Andalucia budget family accommodation, Spain
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
1). Los Cigarrones is a rural hamlet.
There is no TV,
there is no swimming pool, but there are plenty of oportunities to paddle and cool down in running water and irrigation dip pools.
We do not have a microwave,
We do not have air-conditioning, instead thick walls help to ensure a perfect siesta.
2.WILD LIFE
We see a wide variety of wild animals here including: Wild boar, mountain goats, turtles, owls, hopoos , imperial eagles, really an impressive variety of wild cats and birds. We have bee eaters, nightingails ,bats and many rare dragonflies.
In the spring you can see a huge variety of wild orchids on the sierra.
If you are a bird watcher or interested in plants, insects...this is a great place to visit.
3.RECYCLE
We recycle as much as possible and buy as little packaged food as possible.
We grow our own vegetables, have our own goats milk and make cheese. our chickens provide us with eggs. What we can't grow or produce here we usually buy in the local store or from the farmers market on a Thursday in órgiva.
We live completely off-grid. We have 12v solar electricity in the village, we all have compost toilets and we use river water for the house and take drinking water from a nearby spring.
Our water is provided by snow melt on the sierra nevada mountain range which is fed down in rivers and then by the acequias, which are moorish water channels that snake around the mountain, to provide water for the crops we grow and for living.
As land owners we belong to the comunidad de regantes 'community of water users' and we have meetings where we decide what repairs need doing to the system and how to go about them. There is a president of each acequia (there are two acequias that feed Los cigarrones and go on to supply los Tablones) a secretary and a treasurer.
Some people in the village have rainwater collection tanks to help the water situation.
All waste water is saved and goes on to the land.
We have an organic vegetable garden. Most of what we grow is on raised beds and is drip fed. We do not use any kind of herbicide or pesticide on our ground.
Fertilizer is provided by the animals we keep.
BUILDINGS
The building materials used in the building of our houses are very sustainable and basic. Cane and beam ceilings, grafite filled flat roofs (called launa). the walls are stone and mud and the paint is whitewash.
The tiles are natural fired clay and produced locally.
Community
We have a list of places to see and visit in the Casita and encourage people to walk or use public transport. Los cigarrones has no road access. You have to walk here. Locally produced food and local restaurants are the only ones available. There are no macdonalds or food chain stores here.
I am the secretary of a local enviromental organisation and our tasks so far have been to reopen an old mule track that conects Los Tablones to Los Cigarrones. and have promoted it's use. We have also raised awareness of nature by initiating chicken hatching projects at local schools, and have submitted plans for a recycle, reuse project at these same schools.
We have also done some cleaning up work in various riverbeds in our area and have done some extensive tree planting and watering. My neighbours have recently made bee hives from recycled wooden furniture and are hoping to extend them this year, as they have been a huge success.
REUSE
The house is decorated with locally produced rugs, recycled tables and chairs. The kitchen is made from local granite slate and the floor tiles are locally made clay tiles, or have been found in rubbish skips.
THE COMMUNITY
We are very intergrated in the local comunity. We both work and live here all year round.
Our children have gone to the local schools and we have had active roles in the community. I have been on the school commity and we have both been active at the water meetings, or working on the water channels.
The local population are used to forieners and as long as respect is shown for private land and people are wlling to try to communicate normally locals are happy to see new faces.
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