northern spain: asturias
Six days in the Asturian Mountains with hippies has done weird things to my brain, I think. But it could just be all the dope I smoked.
After a couple of uneventful days in Zaragoza, we set of to visit my brother, Sean, in Northern Spain. What an experience.
The first night we stayed at his Spanish friend’s cabin outside the regional capital Oviedo… and smoked weed.
The second night we trekked a short distance up a track in the mountains to see another of Sean’s friends, this cool English guy named Zac… and smoked weed in his solar powered stone cabin.
Third night: same as the second, except we watched The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou on the laptop.
By this time, Sian was getting irritated by all the sitting around smoking weed and talking about weed, so we trekked a bit further onto Johnno’s place. No dope smoking this time, we got drunk instead.
Following our stay with Johnno and his lovely, heavily pregnant, Spanish wife Sandra, we trekked a further two hours across yet more mountains to Ian and Louise’s; a couple who’ve chosen to live a life isolated from civilisation and in tune with nature.
Sounds like a lovely idea, but they really are roughing it as they prepare their land for self-sufficiency. I had to admire their determination.
This all sounds a bit extreme - and in some regards it is. But all of Sean’s friends a wonderfully friendly, happy people who’ve simply chosen an alternative path in life, one different from the usual nine-to-five rat race most of us endure. A lifestyle aligned with simplicity, nature and low impact subsistence.
Who can blame them?
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