Our search for tranquillity and a bit of greenery has brought us back to Camping Castillo de Baños. It ticks our boxes, right by the sea, near a small village; the site itself is set in trees with hedged grassy pitches. Given these bucolic qualities it is very popular with British caravanners; as you might anticipate the place is packed full of Toms and Hilda's, Lindas and Steves and their scrutty furry friends. That's ok.
However, in order to escape being overwhelmed by a creeping sense of extreme primness, I took the opportunity to use the place's free Wifi, not only to update the blog but also to stream Billy Eilish on Amazon music. There is nothing more uplifting than channelling your inner gen Z in the futile hope of staving off a sense of utter demoralisation at the sight of the grey haired stranger who stares at you every morning from the bathroom mirror. I like Billie Eilish, both her style and music. There are limits to my over-age gen Z project. I can't see us becoming vegan any time soon nor ever getting the hang of dropping the word 'woke' casually into a conversation.
When I say the site is bucolic that is a relative term. Whereas the coast of the Costa del Sol is covered in concrete, here on 'Costa Tropica' it is shrink wrapped. Looking out of the window right now, across the sun-drenched bananas in the fruit bowl, and the geranium bushes that form the pitch's hedging, towards the the sun streaming through the trees, the shining sea beyond, the only sounds - surf breaking and pigeons cooing contentedly, then it does feel tranquil and natural.
However, it's a scrap of nature, a green oasis amongst a vast agro-industrial complex, as this Google Earth screenshot shows.
Humans have lived on this coast continuously for over 100,000 years; their presence predates the arrival of our species, Homo Sapiens, or in our case Moho Sapiens. It's unsurprising given that span of habitation that it's a profoundly un-wild environment, nevertheless our small green patch is very pleasant.
The shadowy evergreen Eucalyptus trees form avenues between the pitches, the sea is never more than a few metres distant, always within earshot. It is an enclave though, more of a garden than a wild place. It struck me that our visions of paradise, at least in European culture, have been perfected humanised places not the wild - Eden, the Celestial City, the land of Cockaigne.
I suppose it is a lot to expect that we can step outside our cultural bubble. Other animals don't suddenly give-up on their hives, or reinvent the ant-hill or warren; the shared ideas, customs symbols and beliefs of human culture is the hive within which we enact our lives. There has always been a wilderness beyond it and we have always presumed these resources are simply there for the taking without impunity. It's become very obvious over the past few decades that there is a finite limit to earth's resources and we can't continue to live how our forbears did The big question for the next generation is how can humans live sustainably? Can we step beyond our collective big Id?
The coastline of Andalucia poses big questions if you bother to look, both the concretopia to the west of us and the plasticulture here. Now, sitting in the pleasant afternoon sunshine, the particular question that's bugging me is what price are we prepared to pay in Morrison's for a ready supply of avocados during the winter (it's the main crop hereabouts)? They might cost the earth... I could ask Gill, as a former geography student she is wise about these matters...
Hmm... perhaps later.
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