The couple who run the tabac (the local store where cigarettes and stamps are sold) have taken a liking to our family. They speak a bit of Spanish, and so conversations are possible with Guillermo. One day they start talking about business and friends and selling, etc. but I'm not quite sure I understand. They make arrangements to come by our house the next day to introduce us to some friends. I have a suspicion about what the visit is for, but when they all show up in suits, I am not surprised. The friend, Jean Claude, had a white board to write on, and immediately sets off into his spiel about desires being larger than income, and about Mercedes Benz, and so on. Guillermo and I looked at each other, and patiently sat through his talk. At the very end, we discover that he is an Amway representative! Later we have a good giggle, because Amway started in the US and now someone in France is trying to get us involved. Fortunately, people are not as pushy as some we have run across in the US, and so the presentation ends, and the conversation moves on to more interesting topics. In the end, they leave, and we never hear about the proposition again.
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Our vacation within a vacation
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We took a three-day trip up into the mountains west of here. We manage to leave the house by 11:00 a.m., and I'm surprised that I don't feel the pressure to rush, organize, do things perfectly, as I would in the US. We head off in the direction of the lake of Salagou, which is a man-made lake about ½ hour from Montpeyroux. We circle the lake high up in the surrounding mountains, enjoying the view of the red earth which colors the land and the houses. We go back around the lake to the Cirque de Moureze, which is an astounding assortment of rock formations that have many different shapes that people have put names to, and Renato and I clamber over rocks for a few minutes.
Soon we are hungry, and find a chapel just off the road where we can sit in the shade of its front door and eat our picnic lunch. The children consume vast quantities of raw vegetables, fruit, bread and cheese. We drink the water from St. Guilhem, and have a sip of the rose wine we brought. By this time, it is almost 3pm, and so we leave the lake and head west. Soon we pass through Bedarieux, and then Lamalou-les-Bains. The children are restless by now, and upon arriving in Lamalou-les-Bains, we find a grassy playground in the center of town. The children play for a while, and Guillermo takes a quick nap on a nearby bench. The children run and play and shout and get their energies out, and then we go for a walk through town. We stop at a local café, and the adults have a cold beer, and the children have ice cream, and watch the people who have come to the baths.
I begin to notice that the servings of food are small. In fact, they are very healthy servings. The beers are small, and just enough to quench one's thirst. The ice cream scoops are also very small, but the children don't seem to mind. I also notice that in the supermarket there is not a junk food section at all. You can find potato chips, but only one brand. There also isn't much soda either, yet there are two aisles of bottled water, and two of wine.
After our snack, we drive up into the hills north of Lamalou. We pass through St. Gervais and continue north, looking for a place to stay. Just north of St. Gervais, at a scenic stop, we find a large map that mentions two nearby chambres d'hote (sort of like B&Bs). We head to the first one, and within ten minutes we are driving onto the grounds. We are immediately stopped by ten llamas that cross our path in search of fresher grass on the other side of the road! Since Guillermo is from Peru, he is quite taken aback by the presence of animals native to his country wandering around in the south of France. We quickly park, and I go off in search of an innkeeper. I find a man at the back of a building washing his feet, and I start to ask him in French about rooms. I could tell from the expression on his face that French was not his native language either, and I took a wild guess and asked if he spoke Spanish. It turns out that he is from Colombia, and he was the keeper of the llamas. He takes groups for long treks in the mountains, and the llamas carry the food and other materials needed. He points out the owner, who informs me that the two rooms are already booked for that night.
We are very disappointed because the place (named Le Fau) is quite charming, with ducks and geese, llamas, dogs and cats, and other animals. The children are already running around and enjoying themselves. The owner offers to call a place in St. Gervais to see if they had room. He calls and is informed that there was plenty of room at 'le chateau.'
We drove back to St. Gervais and to search for the chateau. Somehow I remember enough of what the innkeeper had said, and I locate a chateau at the very end of town. It seems deserted, with no lights on, so we are uncertain of the situation. I try and find an open door. I see a large dining room through a window, but the entire house is dark. As I walk around, I notice a driveway on the other side of the house, so we drive past the house, and enter the driveway. It is here that we see a little handwritten sign, out of sight of the cars driving by, that announces chambres d'hote! So again I go in search of life of some kind. It's almost dark at this point, with just enough light to walk around, but dark enough that shapes take on strange forms. From the distance, I see a form walking toward me. The house is dark, and the large trees around make huge moving shadows. The form turns out to be a man, speaking with a French accent that I do not understand at all. Eventually, slowly, we manage communication, and he directs Guillermo where to park. He carries our bag, and takes us up two flights of stairs to the top of the chateau and into a spectacular room. He takes our order for breakfast, and then bids us a goodnight and leaves.
We are a bit taken aback at the whole thing, and we just stand there for a moment, trying to take it all in. The room is huge, with 15 feet high ceilings. There are windows on three sides, each more than ten feet high. Across the far wall are four twin-sized beds, neatly made up. There are a kitchen table, four chairs, and a large, beautiful wardrobe. The bathroom is also large, although the toilet does not have a toilet seat.
We set up a quick meal for the children, and get them off to bed. Andoni is too excited about the idea of sleeping in a bed, and with his older brother, that it is well after midnight before he falls sleep. Guillermo and I then pull out the bottle of rose, chilled while the children were being put to sleep. With all the windows open, we drink wine in silence and watch the millions of stars outside our window. The chateau is alongside a stream, and the sound of running water is so soothing.
