Monday, June 16, 2008

A Taste of the Old World



Olive Oil... It's been called "liquid gold" and my family eats, breathes and even bathes in it. Never in a million years would I have believed that my life would lead me to selling olive oil. Most people think we're crazy to do what we're doing, but you see there's so much behind it all. I wouldn't change my life for the world.

Ten years ago my husband Chris and I were dating when we decided to go backpacking through Spain in account that tickets to Spain were only $300 round trip, as opposed to the $600 tickets to California, which was were I originally wanted to go. Remember those days? Well, am I ever glad we never went to California.

At the time Chris was going to law school and had met someone who knew someone about a house being rented somewhere in the middle of Spain. Well, we had never been to Spain before and we were told the house was somewhere deep in the heart of southern Spain on some remote mountain range. All we had was a rough description of a four hour drive through the country and the name of a person to find once we got to town... for the keys, of course. Well, we were thrilled!

Our journey to where we are now began with that very first trip. As we drove through Spain we came upon some incredible sights. First the incredible city that is Madrid, then the beautiful flat lands as we headed south and finally we hit the Sierra Morenas, the rugged mountains that mark the entrance to a very hot and fertile part of the country.

As we got closer to our destination we noticed small twisted looking trees... thousands and thousands of them as far as the eye could see. We drove for miles and we thought they would never end. I had to stop and take a look at what these farmers were growing. I remember getting out of the car and hoping someone wouldn't decide to take a shot at me for picking his crop. I looked back at Chris and with an incredulous look on my face I yelled, "They're olives!"

And that was the beginning... We have yet to visit California.

1 comment:

Julie L said...

What a great story! and what a cool vacation it sounds like :)