Casa Paz

Note; I have added photos to yesterdays blog.

I notice a pattern in which I allow myself the illusion of 'security' or simplicity via another person's participation, enough to get me on the road to some otherwise too scary place. Then, the illusion goes away, one way or another, and I am then forced to suck it up and become more self-reliant.

Now I am using my Spanish more, taking risks, pushing myself to get out and find out how to take the bus, which seems simple enough but not where I must do it in Spanish. Like saying the name of the town I want to get to- pronouncing it Ber I a, when it is actually BER i a. Confused the ticket guy.

Standing in line- you are expected to be pushy. If you wait to be invited to the ticket window, or order something at the cafe, you will be ignored.

The bus passes through Villafrance, Tarrogona, pine forests,Castillio, Valencia...with endless piles of highrise condos along the shore (many now for sale) and a growing mountain range to the west.

Casa Paz...Ken did meet me at the bus station as he said he would in the email. He is an ex-Brit but has been here for over 30 years now. Retired, in his late sixties, trained as a mechanical engineer , he now calls himself a bio-engineer. He has a 'charity' organization, which I think means non-profit, developing low tech solutions for energy self-sufficiency and for helping the oceans to begin to heal. He builds ceramic and concrete (a special kind that is eco-friendly) sculptures that are then placed off shore at the correct depth for fish habitat. They are shaped like sea creatures, turtles, rays, etc., but big and full of nooks and crannies for fish to hide. He seems to have it all thought out.

On first arriving at the farm house, Ken showed me a project he is working on, almost finished, which is a wind turbine made mostly with parts of old washing machines. I will have to send a picture of that later. He says it should generate 6 KW of power.

The house itself looks exactly like a Spanish Villa should look. Over 3000 years old- parts of it anyway- with lovely gardens and pools and courtyards. One also notices that the yards all around it are stacked with recycled stuff. In addition to the old washing machines, there are old sinks, pieces of metal and lumber, pipes, cans, sheds full of more stuff and tools and bins. The driveway is lined with the afore described sculptures- each the size of a VW. In between, there are piles of broken ceramic sinks and toilets.

There may well be a fine line between madness and genius. I can't say for sure which side we are walking on here.

I met my pentouse flatmates, two young fellows from Australia and Switzerland. I rather like the feel of the place, with my own room, and the fireplace in the living room. After a good sleep, we started to work on clearing weeds around the sculptures so we can finish a few of them, but the rains came. So Ken took Jeremiah (Aussie guy) and me to Denia to check on his boat, called Puff (The Magic Dragon) which was shipwrecked a few months ago and he has been rebuilding it. No way I can describe it, but to say it has a relief gold dragon spread on the sides of it. so again, you must await the photo. He built it himself. It is intended for the education of children, a big part of his overall project to begin healing the oceans (and Mediteranean Sea).

After grocery shopping - stores here are so smart- to use a cart, you put in a euro. When you are done, to get your euro back, it must be returned to the rack. In the rain, some people still abandon the cart- so we got a free euro!

Ken was telling me lots of stories all the while, including about the local gypsies, some of whom have been stealing his jusnk to sell for scrap, going on for many months now. Some of the steel is pretty valuable, apparently.

Returning to the casa, a grey car was trying to pull out of the driveway. Jeremiah and I couldn't figure out why Ken seemed to be intentionally blocking their exit. He got out of the car and was talking to the two young men in the car, then started to yell at them. He yelled at us to get out of the car, while they were trying to scrape past it. They couldn't, and things escalated. Ken got a hammer out of his car. The guys dragged a steel sink out of their back seat. Ken kept yelling, telling us to memorize their license plate number. One of them jumped in Ken's car and moved it, then jumped back in his. They ran into Ken who was standing in front of them, and Ken smashed their windshield with his hammer. They kept forcing him, so he finally moved out of the way. I tried to use my cell phone but it doesn't have reception here. Jeremiah had thought to get a photograph of the guys.

I helped Ken dial his home phone to call the police, he was pretty much a wreck. Things are calmed down this evening, and he is ok but his knee is bruised. I guess after all those months of being pillaged, he was primed to take action when he met them face to face.

Still raining, but lovely here,

Really.