Living in the van we have so little space and weight capacity that we really don’t consider buying stuff. And to be honest anything we really need we tend to buy when the time comes. Outside of coffee and cake our luxury buys are typically books (kindle and audible) as we read prolifically.
This year we had sworn off presents for each other but had bought three each for pups. The main focus has been having nice experiences. With this in mind, I found a wolf reserve open and we drove inland once again.
Sat nav took us right through the middle of Antequera, which is a beautiful small town of very narrow parked up streets that I’ve no idea how we got through. If you want to visit, park on the outskirts and walk around. Or if passing by use the main road avoiding it lol.
On our way to Lobo wolf reserve we passed a doggy hotel called Residencia Canina Los Parejos which had a large agility course in the garden. In my fumbling spanish, I asked if our three could play for 30 minutes and he kindly let us play for free.
The pups had a great time testing out all the equipment. They can’t jump for toffee (Mabel can limbo), Jasper got scared on the high walk but completed it with much coaxing, and Ernest mastered the tunnels once sweets were thrown in. They aren’t going to win any agility awards but it was certainly a fun giggle packed half hour.
Onwards to the wolf reserve and this was so much better than the German one we had visited. They had a very large area and multiple wolf breeds. Also the guide spoke Spanish and English and answered all our questions. The tour lasted as long as you wanted and we were there around 2 hours as it also had a few bonus pigs, puppies, foxes, goats and geese.
Being a long established science reserve they had wolves of all ages. The largest pack were the eurasian wolves some 15 strong with 8 month old youngsters (already bigger than Jasper) and a 14.5 year old female.
Our camp spot for the night was high in the mountains of El Torcal Alto. Mark was nervous of the drive, and I’d read a review that said “it’s just rocks, rocks and more rocks”. However whilst this turned out to true, they are spectacularly positioned rocks!
I had no internet so we made up new lyrics to ‘The night before xmas ‘ and Mark was spared my Dolly Parton/Kenny Rodgers xmas album – both family traditions. I put out 3 trek socks on our heater (off dont worry) and once asleep hid the pups new reindeer antlers and a tangerine each for the humans. Daft I know but it keeps the magic alive.
After a breathtaking sunset we could even see ‘santa’ in the clear night sky.
SofaWolves 