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| NEWSLETTER May 2010 | |
| This edition: lizards, orchids, birds and bees… and notes from this spring’s Morocco treks, argan oil, High Mountain week offer and much more… |
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 Ocellated Lizard |
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This handsome reptile, who turned up to be photographed by Fi in our courtyard last summer, fascinated us with her distinctive markings. We discovered that she’s a female ocellated lizard or, in Spanish, un largato ocelado. The males have distinctively brighter greeny-blue markings. Found in the Iberian peninsular, Southern France and Northern Italy, she’s part of the wall lizard family. This makes her a cousin to the stripy lizards that we often glimpse while following paths over wild land, as they disappear, quick as a flash ahead of us. |
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The diet of the ocellated lizard is varied and made up of large insects, beetles and spiders, on occasion even bird’s eggs, baby birds, small mammals, other lizards and small snakes. Fruits and berries will be eaten too, when available. Rabbit burrows are often occupied which provides a constant supply of young rabbit. We don’t think this individual was eating rabbit yet – she was only 18-20cm long, making him a juvenile; the adult is 30 to 60 centimeters (1–2 feet) long and may reach up to 90 centimeters (3 feet). A long-lived reptile they can live for as much as 25 years given a lot of luck and agility – which they need around this neighbourhood with two voracious female house cats to dodge. |
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The Ocellated lizard is preyed upon by raptors such as the Short toed eagle (Spanish: aguila culebrera, Latin: Circaetus gallicus) which keen readers will know are resident here (see newsletter May 2009 - http://www.bootlace.com/newsletter-may/). Large snakes will take young and juveniles but a fully grown adult only has one real enemy – us - and although there are reasonably healthy populations in Spain and Portugal there has been a decline in many areas due to habitat loss and persecution by hunters who fear the lizard eats all of the partridge eggs and young rabbits. If the presence of our lovely wild orchids wasn’t enough, this gives us another big thumbs up for preserving our dry land areas against hunters,shepherds and other andalucian marauders. |
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In the past larger lizards were hunted and eaten as well. Not a very vegetarian diet! Also lizard stew in garlic and tomato sauce may sound tasty to the intrepid omnivore, but beware as the main ingredient is now a protected species! |
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WHAT PRICE BEAUTY - WHAT PRICE ARGAN OIL? |
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 Fruit of the argan tree – showing kernel which yields the oil |
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As we’ve found on our many visits trekking in Morocco, Argan has got to be one of the rarest oils on the planet. and is claimed to be a deep moisturizer, whose virtues include anti-blemish, anti-inflammatory, and anti-aging properties. |
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Extracted from the nuts of Morocco’s argan trees, which on the whole planet grow naturally only in this region on the edge of the Sahara, argan oil is high in vitamin E and essential fatty acids. Although its effectiveness has not yet been scientifically proven, Moroccan women use this “liquid gold,” as it is commonly called, to treat a multitude of skin ailments, including acne, dry skin, psoriasis, eczema and wrinkles. Today, the tree faces extinction. To preserve the threatened species, a Moroccan professor and an international aid group established all-women cooperatives to extract the oil, providing an economic incentive for preservation of the tree and for rural women a much needed income along with the empowerment which goes with it. |
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We were shocked by the prices which range from a stinging $50 or €39 for only 50ml, to a more affordable €14 for 250ml. The price seems less steep when you see just how small the kernels are which yield the oil, how labour-intensive the processing is – all hand production – and consider the benefits not only for local women’s cooperatives but also for the conservation of this unique tree |
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 The fantastic sculptural shape of a mature argan tree, in the hills above Afensou |
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Argan Body Organic Argan Oil ($50/50 mL www.arganbody.com) More on argan http://www.nationalgeographic.com/searc/?hsearch=argan+morocco |
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DOWN ON THE FARM |
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Like the rest of western Europe Andalucia suffered an extreme winter this year. The wind managed to turn our trusty rotivator upside-down using its protective tarpaulin as a sail. Rainfall peaked at 1300 litres in just one stormy January week in Capileira. Our neighbour Chris Stewart who lost the wall of his chicken house, substantial lengths of his irrigation system and finally his footbridge – not a stick or stone left – tells some of the story in the Guardian - |
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/weather/2010/mar/28/chris-stewart-rain-spain-granada |
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Bee Orchids - The great joy of such harsh conditions is that when we raise our heads to take stock we discover how much nature appreciates a good rain! Everything that can root and sprout and bud, is doing just that to exuberant, abundant excess. Besides the usual common old bee orchids we’ve seen many or the rarer mirror orchids and this beauty below - |
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 Secret Alpujarra treasures |
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Unmistakable, eye-catchingly pink and well, frankly, frilly, the pink butterfly orchid, Orchis papilionacea, can often be found growing in fairly poor ground as well as in the rich, well-manured soil of hay meadows. Its Spanish name translates directly into Orquídea mariposa and its flowering time is from April to June. |
