Lorna's New Life!

July

It is Tuesday 15th July and I would so love to report how July has been wonderful and all is well at last……… sorry it aint happening just yet!

However eventually there is good news!

The month began with Jack the German towing our car, that has been the bane of our life, down to the coast. He is putting in a reconditioned engine. It is our only hope of getting it back on the road, and we are waiting news of it as I type, surprise surprise! Oh actually as I type we have a phone call, he ordered the wrong engine!!! He is expecting the correct one manyana, sorry tomorrow!
I did however how a lovely, although quick, visit back to Brighton at the beginning of the month. I had a lovely meal with Mark and his new girlfriend Callie, and Frankie and Chris. I met up with all my line dance ladies, and Simon that has taken over those classes, had laid on lovely buffets and wine, at the classes. The ladies all gave me such a lovely welcome, told me how wonderful I looked, nice and brown and very relaxed… And how much weight I had put on, grrrrrrrrrr hehe!
I also called in to four other dance classes where I had loads of cuddles from my dance kids. It was so lovely to see them and the classes were all busy and they were obviously all having a great time. I caught up with bezzie mate Wendy and family, and Karen and Anita, who I worked with at school, and former neighbours Paul and Debs. It was such a shame that the time flew by so quickly. Also I had a wonderful morning at the stroke club, where I used to help out on Tuesday mornings. It was like I had never been away, but did n’t take anyone to the toilet, therefore did n’t leave anyone in the toilet, that I’m afraid I had been guilty of, a few times, in the past. Everyone looked very well, it was so lovely to see you all. It was especially good to see Maureen who runs the club, and thank you Ron and Maureen for the hospitality for one night too.
On our way to the airport to come to Brighton we had a call from Nigel Cobb, our little Basil was a little unwell, apparently he had a chest infection and was on antibiotics, but he was still eating and drinking so we hoped he would be ok, but with the way things had been going for us, I was n’t so sure. I told Alan, that when I was in Brighton, I was n’t going to ask about Basil or even Cassandra, who is due to give birth towards the end of the month, I was very nervous of more bad news and wanted to enjoy my time away, and face the music when I returned. Sadly when I met Alan at the airport he told me our little Basil had died, the day before. Nigel had phoned him, and he was distraught. (Basil and his mum Bermuda were still living with Nigel and Ginny, in Ronda, until Cassandra had given birth.) Nigel had even tried giving him mouth to mouth. He had been such a strong little boy, and even now it is hard to believe he has gone.
Since returning from England I have tried very hard to get a little fitter, and Alan and I have been walking with the dogs most nights. We do however have to wait until about 9pm, as it is still so very hot in the evening. Carlos, by the way has had his doggy injections. We took him on, what we think was probably his first trip in a car. He was so good, no crying and moaning the whole journey, like Geri does, bless her. Well he did n’t quite know what to do when we got him out of the car, and his tail was doubled under his little skinny little body, and he just refused to walk, or even be dragged, by his lead, poor little guy! So Alan carried him up the stairs to the vet. We went in and put him straight on the table and there he lay, not moving whilst he had a thorough check up by Andres. All was fine although he does have a nasty scar by her left eye. Andres said he probably caught it on a branch whilst living outside. Carlos had his injections, and was micro chipped, and he never even flinched. We then should really have covered his ears, whilst we spoke about having his rather large, manly, doggy bits lobbed off. But I think he speaks Spanish, so he probably could n’t understand us hehe! That will wait until the autumn, when we were advised that there are less flies around, so there is less risk of infection. Time to go, and Carlos would not move again. Andres told us to go outside and call him, no, he still would not move, so Andres carried him out to us, then Alan carried him back to the car……….. Bless his heart, he is always so scared!
Sunday 13th July we were invited to Ronda for a pig roast, sorry vegetarians. Although we had a lovely time, I do love a party and a good chat, I did feel quite low. We had just lost our little Basil and I was well aware that other alpacas were also poorly. Alan and I had even discussed if we could carry on with our “alpaca plan”. We have decided yes it is what we want to do still, but it was hard to be there, with poorly animals, without having a bloomin’ good cry.
Sadly since that weekend two other babies have also died and two adults are ill. I’m sorry it all seems to be bad news does n’t it! We have however had the final results from Black Dancer’s autopsy and our vet Andres, the vet in Ronda Alonso, and the professor from the university in Cordoba, that performed the autopsy are now working together to organise an antibiotic program. We hope that as soon as Cassandra gives birth, first please god it will be alive, and second there will be an antibiotic already for her and her baby. Plus of course the other 40 or so alpacas still in living in Ronda. Cassandra will not be able to be vaccinated until she gives birth. Ginny has been on the phone in tears many times recently. It is so sad, her and Nigel so love every animal they have, and we are all so helpless to fight this infection at the moment. My heart goes out to them.
We called in to see Nigel and Tina’s new house, that we bought the olive mill from, what a beautiful house with a beautiful view. We had a lovely catch up with them, and it was lovely to see their animals again. Many of which we had looked after for them for a week, when we first moved here. Alan rather fell in love with Harley. Harley I believe is a Spanish mastiff, actually I think he’s a small horse in disguise. Since then Alan has been trawling the Spanish dog rescue centres for one for us, he is in love!
We had a much awaited email from our solicitor to say the monies were in place for the house to finally be sold, great news we thought! About two hours after this, we received another email from her this time saying they wanted us NOW, YES NOW to reduce the price. I used every swear word I could think of, and probably made up some new ones too. Alan is his usual relaxed manner calmly emailed back, and asked for more details. It turned out that they had arranged for an electrician and a plumber, to check out the house, not a week ago, or two ago but after we had been already been instructed that all was in place. Well apparently they decided not to charge us for a new boiler, even though it may need replacing in two or three years time, yes how lovely and considerate of them! The were however wanting to charge us for a new fuse box, or meter, or something electrical and important, as I believe there is a law to change some this year, I guess if they are of a certain age. They wanted to charge us a rather large sum to cover the replacement and labour. I got straight on the phone to our good friend, and ex neighbour Paul. Paul Stiles, great electrician by the way, and asked his advise. He advised us offer them half the amount, as it was a more realistic figure. We did this and hey presto they said ok! Thanks Paul! As I type we should be finalising this week, yippee!
