Hi Finn,
As ever I’m trying to play catch up with events in our lives and I just wanted to make a few notes on the time I spent in Spain with Seb as I waited for Rusty to be fixed. We’d left her in Jerez whilst we went to India and again she was broken in to. It’s something of a surprise, but in comparison things are safer in Moroc and it took ages to get a new window for her.
In the mean time I spent time with Sebastian in and around Jerez, which always great fun. Seb has an indepth knowledge of all things food, drink, music and culture in Andalucia in particular and Spain generally. As my knowledge grows, the links between Andalucia, Al andaluz of old, and Northern Morocco, notably in fez, Granada, Sevile and Cordoba, but also through the existence of the “White Villages” and Moroccan towns such as Xaouen, through geography, food, culture and language, becomes clearer. 
We are talking of developing a tour crossing through Al Andaluz in Spain and Morocco that explores these similarities. It would be very interesting when it happends, hopfully for us, developing markets for our farm in Xaouen and Dar Finn in Fez.
Around Jerez we were able to visit gorgeous mountain areas and follow wonderful cycle routes, developed on disused railway tracks. The idea of similar initiatives promoting walking, cycling and rural tourism around Xaouen is completely possible. Already there is growing infrastructure illustrated by the growing infrastructure in the Talassemtane national Park and through the work of Xaouen rural ( http://www.chaouenrural.org/ ) I am very confident that when we develop our farm up there, we’ll be able to link to these.
Additional to this I visited Big Louis (above) and took a look at a number of activities around Veja. This bar restaurant below would be an interesting design upon which to model the building on the farm, tho I also though we could learn from the balconied homestays we used in Kerala ( http://www.kannurbeachhouse.com/ ). 
Having visited paragliding schools in El Bosque (I think) near jerez, I am also convinced we could link to this sporting area. The Riff with it’s sea breezes and mountains should be a great spot for paragliding and is close enough to Spain/Europe for flyers to access. The link to a well established tourism centre in xaouen as well as the ideas for eco tourism I want to develop on the farm, should prove very attractive…as ever we’ll see. 
With our focus on developing marketing strategies for dar Finn, I believe it wil be essential to start the strategy for xaouen as it develops and not to leave it until it has been completed which inevitably means a time lag before demand for bookings ensure. I think the link to such employment projects as “workaway” and the chance to bring on board work for food/sleep initiatives, should also mean that we could employ people who have a job/role in marketing our project!( http://www.workaway.info/859856979258-en.html )
Back in Veja and I took the time to visit Playa Del Luz with it’s open beaches, beautifully missing the mass developments of many Spanish resorts and for me, also offering the chance to visit a bar and listen to a bit of pub rock…there are some things that are sorely missing here in Moroc. I wonder if we’ll manage some of that…Loubar Bar!!! You heard it here first!
As luck would have it I was in the area for the fiesta in Cadiz. We’ve been to cadiz before and, as with so much in this part of Andalucia, it feels as if it is off the tourist map. And yet it is ancient, cultured, beautiful and friendly. The area is heavily economically depressed. Youth unemployment is around 50% and in the general population between 25 – 30% and Spain itself faces very significant challenges. The fiesta and it’s revelry frequently mimicked these issues. People were intent of seriously enjoying themselves, but the political issues surrounding the area, were everywhere to be seen.
As I so often say, I am sure that the world you will inherit will be so very different and difficult, in comparison to ours. This pertains to a change of economic development and power, along with associated political spheres of influence. Europe’s position in the world, and as an entity is changing.
The ongoing debates re the Euro and political/economic/financial integration has everything to do with the position Europe will find itself as it negotiates it’s influence in this changing global political/economic climate. Individual countres wil not be able to compete with the strength of China and India and will not be able to sufficiently react to cope with the impact of climate change and growing scarcity of resources such as food, oil and water. 
I wish you luck, but also that you be informed and aware of the world around you. Be able to see the bigger picture in time and place, as I so frequently say now, be involved, play a role and try your best to understand the root causes why the trajectory of events are as they are.
