Life in a Village Vega de San Mateo

So today I thought I´d write a post of where I live here in Spain. Many people ask me “so where in Spain are you based?”

This is the answer: SPAIN > CANARY ISLANDS (belongs to Spain) > GRAN CANARIA (one of the Canary Islands) > San Mateo (a very small village with about 8000 inhabitants, situated in the mountains of Gran Canaria). And there you have it! Life in a village Vega de San Mateo 🙂

I love reading blogs where the Blogger in Question is totally open about who they are, their family, their roots… just being real. I love those kinda people in real life (aka outside of the Blogging community) too. You don´t have to be an extrovert for me to enjoy your company (although that´s cool too) but you do have to be real. Who else is tired of pretending to be something else just to suite other people (a.k.a. the main stream)?

Now I say that as if I did that on this blog from the get go. The answer is sadly NO. I didn´t. I didn´t know how to be me. I moved from my native country to a place where I couldn´t even communicate with the people around me. I felt lonely. Desolate. And I lost me. Then I started to add little bits of who I was here and there, and could see that being myself not only made me happier (which means my family is happier), but also that my readers resonated with me more. What a relief just to be me. Be Johlene!

Remember Chase? Here he is in with hubby in the village square (with the cute little parish church in the background) in the centre of the village where we live, called Vega de San Mateo.

Any walk through the historic quarter should include a visit to the Parish Church of La Vega de San Mateo, located in Calle Principal (Main Street), where you´ll find a two nave building (the one of the left dates from 1800 and the one on the right from 1895). The upper middle part is crowned by a bell tower designed by Jose Lujan Perez. The church bell, added four years after it was made, was sent from Cuba by Canary Island emigrants from the area. This church shows a predominantly eclectic style with Neo-Classical influences. Resource: GranCanaria.com

We live just outside the centre of the village. It´s about a 10 minute walk and it´s not strange to see horses on the side grazing in the fields. On a clear day, when the skies are blue, you can see the mountain range clearly, and on those days I find myself gasping for breath of the shear beauty that unfolds itself in front of me.

Talking about horses, ever heard of a place where they close-up the main street for horse races? I do because it happens here and tons of people come to watch them. It´s a big town event and it´s definitely something to see! If you choose any day to visit San Mateo, make it September 21^st.   You´ll witness a pilgrimage and the celebrations of its patron saint, St Matthew. Highlights include the bajada del vino (a lively horse race), traditional dancing and a feted livestock fair.

In the photo above, my son Luca is eating churros and chocolate. Here in Spain, they dip the churros into a thick chocolate – like hot chocolate but much much thicker – and even though it´s generally eaten all day round, they especially like to eat them for breakfast. To make your own churros, you just need a piping bag and a nozzle (or one of these nifty churro makers from Amazon), some very hot oil, And the recipe ofcourse! I like dipping my churros in cinnamon sugar when they are just made, like we South Africans do with our pancakes a.k.a. crepes. I can be little weird in that way.. Like when I add mojo picon (a very famous sauce here in the Canary Islands eaten mainly with boiled mini potatoes) to my paella (read more about my in-laws super delicious paella here).

Then **My big news** remember when I told you guys that I was interviewed on a PODCAST? Well it went live on Tuesday, and on it, I share my Dessert Food Photography Tips with the listeners of the Brilliant Business Moms Podcast. I also share how I started to blog, and my journey as a Blogger thus far.

The sound could definitely be better. But if you listen to it at home, by yourself, you should be able to hear everything clearly. They normally send headsets out to their guests they (the fabulous hostesses, Beth Anne and Sarah) interview, but because where I´m based, they didn´t.  Hubby told me afterwards that I should have used my headset…argggh! How about telling me before hand! 😉

AND AND during the podcast I speak about my life here in Spain, and also share a funny Mommy moment that ties in with living in a Country that´s not your own! 🙂

Let me know what you guys think of it!?

Happy Thursday guys!!

Johlene

xoxo

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