Now the car…… Jack the German has now told us he wants an extra ONE THOUSAND EUROS for the work he has done on his car. No I’m afraid I am really not kidding! Nigel did his utmost to reduce this figure for us, and to try and find out exactly why. Words were thrown about like, batteries, leads being cut, air con, and lots of other words, I don’t understand. Jack the German and his wife were apparently extremely unsympathetic, even when Nigel asked him the scenario “ What would you do if you went into a shop to buy a hat, and it had doubled the price in a week?” J the G said “I would n’t buy it!” Exactly our thoughts, however we need our car back. We do wish that maybe we should have just dumped it, and lost 4500 euros, instead of everything else, on top of this, it has cost us. Oooooh Alex from Alhaurine, that we bought the car from, has done a runner, back to England. No surprises there really. So I’m guessing we were n’t the only ones he did the dirty on! As I type, feeling of déjà vu here, hehe, we are picking up the paperwork for it tomorrow, then we need to pay J the G, and sadly have to hire a car for one more week, as it needs to be ITV’d, the equivalent of an MOT in England, then we should get our car back. Not really a yippee moment, as I can’t wait to get shot of the bloody thing!
Friday 25th July, Alan popped back to see his family and mates and also to play football, he has been really missing his footie. There is a five a side team here in Montoro, and David the pharmacist, has friends that play. Alan has not yet plucked up the courage to go along. It will be quite a challenge, as none of them speak any English. I hope he will be brave enough to go along at some point, I know he will enjoy it, plus it will be very good for his Spanish too. I dropped Alan off at Cordoba station, he was going to get the train down to Malaga, to save me the six hour round trip. I had planned my weekend, with painting, a bit of Spanish homework, reading, chilling, and trying not to be too nervous being here in the middle of the campo, with just two dogs, a pig and three stray cats for company. I must admit I have been fine, apart from the art of sleeping. That has been a ridiculously difficult task. Crazy how you miss a body beside you, even when its just so hot, you have a fan on all night, and you can’t let any of your own body parts touch each other, let alone someone else’s… ok too much info hehe! You get the picture, anyway getting to sleep was ok, staying asleep totally different matter. Saturday morning I got up early, and started painting, and I was doing quite well. I was planning to paint until about 2 or 3pm when its pretty unbearable to do much at all, with the heat, then stop for the day. It was going ok apart from dropping a whole tray of paint on the floor, that took some cleaning up, thank goodness for floor tiles! The telephone rang, and a cheery Ginny shouts excitedly down the phone “Congratulations” woo hoo we had a new baby alpaca. If you remember Cassandra was at Ronda with Nigel and Ginny, until she had her baby. Alan and I were just too nervous and upset, having lost our gorgeous Black Dancer and her baby recently. My first question was “Are they both OK?” Ginny said “Yes, but he’s the wrong colour!” Hehe! Now Cassandra is a beautiful brown, and her handsome fella is the stunning fawn, and top champion Tulaco Centurion. Our original plan was to breed coloured alpacas here in Spain. Since losing Black Dancer, Alan and I really did n’t care if this cria was pink with yellow spots, and looked like Mr. Blobby hehe! He was however pure white, did we care… not on your Nellie! As I was covered in paint, I jumped in the shower, and organised copious amounts of food for the animals, and shot off to Ronda, with the plan to come back the following morning. What a lovely time I had, Nigel and Ginny love an excuse to get out the champagne and we nicknamed the little fella “Bubbles” as we drank to his health. Alan and I had said we did not want to think about names, before the birth, as we were just hoping and praying the baby would be alive, and we would chose something apt, God willing! The birth sounded pretty text book, thank goodness and also very quick. Cassandra was as soon as possible back to her food, and being a fantastically protective mum. Sadly one of the other babies, Eduardo had passed away that very morning, with a dreadful infection they have in Ronda called pseudomona, sadly there is no blood test in Europe to check for it, and the babies, all bar little Enrique have died. We so hope Enrique makes it, we need to know there is some hope, if they are strong enough to fight it. Black Dancer’s autopsy showed that she died of pasterella, and our animals are in quarantine in Ronda, originally to protect Nigel and Ginny’s animals, however the tables are now turned as pasterella can be vaccinated against and there is an antibiotic that can cure it. The problem with herd animals, including alpacas, is that they do not show signs of being ill, until they are close to dying, It is there survival instinct.
Wednesday 30th July I picked Alan up form Malaga airport. I don’t mind admitting I had really missed him, I had been very careful not to use too much electricity, and have to go out in the dark and “press buttons”! Of course that wasn’t the only reason to miss him! We had both been up very early, that morning, Alan checked in at Gatwick at 4.30am and I left home at 7am for the three hour drive. We had things to do! With the imminent sale pending we wanted to buy more paint, then we had to meet a guy who had our paperwork for the car. We were then off to see our new lil baby, then off to Nigel and Tina to give them the paperwork for the car. Did it all go to plan? Stupid question, of course not. We hoped to meet Jamie, with the paperwork around11ish, but he could not meet us until 3pm. Which meant we did not get to see Nigel Ginny and the alpacas until around 6pm, and we had to cancel Nigel and Tina. We arrived home around 11pm, exhausted, turned on the generator and had toast for dinner.
We chatted during the journey regarding the name of our baby alpaca. As I had named Carlos the dog, I thought it only fair to let Alan chose the name for the baby, although I had of course given him names to choose from hehe! We decided to call him Rafael, which in Spanish means "Healed by God". So lets hope the name will keep him safe. So his full pedigree name will be Sunshine Rafael Tulaco. Sunshine as it is our herd name and Tulaco is his father. Rafael is also the first name of Nadal the tennis player from Spain, who won Wimbledon this year, so quite apt. Alan calls him Raffa after Nadal, I tend to call him Raf, or Rafi, bless him.
Rene, Ginny’s mum had spent some time in hospital having suffered a slight stroke, a few weeks ago. I am so pleased she is back home, and seems to have made a complete recovery. She is still undergoing further tests, and she is looking great and we wish her well.

