Weird VRBO

The morning before the hike, I walked downhill to the butcher's shop in Villalba de la Sierra.  Built on the side of the hill, everything was either uphill or downhill.  The townhouse we were staying in was up at the top of the town (no views from the house).   

I walked in to a meat shop of wonders, and ordered a leg of lamb for two.  We were going to woodfire grill the lamb.  There's something very satisfying about having a butcher shop in your own town, but it closes at 2pm, so you've got to be decisive about getting there.

One of multiple protest signs in Vaillalba

de la Sierra.  Opposes a large pig

farm proposed for nearby the village.

Can't say I blame them.

As mentioned, the backyard was great, and the house was certainly spacious enough for two people.  The owner was quite nice, but the whole set-up was weird.  I liked the guy, as he was very responsive, so I'm not reviewing the place on VRBO.  I even thought about giving him a long list of (not very expensive) things to do to make it more friendly for his renters, but decided not to bum the guy out.  Again, he was very nice, and let someone else point out all that is wrong.

So, what's wrong?  Here's a list:

• Both bathrooms stink of sewage.  And, if you leave the bathroom door open, the whole house smells of sewage.  My guess is that's not a problem that is easily flushed.
• Other than toilet paper, there's not a single paper product to be found.  No napkins, no paper towels.
• There is no instruction booklet, so I had to call him to ask how to turn on the gas for the stove.  It was easy once he told me, but I never would have guessed it on my own.
• He's never used the oven, so he didn't know how to light it.  For the lamb, we wanted to start it in the oven and finish it on the grill.  I did it all on the grill.  He admitted that he needs to learn how to turn on the oven, and to do an instruction book.
• There are no dishtowels for the kitchen.
• No oven mitts either.
• The pots and pans are all very small.
• There's no lighter or matches for starting a fire in the wood fireplace grill.
• The fireplace needs more loose bricks so the grill grate can be higher than barely above the flames.
• There's no detergent for the laundry (Carol brings her own) or the dishwasher.

If you are going to rent your place out, you have to trust people, and that means actually supplying the place with goods that might, but probably won't, get stolen.

Again, the guy was very nice and patient.  He told me about the butcher, and where to shop for food on the outskirts of Cuenca.  He was patient and responsive to my What's App messages and then phone calls.  So, no, I'm not going to light him up (I can't -- the house has no lighters!) on VRBO.com reviews.  But I am going to vent (speaking of vents, that sewage smell, ugh even days later).

Btw, one thing that is a feature and not a bug is that, with no lighter or matches to start the fire, the owner suggested I take a pine cone, light it with the gas stove (neither of us got asthma from it), carefully take the flaming pine cone outside and put it in the fireplace.  That's a pretty cool thing to do, then shoving the sticks right up to it, and watching it catch while drinking a beer is a pretty satisfying man-thing to accomplish.  

I've burned lots of wood before, but never have I turned on a gas stove and stuck a pine cone in it till it started flaming.  Yup, punched another ticket on the ol' "man card of life."  So the place had that going for it.

Boom, done.  Next topic! 

Wood fire roasted lamb!