Spain > Valdelavilla
How to Spend a Week for Free in a Medieval Village
By Jessica Lloyd

What is Englishtown?
Englishtown is a company, who's services are aimed at improving Spaniards grip on understanding spoken English - improving their ear. The method they have for doing this is total immersion - they take the Spaniards and the equivalent amount (generally 20 of each) of English-speaking people off to Valdelavilla (or other location) for seven days of only speaking English. They have found that the Spaniards can speak well enough, but they have trouble understanding different accents and ways of speaking, therefore their English is somewhat ineffectual. The method has been extremely successful.

The experience.
The experience of living for a full week in an abandoned medieval village in the mountains three hours from Madrid is interesting. The village itself, in Soria, was abandoned in the sixties by its inhabitants (no more than 30 families), because the life it provided was no longer sustainable - there is nothing much around here, and the village itself is only 2 hectares. The earth is arid and dry, the sky a perfect blue, every day. The condensation trails left by aircraft high above leave streaks of white across the sky which linger for many hours, and is neat to watch. They criss-cross each other because it is right above many flight paths, though you hear nothing from the ground except the happy chirping of birds and the rustling of the trees in the wind. It is very peaceful.

If a week here sounds like it might be nice, and you like to talk, then you can apply to be an 'Anglo' - one of the English-speaking people attending. Everything for you is free - the Spaniards pay a hefty sum to be there, which is normally covered by their work - most of the attendees are there because their company has required them to do so. The point of you being there is to talk, talk, talk. It doesn't matter what about, but as the week goes by the conversations get more and more interesting - having the same conversations with everyone - "Where are you from, what kind of job do you do, how many children do you have etc." - gets very boring, very quickly. The great thing about it is you are stuck here and made to talk - so you don't have to worry about awkward pauses or running out of things to say, or wondering if you are boring.

The Spaniards
Most of the Spaniards are there because they have to be, but some are there on their own accord. The Spanish arrive feeling somewhat apprehensive - they will be forced to speak only English for an entire full week, which is daunting, and rightly so. Everyone is usually very nice, and with so many personalities there so you are sure to find some you like, as well as some you don't. Their English varies from really very terrible to excellent - depending how they have to use it, how often etc - most of them only use it in their work though, so are unaccustomed to the expression of ordinary things we take for granted that they would know.

The Anglos
The age group is varied, but tends towards the older crowd - this will always vary on each trip though, mostly for the reason that some older people are now travelling and having adventures in their retirement, and they enjoy contributing to something like this - they fly a long way just to be there. The younger people, like me, are there mostly for an experience whilst travelling - a week for free is nothing to sneeze at, plus the opportunity to do so many things at once - meet new people, make friends, see the countryside and enjoy a different expereince. The Spaniards are usually between 25 and 40 - working age.

Why go?
If you enjoy meeting new people, arn't afraid of talking a lot, and are visiting Madrid with a week spare, then this is a great way to enjoy a week for free. You don't have to be the worlds biggest talker - I am far from it, and apart from a couple of Spaniards commenting to the director about my apparent unwillingness to talk, I did ok - it is not in my nature to engage in much small talk, I find it to be intensely boring, but it is necessary for a while here. Enjoying companionable silences is not what you are there for, and you have to talk, and talk some more and then talk some more, then sleep. All meal times, with exceptional food and nice wine, are chances to talk in a more relaxed setting - a mouth full of food is always a good excuse to be quiet, but mealtimes are where the best conversations are had. Also, even if you don't want to go to Valdelavilla, you can spend a week in a four-star hotel, in Gredos, Avila or La Alberca, Salamanca.

There are interesting things, like a broken-down village up the road that looks just like Valdelavilla used to. Also, go and visit the vultures, and see their smelly carcass ridden nest - these birds are huge and amazing to look at and you will see them constantly circling in groups overhead. See the rocks they built all the villages out of, the earth is made of them and the shelves sticking out of the hillsides show how easy it was for the people to collect and build their homes - the rocks are already flat and break off in brick-sized chunks.

Why not go?
If you hate the cold, Valdelavilla is freezing at night and in the mornings, and when the sun is hiding behind a rare cloud, at least until full summer. There is no internet here, no cell phone coverage and no civilization. There are no shops or doctors, only half an hour away at the nearest town can you find these amenities. If you require these things, maybe you could try one of the other locations - there are 2 others, both in hotels with shops and stuff! If you don't like talking, don't apply. This also works as reasons to go, what could be more peaceful than no connection with the 'real' world, for an entire week?

My experience
I found the whole trip to be extremely worthwhile, on many levels. Firstly, it helped improve my small talk skills - as much as I dislike excessive talking and small talk, it is a necessary part of life and being forced to practise has made me much more comfortable maintaining and developing conversations where you have nothing much in common with someone, and would normally not continue to speak to that person, or in fact have ever started to speak to that person in the first place.

Secondly, I have never before seen a medieval village or learnt about the people who lived here and the people who still live up the road in neighbouring villages. It really is interesting, and the construction of the whole village is so ancient, it conjures images of farmers in straw hats milking cows into metal buckets, with their missing front teeth and women in aprons scrubbing clothes with huge wooden brushes, their cheeks ruddy red and their children running around with sticks and blue overalls, a piece of straw sticking out of their mouths. Just a thought.

Thirdly, meeting so many different kinds of people from all walks of life - but mostly being with so many well-behaved people all in one place, at one time! Being on the backpacker circuit doesn't bring me into much contact with the frail elderly, or Spanish businessmen and women, engineers or sea captains. Or retired Americans, travelling grannies or ex-nuns. And I would never normally even meet these people, let alone spend a week getting to know them! So, overall an excellent cultural experiment.

The fourth reason is it gave me a week on my travels for free - gold. I was in Madrid anyway, so it cost me nothing to get there and with the excellent food, a room to myself and no thieves to worry about, it was a week of relaxation. The only thing you have to pay for is your drinks and coffee, at anytime apart from mealtimes - it is not expensive though.

I also enjoyed the entertainment - there is a man or woman totally dedicated to the entertainment section, which includes plays, theatrical shows, singing, jokes, storytelling and dancing. I even got up and did a short presentation in front of all those people, which was very good for me - I stepped out of my comfort zone and was a character in a play - the 3 little pigs' mother. It was usually hilarious, with games like Chinese whispers (you can imagine what the story ends up like being translated by English/Spanish/English/Spanish!) and story writing.

My recommendations
Go! If you are going to be in Madrid, or want a reason to go somewhere, make this it. Everyone who goes has an amazing time, meets new friends and thinks its just magic. They also have a new program starting in Italy, so perhaps you could go there instead. Or as well - they like, and have many, repeat Anglos on their trips. Hopefully one day they will have them all over the world, so we can all get to have weeks for free everywhere...! Wouldn't that be nice. But, until then, this will do.

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