Home hosted visit

From the first moment I learned of the “Home Hosted Visit” on the tour's itinerary I was intrigued. As the title suggests, this event gives a group the opportunity to be served a home cooked meal, prepared by a local lady, in her actual home. From the reviews and then confirmed later by Antonio, more often than not our hostess does not speak English.

I began to reflect upon what it is about this event that makes it so very appealing. One aspect, I believe, is that we human beings often have a deep curiosity about the lives of the people around us. The driving, underlying reason/s for this curiosity will be different for each different type of circumstance we encounter, some reasons possibly more noble than others.

In this case I certainly know what fuels my interest – it is to help me “imagine”.

Imagination is a wonderful gift and a trait which was encouraged in me in my very youngest days by my parents, bolstered by play and fired by reading. Imagination still plays an active part in my life, particularly when it comes to travel.

So often I am blown away by the sheer beauty of the places I visit. I look up at the windows lit up at night of the local apartment buildings and wonder about those who live there. I see the quaint cottages or homes so very different from the type of home where I live, set in such incredibly beautiful locations and I imagine – who would not? - what it might be like to live there. The side streets, the neighbourhood churches, even the local grocery stores and markets frequented by residents are of deep interest to the travellers of the world.

Yes, yes, of course I realize that 'home is best', surrounded by friends and family and the familiar. And that is right and how it should be. Nevertheless, travel provides me with endless dreams of, if not actually living permanently in some of the outstandingly beautiful places in this world, then winning a lottery and having the ability to spend an extended time in the best of the best of them. And so many places of Spain, without question, falls into that category.

So, how wonderful it was to have the opportunity to catch a wee glimpse of the homes of real Spanish people. And we were blessed with not just one home, but two – the first having the honour (truly) of visiting the home of and saying a (shy) “Hola” to Antonio's parents (yes!), and then sitting down and having a meal with our hostess Loli a short walk away.

Antonio had explained to us about how these home visits began. In fact, the success of these in his home village were instrumental in having them introduced to all of GCT's tour itineraries. Our hostess, Loli, was one of the first to 'get on board' with the idea when it was first proposed to the ladies of the village. She has not had a charmed life and has worked very hard in order to purchase a charming home of her own, filled with her pets and new puppies (and, we heard via the 'grapevine', also a boy friend).

And we were doubly blessed (or I guess that would be triple blessed) with having among our group “T.J.” who speaks fluent Spanish. (Thank you again T.J. for your skills, not to mention your good humour and patience with translating our questions.)

What to say? The meal was one of the best we had while in Spain. Loli was lovely. Via T.J. she shares a love of growing tomatoes (just like me!) and we were able as a part of our menu to sample dishes she created with them. It was lovely to be introduced, even in this limited way, to a small slice of the rural Spanish culture. It was delightful, and – as an additional bonus - it is nice to think we – as a group of strangers from another continent – are able in a small way to help the local economy.

The biggest thing I took away, of course, if the memories of the village, the home, and the people which helps 'flesh out' and feed my imagination – especially welcome during the hard, bitter months of a Canadian prairie winter.

It is good to dream.