Maria Antonia

Happy New Year y’all!

Before I tell you about the recent activity, I just wanted to show you a couple of pictures from Monica’s imaginative hand crafted sweets, like the gnome muffin, or the sunbathing penguins. A charming small specialized bakery in old town Mataro, Monica called me for a single 2 hour conversation class, to help her out with a job interview with a plastic container company in another nearby town Dosrius. Once a lawyer in Argentina, much like our Green Home Center, she was able to leave the law business behind and realize her dream with these edible treats. It made me very sad to see this dream washed away like so many others, to have this talent go no where.

You may not remember Maria Antonia, but I did introduce you to her when we met during the Ebro river trip with Ecologistas en Accion, and we joined her again during the Entrevinas trip. This time she came to stay with us for a few days, actually we stayed at Jordi’s, then we drove up to the Costa Brava for a couple of days, as she had not yet been there. Maria Antonia is an organic grape grower, this year she and her daughter bottled a very limited number of bottles as they were finding a buyer, and have begun the certification process with flying colors. She brought one bottle for us, and it was excellent.

Our first stop was Sant Marti d’Empuries, which I remembered having visited the Museum of Roman artifacts and sculptures dug up on site. From the photo you can see a Roman wall by the shore, about 3000+ years old.

After a late lunch we headed towards Rosas, which despite being an extremely popular summer vacation town, giving name to the bay, I never cared for it because it was developed for mass tourism early on. The majority of visitors here are french, which became even more apparent when I crashed from my bike in a dark area while riding along the beach front, even     Berta (Jordi’s 11 year old daughter who also came along) was jokingly repeating “oh la la” afterwards. We stayed in a camping cabin, they call them bungalows, but they’re small cabins, and it was so cold, the heater wasn’t working well, and the blankets...well, they simply were not enough.

Early start next morning, 
even though we had bought enough food to eat in, we simply wanted to go find a warmer spot for breakfast. And of to Sant Pere Pescador, to the small delta formed where Fluvia River joins the Mediterranean Sea, surrounded by beautiful swamps; this is a favorite vacation spot for Jordi and his brothers. When we arrived, still cold, fabulous clouds in the sky, that suddenly changed as we were playing with paddle board, canoe and windsurf, the moment the sun came out, the powerful Tramontana, a wind that comes from the North.

We still managed to visit Pals and Tamariu before dark. Pals is another historical medieval walled castle on a hill town.
From the view point of Pals, a lovely scenery with the Medas Islands (similar to the Farallon Islands, as far as nature only place, however closer, making them easier to view).

And Tamariu is a typical Costa Brava beach, which fortunately like a few others, has not suffered the terrible over-construction others have, due to the narrow windy road that takes you there. And just like when I lived in Hermosa Beach, all these places are so much nicer in the winter, because in the summer these beaches are so full of vacationeers. 

Only 9 more days now, before I board a plane back to San Francisco, and you all know how excited I am to being around there with you guys... love you all!