Abarán

At 12 o’ clock my roomate Alison and I took off from the bus station of Murcia to the town of Abaran, which is about 45 minutes outside of Murcia.

Maria Jesus, my coworker, had invited me to come have lunch at her home to try her specialty, paella de mariscos.

Maria Jesus and her husband Jose have lived in Abaran all of their lives. They have known each other since they were 15 and started dating at 19. Now they are married and have a four year old daughter, Daida. One of the photos above is of the church where they got married at.

Right now they are living in apartment, waiting for the construction their casa de campo to be completed. We drove up to the sight where their house is being constructed, which is on the property of Jose’s parents ranch house, which they only live at during the summers. We were going to the ranch house to have our “comida”. We walked past Jose’s uncle’s house, which is on the same property. Him and his wife were outside collecting olives, which they would later bring to the factory which would press the olives into oil for them. I tried to eat an olive off of a tree one time in Cieza, and realized this should not be done. So bitter! Like the rosewater that I took a drink of today, which I bought from a market after getting off of the bus. Needless to say, it wasn’t meant for drinking.  😛 And, olives are not good to eat until they are put in water and salt or whatever it is..

Before lunch, we took a tour of the property and of the house which was being constructed. There was a gorgeous 360 degree view of the town and the valleys. All of the properties were covered with fruit trees, mostly olives, Mandarins, oranges, lemons, pomegranates and figs, peaches and apricots too but these only have fruit in the summer.  The families eat from their own gardens and have people come collect the fruit for exportation as well.

Maria Jesus served us excellent seafood paella, which is a traditional Spanish dish from this region. It is rice cooked in a stir fry pan, with saffron, tomato sauce, big shrimps, little shrimps, clams, scallops, mussels and vegetables. I loved it, but I always feel a little repentant about the seafood, especially  when I see the whole shrimps with their little faces. I really enjoy eating seafood now, but am not sure that its ok to eat these little critters. On the other hand, there was also a delicious salad with goat cheese and walnuts. Poor Alison, she does not like seafood and is allergic to nuts.

After lunch we walked through the garden and filled up two bags with mandarins, pomegranates, figs and lemons, then drove 5 mins back to the town where theirapartment is. We walked through the park next to the river, passing a historic but still functioning irrigation mill, and then to drink a cafe.

Before driving us back to Murcia, we went up to the apartment of Maria Jesus and Jose, saw their two tiny kittens, and left Daida with her grandmother, who lives right next door.

Que dia tan bonita!!!