Like the story of Sisco and Teresa, “the lovers of Bausen”, Juan Martínez's oozes a dose of pain, poetry and the ability to overcome adversity. Some time after having a brain tumor removed, in 2016, this Madrid engineer settled in Bausen with the hope of opening a new chapter in his life. That same year the centenary of the death of Teresa was celebrated, the protagonist together with Sisco of a moving story that attracts tourists to this bucolic town in the Val d'Aran. The lovers Teresa and Sisco ran into the intransigence of the Church at the beginning of the last century, when the priest refused to marry them because of their relationship. The young people had two children and lived happily without the need to sign any papers until she died at the age of 33. Sisco clashed again with the intolerance of the priest, who opposed burying her in the cemetery, alluding that they had lived "in sin." The neighbors did give an endearing lesson in empathy and generosity: in 24 hours they built a beautiful civil cemetery for the deceased to rest.
Juan Martínez, 46, likes to remember these facts when he walks through the streets of Bausen, a town that has managed to preserve its traditional Pyrenean architecture. In fact, he lives near the place where Teresa rests.
Juan chose this Aranese town of only 66 registered residents, very close to the border with France, to take the first steps of his ski clothing company, Reforcer. An agronomist by training and a great fan of white sports, his future turned upside down the day he began to suffer from severe headaches. “I worked in Portugal, in a drinking water supply project, and there, in 2008, I was diagnosed with a benign but large tumor. I underwent three operations, in the first I suffered cerebral edema, and then another two, in the last one they managed to remove it but I ended up with sequelae, severe facial paralysis that made me lose my identity, I looked like a different person. They removed my left ear, I was left without hearing and without balance on that side, and I have permanent tinnitus," he explains in Betrén, a town attached to Vielha where his showroom operates, a space where he exhibits his multicolored collections of jackets and pants high-end ski.
The doctors told him to forget about his hobbies and gave him absolute disability. He left the hospital in a wheelchair, returned to his parents' house, in Pozuelo de Alarcón, and focused on rehabilitation. “At four months I already started to walk and at two years to ski lightly”, he recalls.
Fifteen years later, with the perspective of time, he considers that he has emerged stronger from this bad experience. Hence the name of its brand. When he regained autonomy he settled in the Pyrenees, first in France and then in Aragon; he learned French, and the idea of setting up a company matured. He asked for the absolute incapacitation to be removed and embarked on Reforcer. “I traveled around Europe to visit factories and pattern makers, did a market study and entered the Classroom for Entrepreneurs of the Prevent and Esade Foundation, aimed at helping people with disabilities to put projects into practice; In 2018 my first collection came out ”. The design is made between Italy and the Val d'Aran and is produced in different parts of Europe.
“Reforcer is a little plant that is now beginning to take root. The covid forced us to stop for a year, it was a very strong blow. I do almost everything, the distribution, the commercial part, the marketing, the warehouse management... In a jacket there are 40 different materials! It fills me with joy to have come this far, ”she says. Among his plans is to manufacture a line of hats with sheep's wool from the Pyrenees by hand in the Val d'Aran. Now his collections are sold through his website and in stores in Barcelona, Madrid, Formigal and Baqueira Beret. Next autumn he plans to arrive in Andorra and dreams of making the leap to the Alps, as well as Cerler and Sierra Nevada.
The brand was born in Bausen –Juan insists–, but he decided to move the office to Betrén to have a better Internet connection and set up a showroom. "What I miss is more help for entrepreneurs who develop projects in the Pyrenees, I believe that all kinds of companies should be supported, not just livestock."
He toured various towns in the Val d'Aran until he decided on Bausen, more than 900 meters high. He wanted to make his home in a sunny town, with at least one bar to maintain a minimal social life, close to a large ski resort and well connected. “I am an hour and a half from Toulouse airport, which I use frequently to fly to different cities in Europe, and I have Baqueira Beret a short distance away. Bausen is a small but lively town, people have come here from Valencia, from France, from other places in Catalonia or from Madrid who work in the ski resorts and in the tourism sector, ”she indicates. His mastery of Aranese has made the integration flow easily.
When he landed in Bausen, he could not find a flat and resorted to a well-known accommodation platform. He was lucky and the owner offered him a normal rental contract in a privileged house with views of the Aneto. The Val d'Aran is one of the destinations where the lack of affordable housing is most exacerbating. Lots of second homes and very little offer for people who come from abroad with a contract to work in tourism.
Fifteen years after the fatal diagnosis, after he had to leave his occupation as an engineer specializing in hydraulic works forever, after he lost his girlfriend, after being warned that he could not practice risky sports due to the serious consequences of the third surgical intervention , Juan returns to descend on skis through the snowy mountains, to ride a bicycle and also a motorcycle. And he fights for his small business project to grow and leave a mark in the valley that has welcomed him.
