Blog - written by Oska about life in and around the self catering holiday destination Cortijo Opazo in the Alpujarras, Andalucia, Spain.

This is my page, and that's me sitting on a stone step, trying to keep out of the sun. As pedigree dachshund in chief, and officially awarded a prize as best puppy in my class - see link here - my job is quality control and looking after the welfare of the guests staying at Cortijo Opazo. Big responsibility, don't know how I find time for it all, but I think I'm doing OK. Anyway, on this page I bring you up to date with the various happenings at Cortijo Opazo and the world around us. I welcome comments, just address them to Oska at info@cortijoopazo.com. Thanks for reading!

By the way, I am supposed to mention that it's a pretty fab place for a holiday.

Click here to see past blogs:

April 2012

March 2012

February 2012

January 2012

Blogs from 2011

Blog from 2010

May 24th 2012

The Joy of Podding and other Country Pass-times.

Like many places in Europe, May has been a strange month weather wise. In the UK it was being coined 'Miserable May' whilst here in southern Spain we leapt straight from winter to summer with no sign of spring. Then, just when we were getting used to the idea of taking an afternoon summer siesta, it was back to winter again, the fire was alight and the morning of Monday May 21st May saw a sharp frost with heavy snow fall in the high mountains. We have been heeding the local advice about not planting out your tomato plants until the end of May - 'if in doubt wait till May is out' - and just as well. Now, well, the weather feels a little like late spring with day time temperatures reaching about 25 degrees - which is as pleasant as it can get. The garden is finding it all a little confusing, and the plants seem to be responding by making a break for it, thrusting out their flowers as soon as they can, then getting on with the job of creating seed heads. The pictures around this page show you some of the lovely blooms our visitors are currently enjoying. Yes, from my short span of years on this earth I can say that late May and June really are a fabulous time to be in a garden, wherever it is.

This change in the weather is, however, playing havoc with this dachshund's metabolism and I must remind myself not to go charging around the place like a mad thing all the time. 'Go with the rhythm of the day' must become my mantra, if it is hot, find a shady place to sit, preferably a damp patch with some cooling mud if possible. I found such a location recently when we all went out on a investigative walk. The humans who work here with me have, over the years, built up a very useful collection of walk cards and maps which are available for our visitors to use. Every so often a walk might change due to the physical conditions - for example, a bridge might get washed away in a flood, or a path be obliterated by a landslide. Unlike a published book, our walk cards are not set in stone, but are continually revised and reworked when necessary. One such route has been withdrawn from the collection of walks since 2010 for just such a reason. It is the beautiful and isolated path that takes the walker up one of the two main valleys high above the village of Capileira, up into the Rio Torril. In 2010 the path was completely wiped out by a landslide caused by the huge amounts of rain that fell during the winter. My companions last tried this walk with my predecessor, Fergus, but had to turn back because the river was too high to cross. Now, after a relatively dry winter, it was time to try again. On this occasion we were successful, we found an alternative path around the landslide area, and can now restore the Rio Toril, walk in all its glory back to our walking pack. The route itself is totally delightful. The uphill parts are steep, but in between there are long stretches of reasonably flat walking as you follow one of the main irrigation 'Acequias', or the ridge of the mountain. It takes you to an interesting spot, to the head of the hydro electric scheme, where water enters a huge pipe and descends to the foot of the mountain, presumably at great speed, where it drives the huge power generating turbines 500 metres below.

The walk was delightful for another reason, the abundance of wild flowers that could be seen, including the rare blue mountain gentian with it deep indigo colour flowers, and a rather dandy wild primrose. We also saw numerous orchids, but orchids are becoming yesterday's news on this website.

Back home, and there's mixed news about food from the garden. The new 'girls' - one can hardly call them 'new' since they've been here for about six weeks - are still not laying any eggs. We do have a source of free range eggs from a woman who lives above Portugos, which is how William can prepare his delicious new dish of 'Baked Berber Eggs', but we don't currently have enough to pass on to our guests. Come on girls, pull your weight! On the other hand, the vegetable bed is one of the best looking parts of the garden this year. The broad beans wave majestically in the afternoon breeze, alongside the smaller but no less superior peas. The potatoes are living up to our expectations and will be flowering any day now, and we have all enjoyed the lettuce and spinach - well, I say 'all', but basically Ella and I don't enjoy these vegetables since we are basically carnivores, although I can understand the pleasure they might give to others. Just look as the peas at the top of the page, all cheeky and emerald. The broad beans too, still in their pods. Oh what podding fun we are having! This week the strawberries are starting to ripen, and before I publish my next blog we'll be up to our haunches in cherries.

To other matters. Business! We've recently found ourselves listed on the popular travel review website, Tripadvisor. At the time of writing, our page is virgin, you have the chance to be that first reviewer! So, if you have a genuine review to write about a holiday at Cortijo Opazo and you have time to share it with the world, please find us at:

Cortijo Opazo at Tripadvisor

But it's not all work, work work. This weekend we are all taking a little break and spending a couple of nights in a small village north of Malaga, staying in a Yurt tent. How marvellous! I can't wait. What is a Yurt anyway?

Yours, in Mongolian anticipation,

Oska

Below is a picture of a lovely Morgan Classic car that has recently been parked outside Cortijo Opazo. The owners drove it here from the UK, via the boat crossing to Santander. It has turned many a head throughout Spain and has, for a short time, added a since of 'class' to the place. Many a passing person stopped to admire it. But now we have another soft top sports car parked outside, a Mazda, belonging to Eric and Margaret, on their 12th trip here. Something in the air?

To view the April 2012 blog, click here.