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Bee–hiving well! Our plans to install hives at La Dominga are coming to fruition. We’ve been given two British hives and some experienced local bee-keepers will be helping us site and colonise them. More in later editions! |
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Bee eating? - The migrant birds are back again, golden oriels fluting and impersonating jays, and the swallows busy nest-building around the house-eaves. Below is one of our most welcome african migrants and my personal favourite bird, the bee-eater capturing a mid-flight snack (hope the La Dominga bees will be safe!). |
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Go here - http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/10/bee-eaters/szentpeteri-photography to see even more superb photos - enjoy! |
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Government Wants Your Views On The ‘Regulation of Herbalists’ In 1941 the wartime government in the UK passed, almost overnight, the Pharmacy Act which restricted public access to common herbal remedies. The Founder of the Herb Society, Hilda Leyel was an active campaigner against this law, but it took 27 years and a lot of hard work to get the rights restored. The right to access a full range of herbal medicines is once again threatened. If people act now, they can voice their opinion and prevent the same thing happening, before it’s too late. Read Ann Walker’s Statement on this important issue. |
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| Morocco 2010 |
As usual late February and early March this year found us in Morocco. Despite - or maybe because of - the storms that lashed the west of Europe and Morocco during this winter and into the spring we had unforgettable experiences in the Western High Atlas – even though we had planned to be trekking in the Anti Atlas! – and on the fresh and sparkling Atlantic coast. All was well until a few days prior to the start of the trek. Because of the torrential rain in Southern Spain during the weekend before our first ten day tour we had been in contact with Luc the boss of the trekking company who assured us that only slight adjustments had to be made to our itinerary – a few tracks washed out, a new route found. Then on Friday on the way south to meet the group in Marrakech we chanced on a minor miracle – a wifi hotspot in a motorway aire de repos – and discovered an urgent email carrying the news that not only was Tafroute, our first goal in the Anti Atlas, cut off by flash floods caused by the exceptionally severe weather – but so was Taroudant, municipal centre of the fertile and normally peaceful Souss valley where the group was to transfer to four-wheel drive vehicles to move off tarmac. |
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At the Riad in Marrakech we spent a worried evening and next morning on the phone and internet discussing possible options. By the time our driver arrived on Sunday morning with news that his was one of the very first vehicles to get through from the Souss valley, Plan B had been hatched. Our local guides and our hosts in Taroudant responded with typical Moroccan flexibility and hospitality to the upset plans. Alternate accommodation was found for an unscheduled night in Taroudant, and after a stormy drive from Marrakech we were warmly greeted with a superb evening meal as Plan B rolled into action. |
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 Jemaa al F'na square, Marrakech |
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The next day the clouds lifted to reveal clear blue skies and our spirits rose as we followed the steep, winding road up into the Western High Atlas, passing slopes dotted with argan and olive trees. The snow glistened on the distant high peaks and all the locals were out clearing up after the storm. We drove as far as Kamal could get us and then completed the last 15km on foot enjoying the clear air and sunshine and the impressive spectacle of nearly a hundred villagers building a ford over a rushing mountain river that had swept away the bridge. We were literally carried over the work in progress by a relay of strong arms and laughter. |
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Our host’s family in Afensou greeted us with mint tea and snacks and fired up the house hammam. During the week that followed we were most excellently fed, entertained, walked to our hearts content and led through a fascinating tour of this beautiful region, far from the busy commercialism of many of the High Atlas trekking routes. We ranged from the surprisingly populous high villages with their ancient watering systems and patchwork of brilliant emerald fields reached by unlikely and toe-curlingly precipitous tracks to the peace of the argan groves with their stunning backdrop of snowy peaks and views over the Souss valley to the ever beckoning Anti Atlas mountains… |
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 Campsite midweek - Western High Atlas |
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For more photos of this trek - Bootlace Walking Holidays albums on Picasa |
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Our Atlantic Coast trekkers arrived in ones and twos at the famous Cafe de France overlooking the even more famous Jemaa al Fna square – many folk choosing to arrive a day or so earlier to explore the fabled city of Marrakech at their leisure. Picking up the last few members of our 2010 Atlantic Coast company at the new airport terminal we set off for our first night’s stay at Essaouira at the Lalla Mira within the walls of the medina. |
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The Lalla Mira Eco Hotel specializes in vegetarian and sea-food with many products supplied by its own organic farm. Fortified by a generous breakfast of eggs cooked any way you want them and a buffet spread with mouth-watering treats - fresh orange juice, home made butter, bread, jams and cheese, olives and amlouze, a regional speciality made of ground almonds and argan oil - we were ready for the day starting our journey along this superb stretch of sea and strand. |
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 Morning on the beach with Essaouira in far distance |
