Thirst-quenching with surprise

I already knew as a child the iron taste of the mineral water from Vâlcele. Even its sound, as I heard when it shot up with high pressure from the pipes at the roadside spring. I wasn’t scared either when I had to drink its slightly rusty coloured version after a few days – the hue having been acquired from the iron in the water. Of course, it was the best and the most refreshing when it was still fresh. Collecting water from the spring, at the same time, was a fun activity, because you could rarely escape from getting your shoes and arms – say, up to your elbows – wet. Well, this mostly happened when we weren’t cautious enough. But I loved the way the water would periodically "swell" and suddenly "spit" itself out of the tube, and then just fall directly into the bottle.

It also happened sometimes that we went home without water. It just didn’t flow. The elderly from the village asked uncomprehendingly: “don’t you see how gloomy the weather is?” Or, they warned us by saying “bad weather is coming!”

Nowadays we don’t have to rely on the weather. The mineral water from Vâlcele is bottled. And it is extremely rich in magnesium and iron.

Szidónia Fazakas Csoma