and River.
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