El Valero

"Driving Over Lemons"

Chris Stewart

🍋 Spellbound by Chris Stewart's work, both Lisa (my beautiful wife) and I found ourselves compelled to meet this famous author, well known as the optimist in Spain; and indeed, as you read 'Driving Over Lemons' you can’t help but be inspired by this author's positive outlook on life. Chris Stewart is also the author of 'Parrot in the Pepper Tree', 'Almond Blossom Appreciation Society' and 'Three Ways to Capsize a Boat.'

On our recent trip to Spain - from Australia - we 'made' a bit of spare time to somehow fulfill our wish to meet Chris Stewart. We found ourselves high up in the hills of Spain in Lekunberri (way up north). Having spent the night in a beautiful hotel, and being well rested, early next morning we decided to make our way down south and say 'G'day' to Chris and Ana Stewart.
🍋

💼 We packed our bags (again) jumped in our hired car and enjoyed the air conditioned cabin as we headed south to El Valero, Orgiva; in 32 Spanish heat (centigrade, of course) – at first the sun annoyed me (the driver), and some hours later it annoyed Lisa as we approached our destination for the night; some 900 kilometres south of our departure...

🛣️ Needless to say our journey was most rewarding. The diverse landscape we experienced was astonishing - from barren plains to the sierras covered in olive groves to the larger than life mountains of Andalucia, Las Alpujarras - certainly a welcome contrast to Australian landscape that we are so a custom to - flat as a tack!

🌚 That night, as we lay in our Hotel room in Granada, it came to mind that we had just about travelled the whole of Spain – north to south – in one day. That distance, back home, we travel just to get to the next major city!

😋 Another thing I come to realised is that the famous Spanish Tapas is not Tapas until something very special happens; Lisa and I have been served (amongst an endless number of beverages); patatas fritas, mixed nuts, prawn chips, chicken paella, olives, pig snout, salami and tomato on bread, tuna and tomato roll, vol au vents, tiny toasts with seafood spread, pork crackle chips, tomato paste and onion pasty and at last but not least - nothing!

😋 But, the one and all important aspect of Tapas - the one and only differentiating identifiable feature that separates a Tapas from an ordinary and boring dish just sitting on the cooking bench awaiting it's consumption by the devourer anxiously wanting to achieve absolute pallet satisfaction, the disguisable characteristic that isolates Tapas from 'hors d'oeuvres' -- ¡¡¡the vesicle!!! -- yes; once the food has been placed in a small brown dish it miraculously transforms into Tapas. This vesicle can be made from glass, clay, cane, that doesn't seem to be of any importance. But, it must be small and brown - go figure...

👣 Having spent the night at Granada, Lisa and I awoke early with excitement, had an early breakfast and headed further south for El Valero, Orgiva - this town plays a very important part in the book 'Driving Over Lemons' - you can read many anecdotes by Chris Stewart that genuinely, comically, entertain. Lisa and I visited Orgiva with delight, at times it would go through our minds that perhaps we are following Chris's footsteps, or perhaps even run into him, as we wondered up and down the streets of Orgiva.

We were enjoying a well deserved cup of coffee, as we had just travelled one of the windiest and narrowest of roads we had ever travelled - and I might add, on the wrong side of the road; as in Australia we drive on the left side, as apposed to the right side in Spain.

And as the water drains in the counter direction in the northern hemisphere to that in the southern hemisphere - so do round-abouts go the other way; I learnt that the hard way as multiple cars simultaneously blow their horn with the occupants kindly giving me the one finger wave; letting me know that I am going the wrong way around the round-about.

We were finishing our coffee when, the dreaded question arose; "how are we going to find Chris and Ana's El Valero?" asked Lisa. My face drained, my palms got sweaty and my heart started to race as I explained, through a dry mouth, "why, they live where the rivers meet.

We find that and we find them." Well, that takes care of that enquiry; I thought to myself with a dumb look of satisfaction.

"You must be jokin' ? what do you mean where the rivers meet? what's their address?"
"You can't expect Chris Stewart to put his address in his book - surely. Anyway, how many rivers can there be. We only have to find two and where they meet."
I can't blame Lisa for declaring her newly found characteristic of mine as she voices - " you're an idiot."

