How do you see Jafre, what does the village represent to you; what do you love about it?
I was born and raised there so I have a strong link to the village and its people. The landscape here is amazing, it’s very quiet and relaxing and we have many cultural points of interest and beautiful sites close by, like the Dali’s museum and the Costa Brava.
For how long have you been the Mayor of Jafre?
This is my second term, but I would like to say that its is our second term as I’m part of a team and we all work together. It’s been 5 and 1/2 years now.
What are you passionate about when it comes to your job?
For me this is a part-time job (I’m in agricultural research) and it’s not a political job, it’s a service to the community as there are only 500 souls here and it’s tough now with the economical crisis. I deal with people that are my neighbors. Everyone has their passions and worries and I help seeing them through. So that’s what I care about – the people and helping them deal with their worries and achieve their passions.
Why do you believe it’s important to save the spring and ensure others also get the benefit of using it?
Even before Stan started promoting this, people were coming from nearby towns and even different countries as the word of mouth had spread about the source of healthy water. Actually there are two – there’s the original one, and then the one that will be used for the thermal baths that you will utilize for Illum. They sort of melt together though in the way we talk about them. I believe it is important because of the health of the people. Stan is doing a great job.
Why do you support project Illum, why is it important to you?
Jafre is a very small town, a very nice place too, but since the economical crisis only very few people here cares about looking after the small towns and projects like the one being promoted by Stan The concept of Illum is very suitable for the area – it will be a great benefit for visitors and people in the area. Not just Jafre, but the whole county, the province will benefit from people coming to visit.
What do you think it will give people to come and stay at Illum? What will they benefit from?
The entire concept – the mixture of thermal baths, culture, gastronomy and the beautiful landscape. It will be very healing and I believe they will realize that once they get here!
What do you think it will bring the village of Jafre if Project Illum succeeds in building a wellness and Eco-retreat?
First of all the project will create a large number of jobs, which are desperately needed. Secondly, we anticipate that, a very nice and positive relationship between the town of Jafre and Illum can be constructed as there will be so many cultural interactions, which I am really thrilled about.
Before we finish I also want to say that I have a lot of gratitude to Stan for promoting this project. The times we are living in here in Spain are really difficult with the economical crisis. I want to thank him for his effort, no matter what the result in trying to open up Illum. I am sure it will be positive though and you will succeed.