FRIDAY 1ST AUGUST AND WE HAVE SOLD THE HOUSE!

Our House

Our nearest town Montoro

January and February 2008

Well we arrived here in sunny Spain on Monday 16th January 2008. It actually feels like so much longer ago as we have really achieved so much.
We had arranged to meet Sally, one of our estate agents that helped us find this beautiful property, in a service station, on route to Antequera, where we had to officially sign the necessary paperwork. We arrived as planned, then followed her in our hire car to the town, and parked up. We walked through this little bustling town, with orange trees leading us to the notary. In the office were Nigel and Tina who owned the olive mill and Sergio our lawyer, plus their lawyer too. Sergio explained everything to us and then we were called into the office. We sat round a big polished table, the paper work was all translated fully to us to check that we were both happy and understood. It was all fine and easy, even for me to understand, and we all signed on the dotted lines. Before I knew it everyone was saying “Welcome to Spain” and kissing us, twice of course!
Eventually we arrived back at the car where poor Frankie and Chris and of course Geri (the dog) were waiting, it must have seemed like ages. Geri had been on the luggage conveyor belt, literally, about two hours previously and was both gasping and starving, as she hadn’t been allowed to eat or drink, prior to the journey. We could ‘n’t believe our eyes when we saw her, we were just about to set off to find out where we would be collecting her, and there she was, bless her, going round with the luggage! She looked so sad, I don’t like to think of her journey with the luggage, she cried so much when we left her! But she’s very happy now!
Nigel and Tina were having a problem with “red tape” and moving their horses, so we said we would be happy to look after them which we were. We had Bailey and Monty, that were full size horses, and Bill and Ted who were miniatures, and adorable Nancy, the donkey, with the largest ears you can imagine plus Scumble and Dorthia who were mules or asses or something like that. Plus the first night, three of their dogs, and some cats too, plus I forgot four geese and two ducks, oh and Marybelle the Vietnamese pot bellied pig of course was there too, but she is staying with us. We really did love looking after them all, and missed them when they were gone, but it wont be long until our alpacas arrive!


