Pep is a poet and shepherd, he has more than 10,000 books on his farm. Albert works in a 10th century farmhouse where there had never been water or electricity and where he experiments with telluric songs. Sara has set up a clothing workshop in a farmhouse in Ripollès that she can only get to on foot, walking uphill for half an hour, carrying everything she needs on her back. Conxita is a chemist, a Benedictine nun in Sant Benet, and has studied in Cambridge and Belgium. Eloi is the only inhabitant -yes, he lives alone- in Àrreu.
Summarizing with just one sentence the incredible lives of these people is very difficult. And those mentioned, Pep, Sara or Conxita are just one example, because there are many more. Up to 16 stories with their worlds are those that David Vilaseca has reviewed and discovered in a recently published book, Aferrats al paradís. Setze maneres de viure la natura (Edicions Sidillà).
Vilaseca, carpenter, writer and passionate about nature and the mountains, had already written books on heritage, farmhouses in ruins, hiking itineraries… But chance led him to this project. “I met three very special characters in a few days, and here the idea of ??looking for more arose”, he explains in RAC1.cat. The Sindillà publishing house gave it the go-ahead and got to work. You had to find peculiar characters from all over Catalonia, spread over many different regions, men and women, who had a common denominator: being nature lovers and having very unique life experiences.
For a year and a half, David has combined work in his carpentry shop in Sant Quirze de Besora with escapades throughout Catalonia, negotiations, interviews… “As I am a self-employed carpenter, I could ride it to escape to talk to a nun in Sant Benet on a Thursday”. Every weekend and every spare moment I have dedicated to discovering, documenting and writing all these stories.
Between mountains and herds, or living in lost farmhouses or convents, some characters have been very difficult to locate. Others have not wanted to talk, or were not interesting enough, once contacted. “I couldn’t go visit them until it was clear to me that it was worth it. Also, you had to go through a friend or acquaintance”, explains the author.
Vilaseca has carried out an enormous journalistic task, adapting to the day to day and the character of each character. Not being a journalist has helped him achieve his goal. “That they saw that I am a carpenter who likes the mountains has helped me connect with the characters, talking about forests and nature. Some have been very easy, others, nothing, very surly.”
Despite the difficulties, David’s experience has been intense and pleasurable. “I’ve had so much fun!” he confesses, laughing. “Some interviewees suggested that I stay the night, bathe in a river, do something…”. In some cases he has even had to visit the characters several times to capture life in detail in different seasons of the year.
Vilaseca has become, for a time, a kind of mix between El convidat and El foraster of the Catalan rural and mountaineering world. The result, now, is already in a book. He doesn’t rule out a second part, but now it’s time to enjoy the first, “it’s being very well received, they’re some extraordinary characters.”
This article was originally published on RAC1
