Another month has gone by and it’s my turn again to take the keyboard off Louise again to say a few words and do our monthly “on the road” summary.
Having spent the last couple of months in southern Spain escaping the European winter it didn’t take long to notice that this area has vast amounts of crops growing. On the road to our housesitting job in Periana we passed thousands and thousands of avocado trees, all planted very close together, not like they are in New Zealand, and then it was olive tree after olive tree as far as the eye could see. It was picking time which is very labour intensive. They whack the trees and the olives fall into a blanket underneath. Some use blowers to get them off. All these olives are used for olive oil.
After that, we ventured into the Almeria region and we couldn’t believe what we saw. When Spain joined the EU in 1986 it became tariff-free for exports and they decided this area would be great for growing crops. With 511 million people in the EU to feed you need a lot of food and this area provides a huge amount. The Almeria region is one of the most recognisable areas from space and the reason, it has 100,000 acres of greenhouses, well plastic houses actually. Driving along, it’s just a sea of plastic. Google it, there are some amazing pictures from space. This area alone produces 2.7 million tonnes of produce and for Spain it contributes 1.2 billion Euro to the economy annually.
The low cost of building plastic greenhouses, the climate – average temperature 20 degrees coupled with 3,000 hours of sunshine a year – and subsoil makes this the ideal growing area for salads and vegetables compared to the rest of Europe. The labour costs are also low, one third that of places like Holland, but at the same time that’s a bone of contention as they use a lot of African migrants, pay them little and they must work inside these green houses enduring 40 plus degrees in heat. Most of the areas are family owned properties of around 4 acres and in the Almeria area they grow mainly tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers and peppers. France, Germany and the UK are the biggest purchasers of produce from this area.
At our campsite one night there seemed to be a lot of commotion. People talking and laughing. A few minutes later there was a tap on the side of our van. Outside was a Spanish lady, well into her 70’s, on her bicycle with two large bags of produce. At a guess she may have worked at, or owned, a property and seizes the opportunity to make some cash by selling the non-export quality produce. We bought a kilo of cherry tomatoes, 3 peppers, 3 courgettes, a lettuce and some other tomatoes for about $3 NZ. Our good friend David Stewart who owns The Fresh Market back in Tauranga New Zealand would have probably purchased everything she had and more at these prices. It’s times like this when we realise how expensive NZ is to live in. As for the lady, what a character. I gave her the 2 Euro coin and she dropped it in the dark. She spoke broken English and we got something like, “Jesus, bugger me, shit”, all the time laughing away. After we found it she disappeared into the dark to another van, bicycle and produce in hand.
A bit further up the coast we stayed at a place called Palomares. This seemed to be the lettuce growing area of Spain. Believe me, I have never seen so many lettuces – millions and millions. These are not grown in plastic houses but under shade cloth initially and then when established they are uncovered for the sun. Every row has an intricate watering system. One day we biked 20km to the next village and all the way along the road were lettuces, coupled with a few orange orchards and courgette plantations. It’s mind blowing to see how much produce is grown and unfortunately how much goes to waste. Another time, we were out walking along the beach front and fields full of lettuces had just been picked. The sand stopped, and the lettuces started. A couple of locals were in the fields helping themselves and it was obvious that once they had been picked the leftovers were free game. It wasn’t until I got closer that I realised around 10 -12% of the crop is discarded and left to rot, later ploughed back into the field. I soon had a couple of free lettuces to take back to the camp site. In the Motril area they have around 320 days of sunshine a year and its very sub-tropical. Our campsite here was surrounded by avocados, mangos, lychees, guavas and cherry tomatoes, so we have never been short of gorgeous fresh produce to purchase at very cheap prices
The only thing missing to complete the picture is water. A lot is channelled down from the north in huge canals, but it is always in short supply. Open culverts run for miles and miles through the fields funnelling water from one place to the next. We were told water is a volatile topic. The olive growers in Periana told us water once set aside for olives was being redirected to avocado plantations at the bottom of the valley, much to the concern of the olive farmers. Water shortage is a very real problem.
Right throughout our travels we have seen produce being grown on a scale so much bigger than we’re used to back home. The wheat fields in northern Spain went on forever. Up in Estonia we drove through fields and fields of peas. In Norway it was acres and acres of cherries. In Latvia, broad beans for miles. And of course, there are the grapes in France and Germany – so, so many. When we stayed with Louise’s aunt and uncle in Wahlrod, Germany, it was apple season, and all along the roads and walkways were beautiful apple trees laden with fruit and you were free to help yourself.
Last week, we stayed in a place called Pinos de Valle near Granada. We were house sitting for 10 days for Laurie and Annie. They had a beautiful property with olive trees, but they also had many orange and lemon trees, which they told us to help ourselves to. All around them were large plantations of lemons and oranges, but unfortunately most seem to just fall off and rot. I was told that they only get about 10 cents a kilo and its not economical to pick and cart them long distances to the juicing factory. Quite a shame. Also, in this area, and around Cehegin where we did another house-sitting stint, there are large almond plantations. Their white and pink blossoms were just coming out and made the countryside look spectacular.
Right, time for the stats. Because we continue to escape winter by being in southern Spain we didn’t travel many miles again in January, just 543 miles (869 km), so our diesel bill was again low with just NZ $180 spent on fuel. We stayed 21 nights in campsites and ten nights house-sitting, so we were NZ $1,254 under our budget for the month. Here are the numbers:
