Meeting my Companeros en la escuela at the Paella BBQ

The BBQ hosted by the very hospitable Sonja and Mouta of the Spanish school of La Herradura was attended by other students who are active students the the school. What a marvelous collection of people!  There were people from all over the world there - Norway, Sweden, Morocco, Holland, Scotland, England and Spain of course.  Jacques is retired in La Herradura.  Fiona is a student at the school and brought her husband Paul to the BBQ to add to the feeling of camaraderie.  Olaf as you may recall grows avocados and olives and goes back and forth between his home in Norway and La Herradura.  He regularly books classes at the school for the duration of his stays while he is in La Herradura.  Although he tells me that he is "not a diligent student', I thought his Spanish was very good.

Then there was the incredibly good looking family from Holland.  Their daughter, Yara is an exceptionally mature 11 year old who already passed her exams for secondary school and therefore has time to travel abroad for three weeks prior to the start of the next school session.  She reminds me of my talented daughter Shannon - now 14 years old.  Yara's parents arranged for her to take classes  at the school for the length of their stay.  Yara's father is able to work remotely here  and the mother is vacationing.  Of course they are all enjoying vacation time together during their stay here as well. They are staying in a 3 bedroom apartment right behind the school and are therefore neighbors to me.

 I also met Chris and his wife and daughter who discovered the school when a group of interns disembarked from a plane in Granada and he overheard them discussing arranging a bus to La Herradura.  As he had a car and was going to Almuncar he gave them a "lift " to the school.  He's been a student and friend of the school ever since - booking classes for himself on the four weeks he has off .  He told me that he's in the oil industry and it's common for people in his industry to work with this type of schedule.

Clearly, the Spanish school of La Herradura is able to accommodate people of all ages with varying degrees of time and commitment to the learning process  

And then there was Jose - one of the teachers at the school- telling jokes all night and pretending to be Clint Eastwood who is very popular in these parts as nearby Alberia was the location of many of Clint Eastwood's' spaghetti Western films.  Alberia is considered to be a "mini Hollywood".  It is located in the Desert of Tabernas, the only desert in Europe.  Alberia has the unique desert landforms that one sees in "The Good the Bad and the Ugly", "A Fisful of Dollars","For a Few Dollars More", "Indiana Jones, the Last Crusader."  I could practice my Spanish in talking with Jose and some of the other guests.  There were many languages being spoken that night and while I was the only American everyone knew English.  It was mad! 


That night, our hosts made Paella on the grill.  There was an endless stream of food being served all night beginning with olives and soup and ending with cheese and more cheese.  The wine glass was never empty.  It was necessary to end the night to keep the glass from being refilled one more time.  Una Buena Noche indeed!

We never worried that the BBQ might be spoiled by foul weather as once again it was 83 degrees and sunny when set out to the mountains.

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