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Rante: Marcos Rodriguez Pantoja wasn't your average teenager. At 19, he sat in front of a bowl of soup and as soon as he touched it, he jumped, shattering the plate in little pieces. He hadn’t eaten at a table in over a decade. Instead, he'd been dining al fresco — with wolves, goats and even a snake, deep in Spain’s Sierra Morena mountains.
Sold by his father as a child, Marcos was sent to assist an ageing goatherd. But when the old man passed away, Marcos stayed behind. With a rough childhood of beatings, he found the silence of the wild better than human company.
Becoming one with the wild
Marcos learned survival skills from nature itself. If wild boars sniffed out tubers, so did he (after scaring them off, of course). His most remarkable friendship? A wolf pack. One day, after playing with cubs and falling asleep in their den, the wolf mother brought food for her kids. She didn’t bite him - she shared her meat with Marcos. From then on, Marcos was family.
And let’s not forget his snake buddy, who sipped goat milk and tagged along like a loyal pet. Unusual? Yes. But it kept loneliness away.
Eventually, Marcos was found by the Guardia Civil who dragged him back to civilisation. Cue confusion. He was more scared of the barber’s razor than a wolf’s bite.
Crossing roads? Terrifying.
Beds? Too soft.
And human chatter? Overwhelming.
Nuns taught him table manners, how to walk straight and how to handle modern life (somewhat). But adjusting wasn’t easy. He struggled with jobs, was taken advantage of and craved his mountain refuge. He wonders why society dragged him from the wild but didn't prepare him for its chaos.
Now living in Rante, Spain, Marcos has swapped caves for cosy living. He’s a local legend, enjoys playing music and helps at the village bar.
Does he want to return to the wild? Well, he finds it tempting, but music and friendships (and women!) make him want to stay.