From L-R Nancy, Bill, Monty & Baily

Alan & Frankie, with Bill & Ted

The gorgeous Marybelle

My good friends will know that nothing is plain sailing for me, (even Alan says since we have been together he’s never known so many things to go wrong for one family!) If there is something that can go wrong, it will! Two weeks after we moved I phone the removal company to check when the few belongings that we were bringing would arrive, and guess what, there was a hiccup. The lorry had broken down on route, in France, and the garage would n’t take a credit card to fix it, so we had to wait an extra week for our belongings to arrive. We had been doing very well without a TV but the art of conversation was a bit of a strain sometimes. Now we have our TV etc but we only put it on at night and try and be choosy about what we watch where as in England it was constantly on. Now we watch a bit of TV but also play scrabble, monopoly and yes even talk sometimes too hehe!
A couple of weeks ago we had a telephone call from Ginny and Nigel to invite us to see the alpacas arrive from England. What a lovely day we had! We set off about 8am and arrived about 11am, the weather was beautiful and we drank champagne on their terrace with their friends and they raised their glasses to wish us good luck in our new venture. When the herd arrived, three of our gorgeous girls were on the horse transporter, as the fourth, Bermuda is already heavily pregnant and is already with Nigel and Ginny. Bermuda and Lima are beautiful white alpacas. Lima is not yet pregnant and will probably be mated to Capone in the next couple of months, I think Bermuda was mated to Capone. Black Dancer and Cassandra were the topic of conversation for most of the afternoon as there are mainly just white alpacas in Spain, at the moment. Black dancer is quite obviously black, and Cassandra a beautiful fawn colour. We are waiting for news on Bermuda giving birth as it should be around the end of February, which is now! Black dancer was mated to the very handsome Black Champion Atlantic Cambridge Centurion, who I believe is the champion Black at the moment. Cassandra has been mated too the equally handsome Tulaco Centurion who I believe won best in show in 2007. So Alan and I are rather like two expectant parents waiting for all our babies to arrive!
After three weeks our hired car had to be returned, I had done my first driving on the right hand side of the road in it, and was petrified, it felt like I was learning to drive all over again but in a mini bus, as it was so big. So our search for a car started. Well to cut a very very long story short we eventually bought a comfy old shogun with seven seats. it’s a right hand drive, on Spanish plates. Our journey back home was great in it, it was very comfy, rather like sitting on a sofa. When I told Mark about it he said “That’s great mum, they gone on for ever”. Well it went on until the following week….. Then stopped!
We at last met Miguel, who originally owned the olive mill and sold it to Nigel and Tina, he was very jolly and told us we were doing “mucho trabaja” very hard work. Miguel does n’t speak any English and our Spanish is very limited, but between us all we understood he was very pleased to meet us, and he had logs for us for our fire, and if we needed any help we were too call him, and he shouted MIGUEL at the top of his voice to demonstrate! We exchanged phone numbers, although I don’t really know why, and he told us one Saturday he would come down to the olive mill with his wife, and a dictionary? Again I’m not really sure why, but it will be very nice to meet her, and he was very jolly and friendly.
Now back to the car! It was February 14th, Valentines Day, and Alan being so thoughtful as ever, had secretly arranged for him and Chris to go and collect the wood, and then sneak off into Montoro, our nearest town which is about half an hour away, to buy something for Frankie and I. It was on this journey that the car just came to a halt! So Alan had to telephone me to explain what had happened. After about two hours I managed to arrange an English speaking estate agent, Antonio to organise a mechanic. Although meanwhile the guardia civil turned up! Now in Spain you must always carry your passport if you are driving, and you must have a red triangle to warn drivers that you have broken down, and also have yellow vests. Chris and Alan had none of these, but on hearing they were English I guess the guardia civil thought it more trouble to talk to them, they checked if they had phoned for help, which was on it’s way, so they left them to it, phew!
Rodrigo from the local garage turned up with Jose, they got the car back to the garage and the men were stranded for about two hours, our house is not the sort of place you can get a taxi too, even if they have taxis in Montoro, as we have a track of seven kilometres! Anyway some how they finished up in a van with the mechanics, and strange that men can always find a subject to converse in, even if you don’t speak each others language… football of course. They weren’t very happy with Alan’s Barcelona key ring though, as they were avid Real Madrid fans and tried to scratch off the emblem!
Well as I type we still have no car and we are stranded in the “campo“, rather getting cabin fever. The car is being dealt with, and the garage owner that sold it to us, is I think, and hope, going to help, although he is nearly three hours away. Normally I wouldn’t worry in the slightest about being here with no means of getting out, but this week it rained, and oh boy did it rain! Again not too much of a problem but our electric is mainly run by solar. So there was no television, no DVD’s, no music and sometimes no light, just candles. This again wouldn’t normally be a problem as we have a back up generator, but with no means of getting into town we have limited petrol for it. Yesterday and today have at last been sunny again, back up to the average mid twenties, fantastic for winter! So today Alan and Chris are digging again, and I’m having a little play on here and Frankie is “pottering about” happy days, and waiting again for a phone call about the car!
Well yes we had our phone call, and it’s to tell us Rodrigo hasn’t even looked at the car yet! Even though we were under the impression he had looked at it six days ago and it was going to cost us 2000 euros. So Ken our good Samaritan who is actually a motor bike mechanic by trade is going to look at it for us, so once again we are dependant on Ken taking us into town tomorrow. We mustn’t forget anything as it maybe a week until we see people again, mental eh! We are going to the bank to try and open a bank account and then we can get the internet on, woo hoo!
Well the car has been now moved to another garage as apparently it is the head gasket and as Ken has a broken thumb he feels he can’t really repair it for us. Two and a half weeks down the line and Mark and Jo are coming over in two days time, so good Samaritan Ken is picking us up tomorrow and taking us to Montoro, where we will get a bus to Cordoba, our nearest city, it’s about an hour away. We will have to try and hire a car there and then do our shopping etc. So fingers crossed that will go ok. I have been a little down the last few days, it’s awful to be totally dependant on someone and not be able to get out even for an hour or so. I know it has been hard for us all, although Alan and Chris seem totally fine and still laughing and joking but Frankie and I have been struggling a little. Today I have felt much better though and Frankie brought me some wild flowers aka weeds, but very pretty ones for “Mothers Day“, that was great it made my day, and speaking to Mark of course!

