Adventures with the locksmith

The minute the wind slammed the door shut behind us as we stepped into the street to see if we had cell service in our new village of Ojén, I had a panicky thought. “Do you have the keys in your pocket?” I asked Ned. He didn’t, nor did I. So there we were in a new village where we knew no one, with our backpacks and all our gear on the other side of a locked door.

Luckily, we had our phones in our hands, so I immediately WhatsApped the owner, asking if he lived in Ojén, and explaining the situation. He answered right away that he was on a three day trip and currently 150 km away!

A lot of thoughts ran through our heads at once:
-What is the Spanish word for a locksmith?
-Is there a locksmith in the village? (Probably not; we haven’t seen one in any of the other villages.)
-Where might the nearest locksmith be? (Probably in Marbella. Ugh )
-Would a locksmith be able to get here before nightfall?
-If not, where would we sleep?

We tried to be calm problem solvers. Good, we had cell service, so we were able to look up the word for locksmith. It’s “cerrajero”. Google then told us that, incredibly, there was a cerrajería in Ojén. No phone number, so would it be open? Google Maps showed us the way, and 10 minutes later we were in front of a very unprepossessing building, but there was a man working outside, an excellent sign! We ventured in and explained our problem to the first person we saw. He called the boss, and she immediately took down our address, and sent us back to our house. Within five minutes a man appeared on a motorcycle with a piece of plastic that looked like a giant credit card. He patiently wiggled it in the door for 5 to 10 minutes, and, whoosh, the door swung open and we were reunited with all our gear!

We’ll be thinking very kind thoughts about Cerrajería Ojén as we go walking tomorrow!Read more