The Blue Apple Tree

Since his mother wants to attend a course in London eleven-year-old Diego is to spend three months with his grandfather in the Andes. In plain terms this means three months without television, no computer and no mobile phone! Up there in the mountains there is no electricity, no running water, not even a WC. Furthermore, Diego does not even know his grandfather Francisco. Six years ago, the boy and his mother visited him for the last time. The first few days are a real challenge for the pampered city child: Diego cannot sleep at night because of the cold and the unusual noise. In the morning, he is woken up by donkey Platero, has a cold shower outdoors, and he does not like the food at all. Especially since Francisco always wants Diego to wash the dishes. So the boy enters a hunger strike until one evening, there is delicious pasta on the table. The ice is broken. Gradually Diego makes friends with the dog “three in one”, with Platero, the donkey, and with nice Isabel from the village. He begins to appreciate the "simple" life in and with nature. Above all, he gets closer to his grandfather and understands why Francisco can not leave this spot of land. Later, as an adult, Diego will say about this summer: “When I came here, I felt as if I had been born again.”