March

Monday 3rd March, the day before Mark and Jo arrive and we need to hire a car. We got a lift from our “good Samaritan Ken” to Montoro, to get the bus to Cordoba hoping to find a reasonably priced car hire firm, with no luck! For a start we had to wait over two hours for the bus… just our luck. When we finally arrived, they gave us prices more than we had paid for three weeks hire from Malaga, when we first arrived, for just eight days! So Alan decided to get the high speed train to Malaga to try and get us a better deal, whilst Frankie, Chris and I walked around Cordoba, which was a lovely city, and great to have quite close to us. It has a beautiful area, similar to the Lanes in Brighton, and many other lovely areas we are looking forward to investigating next time. Alan was keeping in touch and eventually got a deal only very slightly better than the quotes in Cordoba, so he decided to go with it. We arranged to catch the bus back to Montoro, where Alan was going to meet us then off to Andujar to do our weekly shop.
Alan picked us up, as planned, all was well! He said “Here, I have some leaflets of places we can visit, can you hold them……. AND MY SPEEDING FINE!!!” So yes Alan saved us a little, but all in vain hehe! We arrived around 9.00pm to start shopping home again about 11.15pm. Soon to bed, as it will be an early morning tomorrow! How exciting!
It is now Friday 14th March and we have been very busy and had a great time with Mark and Jo. Unfortunately the wind changed whist they were here and although it was lovely and sunny there was a chill in the air. We did find the lake that is about one and a half hours from us, it was beautiful with little beaches and obviously we were the only people there. The Spanish wear their coats into the high twenties!. Us girlies sat and read and chilled, whilst the fellas played Frisbee, and poor Chris finished up going in, and yes right in! We have a new man made lake just ten minutes drive from us that is waiting to be opened. Apparently this will have beaches also and it is huge, about 17 kilometres long, we have been told it is the second largest lake in Spain. We are eagerly waiting for the first time we can get closer to it, it will bring a lot of tourism to the area, which of course will be very good for us.
We also ventured into Cordoba City, with Mark and Jo, it’s a very modern clean city with a lovely historic area, and the Mezquita is stunning. This was originally a Mosque that was taken over by the Catholic Church, with many beautiful little chapels.
Well Mark and Jo have gone back home now, and it was a very tearful goodbye from me, I never have been good at saying goodbye at the best of times. Chris was also going home for a few days to see family and Frankie decided to go back for a few days also, to see friends.
To cheer me up, and to get a few essential bits and bobs we decided to pop into Ikea for a bit of retail therapy, then we needed to find an internet café to have some important documents about the house emailed to us. To cut yet another long story short, things in Spain work very slowly, and we waited long into the lawyers siesta, then realised the emails were not going to be sent, so off we trot to Burger King hehe. As we parked up the phone rung, and it was Nigel and Ginny to say Bermuda had just given birth, woo hoo!!! What an amazing feeling, and a real sense of excitement. Well it had to be done, we wolfed down our food, and set off on another two hour journey, to go and see the little fella, having already driven for three hours in the morning to go to the airport.
Well what a little beauty! Bermuda has a reputation for being a difficult alpaca to handle but a fantastic mother, and that she was. I have never seen such a protective mother in my life, apart from us mums of course. The little baby or cria as they are called was the largest Ginny has seen being born, and she had to help a little, thank goodness she was there! Although he weighed approximately 10 kilos he was so thin, bless him, with the longest skinniest legs you could ever imagine. This confirmed the name for us. His pet name will be Basil, and his full pedigree name will be “Sunshine Basil Capone”. Sunshine, as our business name is “Alpacas el Sol” (Alpacas in the Sun), therefore our herd name will be “Sunshine” followed by Basil his pet name, and Capone after his very handsome father. We both had lots of cuddles with Basil, and I have never felt such beautiful fibre in my life, and Bermuda was right beside us all the time, being a very protective mother, she was very proud!
We have dashed about getting seemingly very little done, in hours and hours, trying to organise the paperwork for the alpacas to be brought to where we live. However I must say if you try and speak just a little Spanish, the people are all so very helpful. We even went into the “Guardia civil” the town police, in Cordoba, and they found the address of a building we had to get to. Great job done, but then we had to give the same paperwork into Montoro our local town, phew managed that too, and all the ladies in the office fell in love with alpacas (we took a picture so it is easier to explain). The next thing was a trip to the vet as he has to check our land for suitability, it is all very thorough, which is good for animals in Spain!
The vet, Alan and I some how between us managed to understand each other and the good news is he is coming Monday at 10am, (good job we have learnt the days of the week hehe), well Alan will go and get him, then he has to send a report in to the necessary offices. We are hoping this will be done quickly as the alpacas have had their blood tests, and if they are not brought to us by 31st March it will have to be done again but they will not be allowed to move for 45 days.
Guess what… still no car, the word on Monday was that it was going to be another two weeks, that’s a month without a car, so we are hiring a small one at the moment, so we can get about. Still no internet….. Although twice the “technician” has arranged to meet Alan yet he appears to get lost, twice? Maybe “manyana”?
Well we have good news and bad news! Our vet was ready and waiting for us on Monday morning, and he came back with us to the house. The good news is, he was very happy with our facilities for the alpacas, and is going to do his very best for us to have our farm number, so we can have our alpacas by the end of the month. At last something was going right for us. Then he delivered the bad news! Sadly though we cannot keep Marybelle. Apparently pigs are the most difficult of all animals to keep in Spain, due to the restrictions. We would have to have a licence for her, which would be very difficult for us to obtain, plus completely change her little house, and even then we would have a problem keeping her and our alpacas. Obviously the alpacas will be our livelihood so poor Marybelle will have to move house. We have only looked after her for two months but she is already part of our family. Unfortunately Tina and Nigel cannot have her back so we will do our utmost to find her a good home. I will so miss her “so ugly, she’s beautiful face” and the fantastic snorty grunt noises she makes when you wake her up. Which is 90% of the day, bless her!
Miguel turned up at our door, with his wife Olga and his five year old daughter Andrea, a few evenings ago. They came in and had a coffee armed with a dictionary and we tried to converse, and sometimes with success too! After and hour or so, we got the idea we now had to go to Miguel’s house, which is a track leading off of ours, and his house is up high on the hill. This is the house he uses during the olive season, where his workers stay also. The rest of the time he has a house about an hours drive away. So we got into the car, and Alan walked up the hill with Miguel, who although is more than 20 years older then Alan, probably could have done the walk many more times. He is often seen at the top the hills shouting “Olla” to us, and obviously must get up there somehow. We had a lovely evening with them and we laughed so much. We drunk wine and tried all sorts of different foods, like the smallest shrimps in the world, plus muscles in a sauce which were yummy, and he gave Chris a jar of very hot peppers that he had grown, and of course olives which were from our trees! After about two hours with them we thought we should really go as it was really quite hard work, we were talking using two Spanish / English dictionaries. Alan drove down the hill as his vino was very strong and I did n’t want to drive off the track hehe! The evening ended with Miguel telling Alan and Chris, he would be down with his tractor first thing in the morning to plough part of our land for us… and sure enough he was. Next week Alan and Chris are doing some work with him on our trees also, that will keep them occupied!
Well STILL NO CAR and yesterday Alan and I drove to Malaga to extend our little hire car for yet another week. We had a lovely day out and went to Fuengirola Zoo which was beautiful with well kept animals in a jungle style setting. When we got back I had very difficult news, that still really upsets me to type. Frankie has decided to go home for a while. I can understand how difficult it has been for her and Chris. We had such high hopes of buying two cars as soon as possible, one of which then Frankie could drive. Our house in England however still has n’t sold and the car we did buy has been such a complete disaster. I don’t mind telling my friends although I do love it here I have shed many a tear, when one thing after another seems to go wrong for us, again and again. I so wish that she could be a little patient and I’m sure things will get easier, but her happiness is the most important. It just breaks my heart to know we will be so far apart. Obviously Mark means the world to me, but Jo and Mark have lived together for nearly fours years now and girls and at only 19 she is still my baby. I just have to think when she comes for a holiday we will have a wonderful time together. I shall miss being her first point of contact if she has any little problems. I have allowed myself to be a miserable moo today as I slept so badly last night thinking about saying goodbye to her. At 1.30am Alan got up and brought in the laptop and put “The Office” on to try and cheer me up. At the moment I can’t really talk to her about it as it feels too painful, but hopefully we will have a lovely Easter here and maybe we can talk soon. We bought a barbeque today so if the weather is good on Easter Sunday we can have a Bbq!
Easter Sunday was a nice day, probably in the low twenties so we had our barbeque, and had a lovely day, with good food and sangria! I phoned Mark and could n’t believe in had been snowing through the night, whilst he was working, we will never sell our house unless the weather improves!
Today is Wednesday 26th March, and we are really hoping that our luck will change. We phoned Ken and he hopes that the car will be looked at tomorrow, Thursday. The vet, that has been so very helpful, has finished the report for the agricultural department, for the alpacas to be moved to us. We hoped that we would be given our temporary number today, but alas, it will be manyana, so we have to go back tomorrow and soo hope that the alpacas can be moved before Nigel and Ginny move at the weekend, or we will be looking at May! The internet engineer finally, after four previous attempts, met Alan at the bull ring to follow him to the house. We were told there was a 98% chance of a good signal at our house, guess what, no luck for us! As we are surrounded by olive groves there was no signal at all. So we shall have to try another way, which I believe can be done through vodafone. Which will be fine, but maybe not quite as strong a signal and not all over the house. That does n’t matter though, we HOPE to pick up the modem on Friday. Who knows you really maybe able to read this soon hehe.
Well thank god our luck is starting to change. We obviously the modem as promised, as you can read this. We had a lovely evening in a bar/ restaurant called “John’s Corner” and no he’s not English. The food was “interesting” but lovely hehe. Chris ordered a “curry” and got chicken drumsticks and bread, but he still enjoyed it! The officially people signed our paperwork which meant we could at last have our alpacas brought from Ronda, which is about four hours away. Unfortunatley we still have no car, and are really at a loose end as to what to do about it. Ken is trying his best, but they keep promising to start on it, to no avail. So at the moment we are still hiring a small car each week so we can get about. As the cheapest car hire area seems to be Malaga, we drive down each week and have a day out on the coast . It is lovely down there for a day out, but I really would not want to be in an ex-pat community.
I shall most probably be coming back to Brighton in May. I actually had to come back the week after we moved as I had a hospital appointment and the specialist really wanted to see me. So I came to Brighton, straight to the hospital, and back the following day! I am very much hoping I will not need to see the rheumatologist specialist as the lung specialist has finally made a diagnosis. Apparently I have Sarcoidosis, which is a problem with the lungs, that can then cause other problem e.g. thyroiditis and my swollen face etc. Although I am feeling so much better, I do feel this is mainly as I do not have to push myself to work. I do however have swelling still in my ankles and in the lower parts of my arms. Anyway, I am hoping to cancel my appointment in May but still come over for a week mid May. Obviously I shall want to call into my dance classes but may have to split them between May and my next appointment in July. If I can’t get to some classes, please don’t think I don’t think about you, because I do, every week!

