The Lari Journey

This will probably be the first in a series of blog posts entitled: Pueblear, but first, a lesson in linguistics. Let’s be clear, the word “pueblear” does not officially exist in Spanish, but it should! It is a verb that has been created from the noun “pueblo”, meaning village. “Pueblear” is the action of exploring small towns, learning about their history, and appreciating the unique charm that each has to offer. The fabricated English equivalent would be “small-towning”. To borrow a little attitude from Barbara Mandrell, I was pueblear when pueblear wasn’t even a made-up word yet! Small towns in Spain, like those in the USA, have declined immensely in population. Unless the community has been able to reinvent itself from its agrarian roots into a modern economic system, it risks becoming nothing more than a parcel of dilapidated buildings. Because most of the architecture of northern Spain consists of building with stone, for me… dilapidated or not, the structures found in the pu...

I have been traveling this narrow mountain highway that connects Spain and France for close to a decade. It is one of the most beautiful, storybook landscapes that I have ever seen. In addition to the amazing vistas, my curiosity and intrigue has always been drawn to a humble cabin just a few kilometers from the border with Spain. It sits just off the highway with a small hand-painted wooden sign that simple reads, “Fromage”, (French for cheese.) My curiosity converted into almost an infatuation after one evening in 2016 when I was returning from an excursion in France.    As there normally is in this valley, there was drizzle accompanied by a brisk chill in the air as dusk started to set in. I was returning from a long road trip and had a strong desire to get back to my Spanish village. I had just passed the little cabin when I saw him … an idyllic image that, out of pure laziness, I let pass through my fingertips instead of my lens. A shepherd sat on a small wooden stoo...