Mister Chilli-man

Taking a short break from developing last week had the fortune to find a great place to stay in Tarragona... with a load of bonus extras!

It has to be said that the typical Spanish palate is not used to spicy foods.  In the 8 years I've lived in Iberia there has only been one restaurant that suppiles chillis in the way I like them: That is fresh-chopped and in soy-sauce.

Well last weekend I met a man who is single-handedly going to change this...

His name is Ricardo and he runs the Mas Miró Biofarm in Tarragona.  He is growing a large variety of chillis from all over the world:  Jalapeños, Serrano, Bird Chilli, Singapore, Roccoto, Pinga de Mono, Aji Amar, Thai, Chile Arbol, y spiciest in the world: The Ghost Chilli.   Enough to keep you running to the bathroom for a week anyway.

The masiá (farm house) is a beautifully renovated building and Ricardo has spared no expense in restoring it with quality furnishing.  There are 3 bed rooms for guests.

 He is a real party animal and has hosted parties on the site (Ibiza-style!) for up to 3000 guests, but he's real love is the Chillis.   If you want commercial-quantity chillis for your restaurant or business then he is your man; with a new 30m green house coming on-stream next year he can harvest all but one month a year.  

The Location and Red Planet Travel Solution

His address is given as Carrer Tarragona, 41, El Catllar, Tarragona.  Now I punched that into the sat. nav. and knowing the area was happy when it took me to near the village of El Catllar, there is an urbanisation nearby.   Driving up and down the street however my wife became suspicions that it was not the right place, as the houses were not of "masiá"-type. 

I called up Ricardo, and he explained the directions in perfect English - he attended University in the UK - so I back tracked and found that the house is actually closer to El Secuita (good for the Alta Velocidad train station there), than El Catllar.  It is the village boundaries that put him in El Catllar.

When we arrived he immediately put us in a relaxed frame of mind with beer, and we discussed this problem.  I told him about my new site - Red Planet Travel - and its services, and I said I'd see if I could help him get people to his place easier.

I've made a link for him that allows prospective visitors to enter their location and get a great map - and his Masiá is even marked, as it is stored in the Open Street Map database.

Short Url

The link is quite long so I have used our Url shortening service to make it tiny.  These Short Urls can be generated for any journey page on our site by clicking the "Get Link" button at the bottom of each journey plan.

The short Url for Chilli Man at Mas Miró is http://redpl.net/masmir

and this takes you to his page on our site.  If you check the Address/Location bar at the top you will see the true Url is a LOT longer.  Short Urls are great for Tweeting, using in printed materials or in Emails as the link is less likely to break or mistyped.

If businesses place this kind of link (with their location prefilled in), visitors only need to enter their start location or Origin and it will show alternatives about how to get there.

More Business

I'm hoping that for Ricardo by showing the extact location (and for example its actual proximity to the AVE Station Tarragona Camp), that more people will come and stay, and for those buying chillis they find him easier and there is no lost custom.

Good Luck Chilli Man and we'll be down again soon as the chillis in the fridge are being eaten real quick!

"Chilli Man" Ricardo, making us a super breakfast.  Egg and chopped chilli of course!  A great way to start your day.