April

Well what on earth is April going to throw at us? Today is Wednesday 16th April we have been here exactly three months today. In some ways I have aged years, and in other ways, I think I’m in heaven!
The beginning of the month has seen us be able to get on line, and therefore be able to communicate with our friends and family so much easier. We have two beautiful alpacas here, and as I’m typing, it’s a funny old day, beautiful hot sunshine one minute and April showers, like nothing I have ever seen in England, the next! The birds are singing, so loudly, there is a cuckoo in one of our trees, and it’s got to be about 100 o’clock, it never stops., and an owl hoots, day and night. I thought it would be good to start optimistically hehe! Woops two birds have just flown in, and it was a bit of a panic for the moment, as they flew at the windows trying to get out, but all is well, and Geri was asleep, and they are back with the hundreds of birds singing outside again.
Wednesday 2nd April, was a great day for us. Nigel Cobb, who has been supporting us with our alpaca buying, and Lucy his niece drove up from Ronda, about a four hour drive with a trailer, and with two very special passengers on board. Alan arranged that they would phone us when they reached Cordoba, then he would meet them. Our track is easy to get lost in, you could be driving around in olive groves for days hehe! Anyway, they arrived safely and backed the trailer up to the paddock, where Cassandra and Black Dancer were able to walk out into their new home. Bless their hearts they are such clean animals they had not gone to the toilet the whole journey, they quickly found themselves an “area” and christened it. One of the great things of owning alpacas is that they have one toilet area, and that’s where they go, so it’s very easy to keep their paddock clean. They have been such a joy to us already. In the morning we give me fresh hay and in the evening they have more plus supplements too. Alpacas can be quite grumpy when they are pregnant, (nothing surprising there) but both girls are already eating out of our hands, which we thought they may never do, as they were used to being in a large herd. In the evening we like to spend some time with them. It is so relaxing, just watching them is almost hypnotic!
Geri has taken to the alpacas fantastically. They are very inquisitive about her, but not at all worried. When they were with Nigel and Ginny they were used to dogs and even goats! Geri however is a little nervous of them, but getting more confident each day. She comes in with us most of the time, and gives them a wide birth at first, then before you know it she’s even trying to eat their hay etc.
We invited our local vet to come and see the alpacas a week after they arrived. It’s quite bizarre, Andres is the only twenty four hour emergency vet in Montoro, looking after all the areas domestic pets and livestock, in the campo but he does n’t drive. How weird is that! So he’s always willing to come, but you have to collect him, then of course take him home again. Alan and I had already met with him a few times as he had to complete forms for us, and inspect our land for it’s suitability for the animals. He speaks very little English and we still have very limited Spanish, but between us, we seem to manage to understand each other. He seems very excited about looking after the health of our alpacas, and it is obvious that he has done some research. Well we picked him up as planned and he took photos of the girls. We managed to “catch” Black Dancer, so he could have a good look at her. He is so taken with them he is contemplating taking his family to a feria, which is basically an excuse for an outdoor party, that lasts a whole weekend, in Ronda. Andres is hoping to stay all weekend to watch the alpaca show being judged and also be a part of a lecture for Spanish vets from a top Peruvian judge, who is coming over. How cool is that!
The weather this month has been awful. We have had torrential rain like I have never seen before, then before you know it, there is blue sky and it’s beautiful again, for an hour. When you mention the weather though, you are just reminded how hot it will be, and how many months of dry weather we have to come.
Alan and I have had some lovely days out this month Every one or two weeks we drive down to Malaga to hire yet another little car, each time is hopefully for the last time…. That’s right still no car. Poor Ken is now trying the third garage now for us. The Mitsubishi dealer, but we are still waiting. Anyway we have been to Fuengirola Zoo which was a lovely day. A jungle type setting with great facilities for the animals. Also we went to Selwo Animal Park, which takes you on to a little safari, again a great day out. Fuengirola market, where I could have spent a fortune on beautiful kitchen crockery. Last week we had a walk along the beach at Benalmadina. It was a lovely hot day, and I do love the beach but it rather reminded me of the TV program “Benidorm”, which I love by the way. It would n’t be somewhere personally I would like to live however.
Chris’s Nan came over and spent just over a week with us. It was such a shame the weather was appalling. Out of the nine days she was here, we have torrential rain for about seven of them. We did manage to take her into Cordoba though, and I think she got through three books, so hopefully it was a good rest for her.
On Wednesday 23rd April Frankie and Chris returned to England. As you can understand it was a difficult time, especially for Frankie and I. The more time has gone, on the more I understood that at 19, I would not want to live here, as beautiful as it is. Plus so much had gone wrong for us, it was a very difficult first couple of months! Well obviously it was a very tearful goodbye but I have spoken to Frankie and she sounds good! It was happy to hear a smile in her voice whist we chatted on the phone, and we will enjoy quality time together, as often as we can. Plus I know Mark will always be there for her, as a lot of my friends are too!
I had been keeping a secret, for a while, and the same day as we left for the airport at 5.20am to see Frankie and Chris, I told Alan we had to be back at the airport at 8pm to pick up his mum, and brother Mike, as the day after was Alan’s birthday. The three of us had been plotting the surprise for a while, and his face was a picture, when I told him. Although being a bit of an organised fella, he started to panic over stripping beds after midnight. Frankie and Chris, bless them, knew about it and had already stripped and remade their bed around 4.30am. So I knew all was well! We have had a lovely couple of days with them, they loved the place, plus the weather was fantastic, and off we drove to the airport at 6am again this morning, they are hoping to come back again very soon.
We decided to take the rest of the day to go and see our gorgeous little Basil. He is a stunning little alpaca, and Ginny has high hopes for him. The odds of having an alpacas stud is around one in a hundred. Ginny phoned us a couple of weeks ago and told us there is a possibility that he may even make one. How amazing would that be, our first cria! Even if he is not he’s our first baby and will always be special to us.
Whist we were in Montoro with Alan’s mum, we called into the Pharmacy. There is a young man, whose father actually owns the shop who speaks excellent English, that can be a real help, when you are in need of some tablets etc. He called us to one side. I thought maybe he wanted to check if we were with a doctor or something like that. But no, he asked if we could meet us, as he wants to improve his English, and of course we want, and need, to improve our Spanish, so we jumped at the chance, and will meet him soon.
Well I guess that has summed up April, in a nutshell. Hope you are all keeping well. Please don’t forget to keep us up to date with your news. We love hearing from you.

