Campo Life! Goats and Melons...

One thing you are likely to see in the campo is goats - and lots of them. During our first year working on the cave it was almost a daily occurance in late summer. You can buy goat on occasion from the butchers and it tastes very similar to lamb. You can hear the distant sound of bells assuring you that they are on their way and sure enough they turn up accompanied by the local shepard sometimes close, sometimes far.

Our 3 year old son helping the local "pastor" round up his herd!!

One particular day, however we found a lone baby goat seperated from the rest of its herd whilst we were out for a walk. Both our son and dog were very interested in this tiny creature, which must have only been a few months old, but for obvious different reasons! We decided the best thing to do, more for the goats sake than anything else, was to leave it and come home. The goat however had other ideas and duly followed us home much to our sons delight! It then took refuge under our car and it was all we could do just to keep the dog at a reasonable safe distance, never mind what to do with our guest. Luckily one of our neighbours was passing and on telling her the tale came up with a solution...

Just across the way from us was a farm and our neighbour knew the shepherd attatched to that farm quite well and thought perhaps our little friend was one of his herd. In the car I was reminded a little what having a hungry baby was all about as this little mite sucked on my finger for all it was worth! We arrived to be told that the goat did not belong to our particular shepherd but they knew whose it was and would take it in until its rightful owner happened along. To show us their thanks we were given a guided tour of their farmhouse which was very nice indeed. On leaving we were asked if we liked melons. What a strange question you may ask but it turns out that this farm also grows melons for export to the UK and we were presented with five melons between us just for our trouble of returning a straggler!!! The generosity of Spanish people will always surprise and delight us and this was no exception, needless to say we had a delicious breakfast of fresh melon for the next three days!! so, goats and melons: an unlikely combination? maybe but certainly a very satisfying one!!!!!