Village Life

I Was Invited to a Men’s Lunch and Mistook It for a Fight Club

The message came via Paco. Which means it wasn’t so much an invitation as a grunt, followed by “mañana” and a vague arm wave toward the hills. Carmen translated. “You’re going to a men’s lunch.” I blinked. “What does that mean?” She shrugged. “Meat. Wine. Shouting. Possibly cards. Possibly guns.” She was joking. I think. …

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Cooking Lessons from Rosa

I didn’t move to La Alpujarra for the food. But the food, somehow, became the thing.  Didn’t see that coming.  Back in London, I cooked because I had to. Quick meals, nothing special. A bit of chicken, some pasta, whatever could be thrown together without much thought. Just something to shove in my mouth between …

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Seasonal Festivities: My First Fiesta

I don’t know how I ended up here, standing in the middle of a village square, hands warm from a bag of roasted chestnuts, watching a fire crackle while an old man tunes his guitar. I mean, I know how—I walked out of my house this morning and followed the smell of woodsmoke and sugar. …

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A Day at the Market: Embracing Local Life

One of the first things that smacked me in the face about life in La Alpujarra? The weekly market isn’t just a place to buy vegetables—it’s the town’s pulse, a noisy, fragrant, beautifully chaotic organism that makes the sterile, fluorescent-lit supermarkets of London feel like a scene from a dystopian novel. Órgiva’s market is the …

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The Hidden Trails of La Alpujarra

La Alpujarra doesn’t just feel like another place. It feels like a whole other world. I noticed it straight away—how time stretches, how the air carries something quieter, something older. There’s no rush, no urgency, just space.  London, on the other hand, was full of noise and movement. The streets always dragged you forward, schedules …

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Restoring My Townhouse

Fixing up an old townhouse in Pampaneira has been a mix of small wins, big setbacks, and a whole lot of trial and error. When I first stepped inside, the place had that kind of faded charm you either see as a project or a problem. The floors were uneven, the beams cracked with age, …

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Why I Chose La Alpujarra: A Big, Fresh Start

Didn’t mean to come here. That’s the first thing. Not in a grand, “oh, fate led me here” kind of way, just—didn’t think it through. Saw some pictures, liked the way the mountains looked, needed out of London, and… well. That was that. Could’ve been anywhere, really. Booked the flight before I could talk myself …

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