Orgiva is a totally unique and amazing place. I certainly don't know of anywhere else quite like it. Maybe you have to see for yourself to really get a feel of it, but I'm going to try and describe it here.

Have you ever heard of Orgiva, that small, scruffy town in the Alpujarras? it's nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, south of Spain. It has a meagre population of 6.ooo people, an economy based on olive and citrus production. Its houses are whitewashed, it's bars are plentiful and the sun shines over 300 days a year.

So what's so special? Well, the sun does shine over 300 days a year..., but, there's more...It's half an hour to the beach, half an hour to the snow-line, an hour from free, natural hot springs? Well, also, there's a lot going on. As well as the many local fiestas and nights of fireworks lighting up the sky, as well as the flamenco music heard loud, playing out the car windows in the barrios, there's an enormous alternative culture going on here.

Orgiva hosts many alternative communities. There's the famous Beneficio, the tipi valley that Rainbow minded folks flock to from all over the world. Nestled in a beautiful Barranco on the side of a steep hillside with eucalyptus trees and its own fresh spring water, people live year-round under canvas.

The road stops, you have to get out and walk to your home. You would be amazed by the things you see people carrying up the very steep track; 13-kilo gas bottles, wheelbarrows full of children, enormous sacks of potatoes for the communal dinner, long beams for somebodies imaginative, makeshift shelter.

Then we have El Morreon, a valley rich in Civil War history where now mostly foreigners live. Here, travellers with perhaps anarchistic tendencies, have lovingly restored old cortijos and converted trucks, buses and horseboxes, domes and yurts into cosy, off-grid homes. There's plenty of parties here, which are always open to everyone, and always with a festival feel to them. Here you can see top quality cabaret acts, lightshows and international DJs all for free. Can you believe that?

Then there's Cigarrones, situated on a riverbed, where local farmers mix with aspiring natural birth midwives and anyone can freely park their camper for a week or two, this also used to be the home of Dragonfest, a huge free-party that would go on for weeks at a time, over the years this became to large and way too much fun was being had so the authorities shut it down, Booooooooooo!!!!!!!

There are also many, many, many off-grid smaller communities. Look up at the hillsides on any of the surrounding hills and you see the solar panels and white canvas of yurts shimmering in the sun. Lots of travellers are attracted to Orgiva for its spirituality too. There's a large and growing Sufi community, a Buddhist monastery not far away and hundreds of people attending weekly Satsung meetings. Every so-called new age or personal growth therapy is represented here.

Go to any health food store (there are three, plus plenty of independent stalls on the local market) and you will find yourself in a sea of flyers for all manner of interesting, free-thinking events and courses and of course the up and coming steemit conference.

And as for children... well, I have often been told that this is why families stay here and this is the reason we come here every year. Firstly, this is a place where children are free to be free range. Children have space to play here plus good weather to be outside. Not just the 'hippie' children, playing on their farms and bits of land, but the local children too, playing in the narrow streets where cars don't venture, playing in their parents and grandparents olive groves, their gardens, the town squares. Here you can hear children everywhere. They aren't afraid to be outside. Their laughter rings through the streets and through the valleys. Where else are their children not afraid to be seen and heard? Where else are children out with their families until midnight in the holidays, visible in the bars and restaurants, part of their families social life not excluded from it?

We believe strongly in home education, but plenty of others here, believe in alternative schools. There is a Warldorf school, a Montessori playgroup, a Free school and many home ed groups and teachers. People from all over Europe come here to give birth naturally and in freedom too, with an astonishing number of local lay homebirth midwives. How we give birth should surely be our choice?

Orgiva is a place that stands for freedom. Spain is a complicated place if we look at the news and know anything of its history, but I would argue that Spanish people have a natural belief in living a happy, simple, free life where nobody tells them what to do. I think that's why all us foreigners from colder, harsher climates are here. We're attracted to this attitude. When we say 'manana', we mean, we'll do it in our own time, when its right for us, not when we're told to. Everybody here has the right to say 'manana'.

In a week I am doing a steemit conference right here in Orgiva, Why Orgiva? because wouldn't you love to see and hear about the lives these VERY interesting people live? Lets get 6000 Orgivians on steemit.

Peace and love to the World.

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