Have you ever slept in a cave? I guess, at least you must remember school
history lessons that mentioned about prehistoric humans who used to stay in
caves. That was all that I knew about the cave experience. However, thanks to
my friend Baptiste, I recently got a month long opportunity of an unusual cave
séjour in the Spanish Canaries Island (Gran Canaria). The work from home smoothly
transformed itself to work from cave….:)

The Canary Islands, located around 100 km west of Morocco is a Spanish
archipelago comprising of 8 main islands that were formed through volcanic
eruptions, some millions of years earlier. In fact, during my stay one of these
islands, the Palma Island was witnessing volcanic eruptions. But it is on the
Gran Canaria Island that Baptiste has a beautiful place named La Finca de Los Poetas
(House of the Poets)! Baptiste runs here a guest house offering a unique
experience of staying in rooms that are carved out inside the mountain. The caves,
facing East, are located on the slope of a mountain, and look at another
mountain with a valley in between. The surrounding is very green with many
local tree varieties, a small kitchen garden and a pond. To give you company
there are 4 cats, 5 hens and soon a dog!

Baptiste is an artist, a poet at heart. In the last more than 20 years he
has travelled to many beautiful destinations around the world. Rather, it is
his peculiar approach to travelling that has made these visits and experiences
so marvelous. His trips could be summarized as prolonged stays in which he
devoted himself to listen, observe and absorb surroundings of an alien land,
people and culture, often lived on a bare minimum budget. For instance, he
spent more than a year exploring remote rural regions in India that included a
bicycle trip in the south, spanning several months!
If you are someone who
appreciate beauty, you will find its manifestations at every corner of the La
Finca de Los Poetas. You will notice that the beauty here is coupled with some remarkable
simplicity and ease. The place invites you to slow down, relax and contemplate.
Then there’s some magic that’s brought by nature as well. Every day, it is a lovely
sight to watch the Sun rise from the mountain in front, filling the entire
valley with its liveliness. While at night, it is the moon that rises (Moon
Rise!) from behind the mountain, and bathes the whole valley in its glow. If
you are one of those early birds you could also enjoy doing Yoga in the morning
on the roof top, under a star lit sky and the bright “milky wave” to guide you!

Another feather in the cap is the extraordinary culinary experience on
the offer! Baptiste’s many travels around the world, coupled with a passion for
organic, vegetarian, fermented, nutritional and creative culinary fusions
transport you to an another world. What is remarkable is not just the choice of
imaginatively concocted dishes but often a daring mix of flavours. The sour,
tangy can mingle with the light bitter, the sweet with the chili, the raw, fermented
could mix with the cooked or sprouted, fruits with vegetables, and at times,
all of these flavours in a single dish! The idli could be made of buckwheat
flour and sunflower seeds, the chocolate muffins can have a dry fig, coriander
seeds and chili powder, while the salmon textured watermelon pieces, dipped in
spicy sauce, could be cooked in the oven! Here, flavours are friends and they
constantly play with each other, quite uninhibitedly. Essentially, what’s
offered on platter here is pure passion! Many of Baptiste’s inspirations come
from the Indian, Japanese, Indonesian, Thai and other oriental culinary
cultures. Add to it is his French art of aesthetics! If food could have a broad minded and playful
personality, it is at the Finca! And it goes without mentioning that all this
takes hours of careful preparation and hard work.

What’s also not lost to the keen visitor is the environmental
consciousness that Baptiste so committedly and effortlessly puts into reality.
He would gladly explain you his inspirations if you enquire. Baptiste’s caves
are equipped with dry toilets, consuming no water at all! The soaps, the
disinfectants used are carefully chosen to cause least environmental impact.
Many lights run on solar panels. A lot
of the construction material used here comes from the immediate surroundings.
Most of his vegetables make their way from the backyard kitchen garden, and the
eggs from the henhouse! The slow food, low on consumerism and almost spiritual
environment of this place is a true antidote to the frenzied lives that most of
us live now a days.
Finally, a word about the
sleeping experience in the caves. Personally,
I can’t remember any other nights in the recent past that offered me such deep
and healing sleeps as I had here. The kind caves lovingly engulf you as if you
were in mother mountain’s womb! Baptiste
once said to me that his life mission is to beautify the world around him. If
you visit his Finca you would discover how magnificently he does it…Beautify
like Baptiste!
Bravo Baptiste.. For creating a wonderful place .. combining all your wisdom from your travel experiences. The modern homo sapiens do need a getaway from our everyday grinds and experience the lives of our ancestors.. minimalistic, simple and fullfill ing .. Thanks for beautiful writeup Anu and taking time to share your experience.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bindhu for your words of appreciation. I hope, one day you will get a chance to visit Baptiste's Finca!
ReplyDeleteGreetings.