As I settled into the camp life, I started to feel a deep sense of calm and satisfaction. I hadn’t realized how much stress I was feeling in dealing with the scumbag’s who betrayed me, but now those feelings had melted away. It felt like one of the best vacations I had ever been on. I spent most of the day just lounging around camp, smoking big doobies and listening to tunes. When I wasn’t at camp I would head down into Orgiva to try to find some work, but even in this small mountain community people still needed legal work permits to find employment. It was unfortunate and I started to wonder how I would get by when the money and the weed ran out, I still had a couple of months until that time so I did not let it dampen my good spirits. As the days rolled on and the summer came into full force, the heat was becoming unbearable in the daytime, I was not used to this kind of heat and it was almost debilitating. One good thing about the relentless sun was that my solar charger was working like a charm, I could listen to music all day while it was charging and then at night I could charge my phone and watch a couple of movies on my computer. It was all very relaxing and I feel I could have lived there forever with a big smile except for the fact that soon my money would be gone and it would not be so sweet, I had to find a way to make some dough and soon.
In my third week I got a call from Gez back in Fuengirola telling me that our pool team had finished 3rd and that there was an end of season banquet to give out the prizes. I felt a bit uneasy about leaving Miss Kitty all alone through an entire night but as she had been awesome so far in staying right by the tent when I would go into town, I thought it would be okay and I asked my neighbor Swen to keep an eye on her for me. With that sorted I loaded up my backpack with the proper party favors and headed down to Orgiva to catch a bus. Lucky for me the bus went straight into Fuengirola so I would not have to bother with a train as well. The view through the mountains was spectacular as the bus wound its way through the canyons. As we rolled along a river road I noticed that the police had set up a check point on the other side of the river, a sense of relief fell over me knowing that we were on the opposite side. That relief soon vanished when we got to the next bridge and crossed over it. To my shock the bus turned back towards where the police had been. I didn’t panic as I figured that they were not going to mess with a bus load of folks. That thought was soon extinguished when I look out the front window and see one of the cops flagging the bus over. Now I started to panic, I quickly took the drugs I had out of my bag and tried to find a place to stash them in the seat. I found a flap under the seat that I could stuff them into and promptly did just that. When they boarded there were three Guardia Civil officers and they looked mean. I had heard stories about the Guardia Civil since I had been in Spain and none of them were good. They slowly looked at all the passengers, with me being at the back of the bus, I was one of the last. I had hoped they would have grabbed someone before they got to me but no such luck and I could feel my heart beating out of my chest when they got to me. They looked me up and down then turned and headed off the bus. Phew! That was intense, it took the rest of the trip to finally calm my nerves. With that strange and scary experience behind me it was time to party! The banquet was a nice final night out with the boys from the team, there was free food and beer, we even got a bronze medal and 20 euros each for our 3rd place finish. The fun, as it always does, ended far too soon and before I knew it I was back on the bus headed back to camp. I am happy to say that the trip back was far less eventful. To my relief and joy, Miss Kitty was sitting right next to the tent when I returned, Swen told me she had not left the site since I had left and spent the night inside of the tent, she really was the coolest cat ever.
After about 6 weeks the heat during the day was unbearable, it was only the middle of June and I started to think I would melt before the summer was through. I got a call from Coach back in Amsterdam to see how things were going. I told him I was loving it but was concerned about running out of money and weed. He told me about a friend of his from the Dam who had recently bought a farm down in Spain not far from where I was at. He went on to say that the guy was looking to use his farm to grow a proper garden of weed. I told him that I was interested and to tell him that I could offer top quality seed strains and all the labor necessary to get it done. I didn’t fancy the idea of leaving Benificio as I was really loving it here but I knew this would probably be my only chance to have a grow this summer and maybe even grow enough to make some good money with. He called back the next day and said that his friend was up for the grow and gave me his number. His name was Jap and I called him right after I hung up with Coach. We made a plan to meet up the next day at the train station in Cartama. This trip was a bit more complicated as I had to take a bus to Malaga and then a train to Cartama. There Jap met me and we headed out-of-town down 4 miles of paved road and then 5 miles of twisting, turning hills on a single track dirt road. This guy lived way out in the sticks with nothing but sun and bushes. We finally arrived at his place on top of a hill with a great view in all directions. He had a nice place that was partially renovated with a caravan outside. I met his wife Anna and we sat down to talk business with a fat joint. He had big plans and wanted to grow up tp 30 kilos that we would split. We agreed that I would stay in the caravan and that when it was finished I would buy it with part of my proceeds. It was perfect for me as I could take the caravan back to Beneficio and live there for the winter and maybe much longer. We made a plan for 2 days down the road where he would drive over to Beneficio and pick me up. I returned to camp later that day and started my preparations for a new challenge. I still had about 200 euros left and about 2-3 weeks worth of smoke. If I budgeted correct I should be able to make the money last until we were finished but the smoke was a different story, I might have to quit for a while, a prospect I had not faced in over a dozen years. Hopefully a solution would present itself, otherwise it might turn into a very anxious couple of months. I could not worry about that now as I was going to enjoy my last day in camping paradise. I was in a great mood and I traversed the camp, sitting at many of my new friends sites smoking up big joints with them. I had a surplus of fine quality seeds, much more than I would need for my grow so I freely handed out many during that last day. Hopefully it would pave my smooth return in a few months. The next day Jap and Anna were at the gates and I had to trek my crap all the way back down the path to where their truck was, it sucked but it had to be done. Once again all my stuff fit and even my bike was still in tow, it felt good to have such a minimal amount of stuff, very liberating. It took a couple of hours to make the trip back to Jap and Anna’s farm and as we talked I got the strange feeling that these people were a bit on the odd side, hopefully it was a good type of odd.
A Continuing Story About Life On The Run