It is a very strange feeling, however, because it seems like we are the only people in the entire building. Neither of us sleeps well, Guillermo worrying about the fact that we had no key to lock the room, and I that Andoni would fall out of bed during the night.
The next morning we shower, pack and head downstairs in search of breakfast. We discover that we were in an old folks home, and that there are dozens of people there after all. They are put to bed at 7:00 P.M., which is why no lights were to be seen. The breakfast is spectacular. The milk is fresh, not the awful long-life milk in a carton that French supermarkets sell. The peaches are perfect and white fleshed, the butter is soft and creamy, and the bread thick and warm. After breakfast, we pay our $50 and continue on our way.
The next day we drive through Brusque, Camares, Belmont-sur-rance, and end the day in Lacaune. The day went by in a blur of fantastic scenery as we drive up and down mountains. I can't even remember where we stopped for lunch, or where we got out to walk. Whatever we did, though, was fun, and the air was crisp and cool.
As we drive into Lacaune, I immediately spot an old hotel right at the corner of the village square, across from the church. I knew we would end up there, but Guillermo insisted that we wander about, checking on other hotels. After about an hour, we end up at the end of town, and find a delightful park and playground. I leave everyone there, and walk back to the hotel in the centre-ville. The hotel offers us a room for $50, without breakfast, and I take it. I unload the car, and head back to pick up the family. They love the place! The ground floor is paneled in old, thick, dark wood, and consists of a bar, sitting area, and restaurant. Our room upstairs is comfortable and spacious, and opens on a patio with a pool outside.
Again, I organize a meal with produce purchased during the day, and we bathe the children. Renato and I head out for a jaunt downstairs, and Guillermo is left with the unenviable task of putting Andoni to bed. An hour later Guillermo indicates that the baby was asleep, so the rest of us go to bed.
After a quick kids' breakfast, we pack up and load the car. We then walk around in search of an adult breakfast and found some quiche and fresh bread. We sit in the main plaza eating breakfast, watching everyone heading out to work
Then we head down to the lakes south of Lacaune, and after purchasing cold cuts and fruit, ended up circling the Lac de la Raviege. The children fell asleep, but we are hungry, so Guillermo heads down the first dirt road he finds. We park at the side of the lake and set up lunch there. Renato woke first, and so the three of us eat a wonderful lunch, shivering at the edge of the lake. It was chillier than usual because of the white clouds blocking the sun. Renato and I then explore up and down the lake, looking for lizards. Andoni wakes up two hours later, and after lunch and a quick walk, we head down to St. Pons-de-Thomieres, and then Olargues.
The best playground that we find is in St. Pons. It is a long area on a sloped landscape covered with bright green lush grass. Through the middle of the playground, originating from a large fountain, is a shallow valley of paved stones carrying a stream of water down to another fountain at the bottom of the playground. Initially I tried to keep the children to get their feet wet, until an older woman there with her grandson indicated that I should take their shoes off! What a marvelous afternoon they had, running up and down the stream, splashing in the water, and playing with the equipment.
We ended our little excursion with the purchase of a rotisserie chicken and fresh bread, which we ate in the main plaza alongside the older men playing pétanque. I was unwilling to head back to Montpeyroux because it had been such a great trip, but it was getting late and our budget didn't allow for another hotel. We drove back to the house, arriving sometime after 8 P.M..
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As I pack and get ready to leave Montpeyroux, I am very sad. It obviously will be hard to leave the children and my husband behind, but it is also going to be hard to leave this house, the people we've met, the good times we have had. I'm also a bit envious of Guillermo and the kids, getting to enjoy another month here! I am heading back to good old hot DC, with its oven-like temperatures. August will be spent running from air conditioning to air conditioning. We tentatively make plans to return to Montpeyroux in the summer of 2000!
My husband's month stay could best be qualified by the term 'social.' By the time I was preparing to leave, the social invitations began coming, which surprised us greatly. Folks tended to be very reserved with us, and so we didn't expect any invitations at all. But Guillermo ended up with at least two dinner or lunch invitations a week, in houses all over Montpeyroux. And the best part was the help that he received from the wives, since he was a man alone taking care of two small children. The women helped him with laundry, invited Renato to play with their children or grandchildren, cooked for them, etc. Others would take Guillermo to the beach, or to the city, helped him out when Andoni developed conjunctivitis, and even took him on a tour of the Roquefort caves.
What Guillermo has yet to explain to me is how he managed to communicate so well with everyone! It turns out that the village does have a very large contingent of people of Spanish descent, and Guillermo searched them all out! Initially it was very difficult to get them to even admit to the fact that they spoke Spanish, but when they realized that Guillermo only spoke Spanish and English, they would eventually give in and speak Spanish. Guillermo also learned a little French in the process. He claims that dinner conversation always flowed freely, and he understood a great deal, and that they understood him well enough, so it worked out well. I'm sure the village wine helped a bit in the process!
In the end, we both fell in love with the village and the people. We have already agreed to return in two summers to spend another two or three months there. We have made good friends with whom we are keeping in touch with, and whom we are missing now. The person who misses France the most, though, is our son Renato. He misses the atmosphere, being able to go out into the village alone to play with friends, going to a local family's house to eat and play. He also misses the adults he met, because they were so affectionate with him. We all loved the summer experience, and are yearning to go back.
Rec.Travel Library
The World - Europe - France
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