May

Well if I’m honest, I’m not sure if I am going to send this first party of my diary for May, but I feel like writing it down so here goes.
The beginning of this month I have felt pretty low, ridiculous I know, I have everything I want here, but a few things are missing, and the important things, my children and my friends. Crazy, when I was so busy I hardly had time to see anyone, and my children are both working and have their own lives and partners. Alan seems to be loving this hermit like existence though, hehe! Alan wants me to be happy, and is doing everything in the world he can for me, and I am happy here, but we are just so far away from everything. I can’t call in to a neighbour for a cuppa and a chat, although again I did n’t have a lot of time to do that in England but the opportunity was always there. You know how us women need companionship, and to catch up, and even just pop to a shop!
We have met with our new found Spanish friend, David, and also met his adorable 4 year old son. The little boy, also David, embarrassed us by counting up to 12 in English, saying practically every animal under the sun in English (with no prompting what so ever) then reciting the Insy winsy spider” nursery rhyme! Plus all this was done, with adorable puppy dog, dark brown eyes, and a very serious little face, gorgeous! David snr is one of the towns pharmacists and opticians also. He has joined the list of people now trying to help with our car dilemma. Who knows maybe by the end of this month we may just have it back.
Well Tuesday 13th may gave me something else to think about other than myself, about time! Around 2 am Alan woke up, absolutely sweating, then about two hours later was shivering with the cold. I popped straight up to David, for pills and potions, and I dosed him up, phew 48 hours later he was a right as rain again! On my way to the pharmacist I spotted a dog outside, sadly we see many dogs around. You are never sure if they are strays though, as they live outside, and often the grounds of peoples houses are not fenced, so they trot off and take themselves for walks. When I returned I did n’t see him, although he was in my mind, as our closest neighbour does not have a dog, so I knew there was a good chance that he was a stray. Soon after, Miguel the olive farmer called in as he had left a trailer in our grounds when it was raining hard. He told me that he had seen a dog, and I understood that he thought he was sad. So maybe silly, but I went looking for him. In fact he was just in a bush right opposite. I could see something “gingery” in colour, and I could hear wild wagging of a tail, amongst the bushes. He was certainly happy to see me. He was very dirty and very thin. I brought him some food and water which he was so grateful for, he decided to follow me home…. Surprise surprise! Alan was still feeling a little fragile so unable to fight me on this one, so we gained another dog!
Geri has always been used to creature comforts, even with her own doggy sofa. We were n’t sure how she would take to another dog but she was great. I think she sensed he was in need of our help. They are now great friends and Geri takes him off exploring all the places he was too nervous to go, primarily they go out hunting for the stray cats plus any other mischief they can get up to. Now obviously he is a Spanish dog so he needed a Spanish name, so we called him Carlos, after Carlos Puyol the Barcelona football captain, (although we have to keep that quiet as most people here are avid Real Madrid fans, as we are closer to Madrid). He was painfully nervous at first and would run away when he heard any strange noises or saw us with a broom or even a hose pipe, anything that he thought could hurt him. He was also very unsure of Alan, and when Geri and Alan would go out for the last walk of the night he would run and hide again. Carlos would not enter the house for days, I’m sure he has never been inside. When he did eventually venture in, he cocked his leg up all ever the place, so we thought maybe better he lives outside hehe! He is happy outside and about 9pm he settles down to sleep either just outside the door or into a room that we store wood in… poor little guy!
Nigel and Ginny Cobb had been organising an alpaca show at the Ronda feria, where they live, and although our two alpacas living with us are heavily pregnant and could n’t go, obviously we wanted to be part of it. On Friday 23rd May we went down for the first day, especially for a seminar by Tim Hey who we had met in England on one of our merry jaunts to gain information about alpacas and caring for them, and Dr Monyka Portocarrero who travelled from Peru for the occasion. So we had about a seven hour round trip! The Saturday we fed up the alpacas and dogs, and left mid morning again. It was the day of the alpaca show! They also had horse shows, dog shows etc, and all the farmers bring their top cattle, sheep, goats and HUGE Andalucía donkey's etc, for people to see and this was the 1st time that alpacas were on show too. They certainly caused a great deal of interest, I think more photos were taken in our marquee than anywhere else. Especially of the 5 day old baby, Enrique... adorable lol. The show was very exciting! The animals were judged by, teeth, eyes, and fleece, and for the boys, what is professionally called their "genitalia", basically that they have 2 balls bless them! I was comparing it to a dance competition…hair and make-up basically was getting the fleece looking as good as possible, picking out the hay darts etc, but not disturbing the fleece. Warming up and stretching was fitting them with halters and leads then taking them to the holding pen... my job... I was in heaven, and no stressy parents or dancers hehe! Alan was running around with a clip board, making sure the correct dancer, oops I mean alpaca was ready to dance, I mean enter the ring!
After the show finished we all went for a meal together then we stayed at our friends house, Mike and Linda, getting back there at about 3 am! Sunday morning back to the feria to meet our vet Andres. He has been fantastic, and also went there for the weekend with his wife and daughter especially to see the animals and to attend a vets seminar in Spanish. We are so lucky he gave up his whole weekend basically to learn about alpacas, just for us. As soon as we saw him for a quick chat we headed off again, and phew all the animals were fine, and really none the wiser that we had been gone all night!
Wow what a day we had on Monday 26th May we had arranged for a tow truck to come and get our car…. AND HE DID! So our car is now in the Mitsubishi garage in Cordoba and shock…. They even speak a tiny tiny bit of English. So who knows maybe the car is being worked on as I type. AND on the same day we bought a washing machine! Yippee, heaven but of course I have to use it when the sun shines, but that’s not too much of a problem at the moment.
Well I started off the month on a real low, but things seem to be coming together and at the end of the month I went to see Mark and Frankie. They were both well, but Mark and his girl friend of nearly five years are no longer together, which I am really sad about, but I hope Jo and I will still be friends. Frankie and Chris are more ambitious in life having lived away, even if only for a couple of months. Me… well I feel so much better. I think after seeing Mark and Frankie, a few friends and a few dancers, plus a trip round the shops, it did me good. If I did n’t catch up with you, hopefully I will soon.