Lisa's pretty much right, I thought to myself. And to make things even more interesting, we didn't even have a map! But, I remembered seeing a mosaic of the region just up the road a bit. This mosaic showed the town of Orgiva, surrounding towns and areas - and - rivers. "If you must know where the rivers meet, I'll show you!" 🖼️

We walked to where we had seen the mosaic, I examined this tiled map for a while and announced - "Here! See, two rivers meet here! All we have to do is find this road and it will take us to Chris and Ana's El Valero. Can't be that hard, surely."

We found a road that lead us out of town, and as it was going down-hill, I deduced there would be a river, or two, at the bottom - after all, rivers run down-hill. As we traveled this road Lisa and I found it astounding that we were able to recognise our way as if we had been there before. Indeed we had, maybe not physically but through the words of description that Chris Stewart so vividly makes use of in His book 'Driving over lemons'; painting his journey in search of a new life and Home for his family. 🌄

Lisa and I continued on this road for some time. I won't even attempt to describe the beauty and wildness of this journey - Chris Stewart describes this journey in his book 'Driving over lemons' with such accuracy and vividness, and in a way that only Chris Stewart can.
🛣️

It was a hot summers day early in June and the sun was beating down from straight up high in the sky, when suddenly the road we were traveling came to an end. "Great! Now there is no road and no sign of Chris and Ana's house.

Now what?" Lisa said rather loudly in my right ear; which is a welcome change from the left ear receiving it down under.

"We walk - down hill preferably - Look down there, looks like a river bed." as I pointed to the bottom of the hill about one kilometer away.

"Walk through someone's property?" Lisa protested. "And how do you know it's someone's property?"
"Fences!" she replied; I gathered she was referring to that newly found characteristic again...
💦

🌉 "Oh my God!!! is that the bridge?" Lisa splutters as we reached the river. "Yes, I think it is." I confirmed. The all so famous bridge that Chris Stewart talks about in depth in his book 'Driving over lemons'.
We were both exited as we come to realise that we were finally going to find their home.
"How do we know they're going to be home?" Lisa enquires; I again think she was referring to that newly found characteristic again...

We crossed the bridge and followed a track leading to our right. Then we walked some more and some more. And there it is, in all it's glory - the bifurcation where two rivers meet. "TOLD YA!" I boasted childishly.
Finally, after going up hill for some time, we approached a house - this had to be it. We got closer and . . . oh no! two dogs got through the gate and out of the yard. I started to call these dogs by name - the name of the dogs that Chris Stewart talks about in 'Driving over lemons'.
"Serge you really are an idiot! These would not be the same dogs that Chris and Ana had when He wrote the book - and they certainly would not have the same name!" - "That may be so, but I have to do something. I don't want to be known as the one that lost Chris and Ana's pets."
🌉

"Hola!" came a man's voice from our left and high up on the terrace. Whilst still occupied with the wellbeing of the dogs I hear Lisa say "Hola! You must be Chris Stewart?"

"Indeed I am. And who might you be?" With that I forgot about the dogs, turned to my left, looked up at the terrace and you wouldn't believe it - Chris Stewart in person. "My name is Serge, this is Lisa, my wife." I announced.

"Where are you from?"
🍋

"We are from Australia, we've just come to see if you could sign a couple of books."

"You've come a long way. Come in."

"We didn't think any-one was home. We were just trying to put the dogs back." Lisa says pointing at me as if to say it was my fault the dogs got out in the first place.

"They come and go as they please." Chris reassures us.

We opened the gate, walked up the stairs and were greeted by Chris Stewart and his beautiful wife Ana. We were made very welcome even though we were strangers who turned up uninvited; somehow they bathed us with warmth, curiosity and interest – we thanked Chris and Ana from the bottom of our hearts for making our intrusion a normal everyday reunion. We shared a most refreshing and much needed drink of icy cold water infused with freshly sliced lemons and shared stories and points of views.

And YES! . . . Chris Stewart was more than happy to sign a couple of His books for us - what a great adventure, well worth the 40,000 kilometers (return inclusive) - and if you think that was a bit of a strange journey, you really need to read 'Driving Over Lemons', it's a great book full of journeys and anecdotes even stranger and more entertaining - thank you Chris y Ana.

😀
Serge.
August 2011

All donations are greatly appreciated. Your donation will help the sharing of art-forms; and keep all products on this site free.

"Driving Over Lemons"

Chris Stewart

”Driving over lemons”