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Every night brought a different view through the tent flap, every day the coastline rolled away beneath our feet revealing long flat sands and rolling dunes, rocky headlands and many, many ways to find water: waterfalls, springs and streams, cisterns and wells, fisher-men’s rain water tanks buried deep for freshness. Female camels on maternity leave with their young grazed on lush spring greens, beside hobbled mules and the tiniest donkeys in the world who still seem strong enough to carry a grown man and his veg. Local people herding goats and sheep passed by with smiles and waves. Drifts of shells beside the path showed us where the mussel beds lay on the rocky shore below. The landscape gradually became more rolling as we headed south, sea on our right and on our left arable land planted with grain, grazing pastures , wilder stretches , olive groves and marabout shrines and everywhere gradually emerging spring flowers - wild iris, delicate gladioli. |
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 Wild Iris - Sidi M'barek |
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With the most welcome presence of Geoff, our storytelling walker, camp fires and the ever-changing scenery through the tent flap, evenings in the picturesque Moroccan “jaima” were very special. At the end of the week there was time for exploring and shopping in Essaouira and Marrakech before we said goodbye and went our separate ways – some flying home, some staying on for more Moroccan adventures. |
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 The jaima tent Sidi Ahmed Essayeh |
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| More photos here - Atlantic Coast Trek album, Picasa |
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 Summit Mulhacen, Sierra Nevada in June |
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| JUNE IN THE HIGH MOUNTAIN - a few words from Paul |
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It’s early May and spring is at its peak, the weather is warming up and the air is like crystal. My gaze is forever drawn up to the bright white summits of the Sierra Nevada and I’m filled with exhilaration at the thought of our annual pilgrimage to the top of Mulhacen, Spain’s highest mainland peak. I say pilgrimage because every year the privilege of walking safely on its flanks and being in such majestic surrounds never fails to move me spiritually. The week begins at Fernando’s cortijo which is situated deep in an oak wood at an elevation of 5250ft - a height that allows us to escape the ever mounting heat of the valleys below. The first few days are spent in exploring the adjacent ridge of Los Machos and then the peak of Las Alegas. To climb to the top of Las Alegas (9000ft) we take a short Land Rover trip to the ridge and then ascend approximately 2300 ft to the summit, a long slog of a climb, but with every step the view opening up, behind us the ever growing expanses of the Mediterranean, in front the ever expanding chain of peaks. From the summit we gaze across at Mulhacen and stare with wonder at the snowy summits, knowing that the next day we will be among them. Returning to Fernando’s to an oak fire and a hearty supper we are fully prepared to meet the challenge of Mulhacen with total humility. (? -Ed) It’s midweek and we are taking it easy with a visit to the mountain villages sampling the local produce and a little of the local wine. A trip in the Land Rover and a gentle walk to the Refugio Poqueira just below 9000ft. This is our home for the next two nights and a chance to meet other intrepid explorers either on their way up or down. Next morning is an earlier start than usual as we face a 3000ft climb. Now we are amongst the snowy peaks making our way around patches of frozen snow. Passing clusters of gentians, their blue challenging the sky, fritillaries and stars of the snow making a carpet of celestial proportions. Rising |
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 Fritilleries near Refugio Poqueira, Sierra Nevada |
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above the meadows and now on bare rock and shale - still the flowers survive with rare poppies and pansies - we push on up. The air is getting thinner, the snow patches are gathering and clustering at the peak. We achieve the ridge and the stark sheer face of Pico de Veleta stares unblinkingly at us. Our goal is now in easy reach and with renewed joy we step up to the summit of Mulhacen. From the peak the north side drops away in a vertical cliff offering us a truly unbelievable vista of mountains and valleys far below, alpine choughs diving and playing in the vast volume of air between us and the Laguna de la Mosca. After picnicking on the summit we make our way down a steep side into the caldera. Below us surrounded by snow and the jagged peaks of the sierras lie a series of lakes their water crystal clear and pure. We follow the rio Mulhacen down again walking over carpets of Alpine flowers, being watched at a safe distance by the Iberian Ibex, the males so proud of their magnificent horns. Slowly making our way back to the Refugio where a shower and welcoming dinner and glass of wine is waiting for us. The last day as we walk out of the high sierras fills me with a sense of gratitude and peace. It’s a privilege to walk in such beauty and once more my cup overflows. |
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 Mulhacen from the Atalaya, Sierra Nevada |
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| Special offer High Mountain 2010 for two people sharing twin/double room - |
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| €100 discount! |
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| More information on the High Mountain week 2009 | |
| or email Fiona: bootlaceholidays@yahoo.com | |
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AND FINALLY: |
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Just remember - |
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Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time. |
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| To contact us about Walking in the Alpujarra, Sierra Nevada, Andalucia, Spain or Morocco - or to share some walking jokes, use the form below - thanks! |