June

At the end of May I had a really lovely trip back to Brighton. It began with meeting my some of my older dancers and we had a meal together, the night I arrived. What a wonderful group of young people they are, we had a lovely evening. I feel very honoured to have known and worked with them, some for many years. I stayed in a neighbours house, thanks Barbara and Graham for the use of a bed, shower etc it’s a shame you were going away and we did n’t have much time together. I also met up with just a few close friends, probably my closest friend in the world Wendy and her wonderful family, my good friend Cathy, who mum and mine were great friends, and my zaniest, nuttiest but very good friend Jo hehe! I also called into two dance classes. It really was wonderful to see all the dancers, parents and of course my dear friends who have taken over my classes, Karen, Kelly, Sammy and Simon. The girls and Simon have been doing a fantastic job and that very weekend they were doing their first medal test. A job a was very pleased to be out of! My most loveliest times of course, were with Mark and Frankie. Mark was as usual working his socks off, although I did see him most days, and Frankie and I had some really lovely quality time together. I can’t wait until July when I see them again!
Just before I went away we were over the moon to accept an offer on the house in Peacehaven. Everyone had been telling us how bad the housing market was, but I must admit it was not until I went back to the UK, and talked to friends, I realised how bad things were. I was very pleased that we had accepted the offer. Well I came back to Spain on Sunday 1st June, and after having such a great time, I felt so much better. Everyone had said when I was in Brighton, how well I looked, and I felt it too, although the pounds have crept on, not doing enough exercise! Although in the heat here, just walking to see the alpacas takes it out of you, and I have to sit down after hehe, (well that’s my excuse!)
Our car was still in the Mitsubishi garage, the alpacas were doing well, as were the dogs, and Marybelle were all fine, oh and Alan was well too! We had started to make plans for the building of a new apartment and making a second paddock for the alpacas and life was plodding along, very nicely for a change, phew, thank you!
Wednesday 4th June was shearing day, James and Kim are from Australia, but travel to England for four months each year shearing alpacas. This year they were also coming to Spain to shear the animals in Ronda and then up to us. The only time I had seen alpacas sheared previously they made an awful screaming noise, I was rather dreading it! James and Kim however were extremely experienced and I think our girls felt comfortable. Luckily they did not even murmur. I think the hardest bit is seeing them restrained, but thank goodness they really were fine. I could not believe the change in them after, but they were very grateful I’m sure. Our good friends Mike & Linda, and Nigel and Ginny had also come up for the day. It was lovely to see them and show them our home. We had a barbeque and all struggled to find shade, all of a sudden the temperature has gone through the roof!
So all had been going well then…. It all started going tits up again! We had a phone call from the Mitsubishi garage in Cordoba from the manager who spoke a little English. He said our car would cost 7,000 euros to repair. Alan was about to launch himself off the top terrace in shock but I said don’t worry, it’s a mistake, something has been “lost in translation”. So…. We toddled off to Cordoba in our hire car so he could explain it to us. The gentleman shook our hands as we met him again and he looked at us very apologetically. It was correct, 7,000 euros for a car we had driven for about a week, probably about four times. There are two major lessons we have learnt from this. The first is be very careful who you buy a car from! The man we bought it from was an English “mechanic” with his own garage, who told us that he had left his previous place of work as he did n’t like the “goings on”. His wife apparently had been driving that car, and he had allowed her, it could have been a death trap! The second mistake we made was not getting a guarantee. We have since been back to see him, he is going to try and get a reconditioned engine to put in it, so we will drive it for a short a time as possible them probably part exchange it, (if someone will take it). The garage in Cordoba was going to be hugely expensive as obviously they wanted everything to a perfect standard, which we understood. The English “mechanic” of course was appalled at the quote, but as we has said to him, four other garages would not touch it, Cordoba Mitsubishi was our only hope. So that’s the news on the car, and we are still hiring, as we need “wheels” and goodness knows how long for now!
The day we went to see the “mechanic” we had also met up with Nigel and Tina, whom we had bought the house from. We had a lovely lunch together and caught up with each others news before heading home about 4.30. We arrived home around 7.30 and immediately got on with giving the alpacas their dinner. We really enjoy this time with them, getting close to them, and sitting in with them. The dogs come in too, and Alan and I spend time sitting outside chatting whilst the sun goes down, aww sounds romantic does n’t it. In truth we are also stopping Carlos from escaping and rolling in their pooh, bless him!
All seemed normal at first, the alpacas had their dinner around 8.00pm Black Dancer did not seem to eat it any quicker than normal, but then started to choke a little. It got worse and after about15 minutes we phoned the vet and Ginny Cobb. Unfortunately the vet was in Cordoba getting the vaccines for the girls for the following day (there is a transport strike on here at the moment so there a very few lorries on the road, so the vaccines had not arrived). Ginny said it was quite a common problem and probably Black Dancers stomach was being squashed by her cria. After an hour though we were still worried so we phoned them both again. Alan met the vet and then it was like alpaca ER, but without George Clooney.
Do not read if you are squeamish!
When Black Dancer was choking it was her because her food was lodged in her oesophagus. She was literally coughing, like a human, on occasions and this awful green stuff was coming out of her mouth. Unbeknown to me alpacas cannot be sick, so I guess the reflex action to expel the food is not there. As she would become exhausted she would lie down. Alpacas are inquisitive animals but most are not really keen on being touched or cuddled, but bless her heart she let me stroke her and try and keep her calm. She even let me wipe her mouth. Thank goodness Andres the vet had attended the vets seminar about alpacas just a couple of weeks ago. One of the things he was informed was that it is very difficult to find the jugular vein in an alpaca, as it is situated behind the oesophagus . I did however lose count how many times he tried to find it. Eventually he did manage to get blood from her leg. We began by holding torches then eventually Alan had to drive the car into the paddock and use the headlights. When Andres managed to find a vein, after many many attempts he injected her with a muscle relaxant and analgesic. Then the worse thing of all! He needed to put a tube down her throat to clear the obstruction. This took about 4 attempts and I was fighting back the tears trying to hold her, as Alan had to help the vet with filling the tube with water when it reached the spot. This was so very hard, almost as bad as seeing your child in distress. Eventually she stopped making the awful choking noise and Andres said he would wait ten minutes to see how she was, and that it did not start again. She was visibly shaking, as were I think all of us. At 1.30am Alan took the vet home, so I was able to go indoors and ball my eyes out before I phoned Ginny, as I had promised I would. I got myself together about 1.45am and phoned Ginny who made me feel so much better by saying she understood completely and certainly would not have know what to do if it had happened, so badly, to any of her alpacas. Thankfully Ginny’s vet Alonso and our vet had met and the Ronda Feria and had exchanged phone numbers, and they were in contact by phone though that awful night. Then we saw an email to say our house sale had fallen through!
Just skimming through the next period quite briefly I’m afraid. Our beautiful Black Dancer sadly “self aborted” her cria on Sunday 15th June, at some point very early in the morning. He was a month early and came completely in the placenta. For the next couple of days, she was a little “under the weather”, and understandably so. Alan was going back to England to do an alpacas course in “birthing”. We knew it was important and we both decided he should still go. Alan returned to Spain on Wednesday, as Black Dancer has gone downhill fairly rapidly. Sadly she passed away during Sunday night, Alan found her this morning! Our vet, Andres was a fantastic support throughout often coming to see her more than once a day. I also had great support from Nigel Cobb who we had brought the alpacas from. He even came and stayed two nights with me whilst Alan was away. This has however brought home to us how ill prepared we were for looking after these beautiful animals. They are easy to look after, when they are fit and healthy, but within hours I was taking temperatures and giving injections. Something I thought I would struggle with, but when you have to do it, you just get on with it! As they are of course herd animals, we only now have Cassandra with us. Bermuda, who is now pregnant, and her cria Basil are due to come to us as soon as they are blood tested, along with Lima, who is also pregnant. However our two losses have completely knocked us for six, and we have decided that Cassandra should go back to Nigel and Ginny until her cria is born and the end of July. We do however have to get her blood tested and moved ASAP as she will grieve being on her own, and alpacas have been known to die of a broken heart if they are alone. The cria has had her autopsy, and we are waiting the results and Black Dancer shall also have one done. We all need to know that there is not a contagious problem, that Cassandra could have also! We have been lucky in being allowed to move Cassandra, and have only been allowed to do so as she will be quarantined. As throughout the problems with our beautiful Black Dancer, Andres was totally there for us. He also helped us with things way beyond his job description!
Nigel came and collected Cassandra with Lima, one of our girls who was still with them as she has just been mated, so Cassandra would have company on the journey. Of course we were made aware that if Black Dancer had anything contagious there was a possibility that Cassandra could have it too, and then passed to Lima, but it was the chance we had to take. Our girls would be kept in quarantine until we have the completed autopsy results.
Well this is now Monday 30th June, and Nigel and Ginny invited us to their lovely home, last weekend, to chill after our ordeal. So we fed up the dogs and Marybelle and off we drove to Ronda. Our good friends Mike and Linda were there too. When we arrived Ginny was a little worried about her mum, Rene, who was a little “under the weather”. After a while we all suggested they pop her along to hospital for a check up. Hoping really that it would just put everyone’s mind at rest. Unfortunately poor Rene had actually had a stroke. Nigel and Ginny in their usual relaxed manner insisted we, plus Mike and Linda stayed, it was n't the same of course but it was lovely to spend the time with Mike and Linda.
When we arrived Cassandra and Limas enclosure was right by the entrance, we were so over the moon when we called her and she looked up immediately, recognising our voices. After our “hellos” we went straight to see them and Cassandra is a beautiful, proud, stand offish little girl, who ran immediately towards us when we entered her enclosure. It made my day! We have to so hope and pray she is ok. I’m not sure how I will handle anymore problems with the alpacas!
Just to update you Rene is still in hospital but doing well, and every day that Cassandra has not delivered her cria, is good news. She is not due until nearer the end of July. Mike and Linda have a beautiful new cria, Mateo, (a gift from God). We accepted another offer on the house last week, but not counting any chickens yet! I am very much looking forward to seeing Mark, Frankie and my wonderful stroke club members and a handful of friends again very soon.