I spent a quiet couple of weeks with Laura and Clifford near El Margen, a tiny village east of Granada. Laura wanted to some help finishing her rock wall. I was also able to use some of my knowledge of hydraulics to access and update a grey water irrigation systems. The soil in this are has very little organic matter and looked a little like the ash that comes out of a wood burning stove. A two year drought has made it very difficult to get new trees started. Laura’s renovated an existing cave into the very comfortable house. I had a full apartment to myself, next to Laura’s house. 

Andalusian Spanish proved to be just as difficult as I had been told it would be. It is very fast, words were truncated and the pronunciation for so many letters was so different from Latin American Spanish. I could get by in Spanish when English wasn’t an option but I wasn’t able to carry a conversation which was disappointing. 

Clifford, the dog, took me on several long walks each day when Laura was away. He was very good at chasing rabbits through the fields.