Al Principio

Voy a empezar con....er, sorry, I´m going to get right right into the middle of things on the farm here, because who wants to hear about my getting stuck in another city on the way here and realizing I knew nothing of what my host would look like if I ever did make it? Oh, you do? Well, it all started when I was in Madrid. I had had great luck with getting around solo, and wanted to keep up the good fortune. I needed to take a couple buses the day after arriving in Madrid to get to the area I would be WWOOFing in, and unfortunately was unable to purchase my tickets online. Knowing the first leg of the trip would begin with an 11:00 bus, I woke up early to take the metro to the station, and easily got it with enough time to eat a bocadillo de patata (Google it) whilst chatting with a man from Medellín who had lived in Spain for a while as a lawyer. Jumped on the bus and enjoyed the awesome landscape of Tarragona on my way northeast to Zaragoza. Once there, I realized I had an hour to kill before the bus to Tortosa, my future home for the next 4 or 5 weeks. On the ticket, I see Plaza: 15 and incorrectly assume that means the bus dock number, when it actually means seat, or asiento, number. So I am patiently waiting and see no such bus heading toward Tortosa, and even asking some drivers where to go yields nothing. I come to face the facts once I am sure the bus has left, and when the tears and screams have subsided. I hail a cab to go find a hostel. The only thing to note is the fact that I got to enjoy some things I experienced the last time in Spain (Doner Kebab-Pakistani restaurant, where I got to see just how entertaining the Turkish Airlines Euroleague basketball league is; and Mercadona- grocery store that sells chocolate-filled croissants...I´m drooling just thinking of eating them a couple days ago in that dark, rank hostel room). Anyway, yada yada, I get to Tortosa fine and right away realize I have no way of knowing what my host will look like, and I can´t access internet to get to her phone number. I´ll just wait for a moment, I tell myself, because I was able to get to an internet cafe for a second in Zaragoza and explain the situation to her, and let her know when I might arrive the next day, and voila, she walks in a few minutes later, and figures the blond with a big backpack sitting alone is not from around Tortosa.

(From here on out, I am going to reference my written journal)

Lyne, my host, picks me up in her 4X4 Mitsubishi and I quickly learn how necessary it is, as for around 5 or 10 minutes up and down the mountain where she lives are rocks that are crudely laid for a road. A bit about Lyne: from French and Danish descent, she has lived in Spain for over 30 years and speaks English, Spanish, French, and Catalan (The co-official language of Catalonia, where Barcelona is the capital and largest city) perfectly, and is vegetarian. So no meat on the farm for the duration of my stay! Don´t hold your breath, cows, I´m coming for you as soon as I can. We arrive at the house and I remark of the beautiful scenery: The terraced landscape surrounding us, the crisp air, and the snow-capped mountains way off behind us. We´re immediately greeted by her two dogs, Tom and Caliou, and two cats, Bichi and Loa. The house consists of a kitchen, bathroom, living room and bedroom, all with ample space for one person. The bathroom contains a dry loo, which is something you can research yourself si tu quieres. The kitchen has a basic stove and table, and the living room has a wood oven and an area to wash dishes. All water utilized (for dishwashing, bathing) is rainwater that is collected on the roof through a system of tubes. Of course no hot water, so I will be bathing sparingly. Outside is one room casita where the guest or WOOFer stays, and has a bed and another woodburning heater inside. There is electricity when her solar panel is in operation, but at the present moment is not, so for the first 3 nights we have been eating and chatting and writing by candlelight. It´s actually been a pretty humbling experience being sans technology so far. We´ll see how many hairs I pull by the end of the month.

The first day, Saturday, we mainly explored the grounds of her farmland, or granjas, through a long walk with the dogs. She has olive trees, carob trees, a vegetable garden, wild garlic, and some other spices like thyme and rosemary. We stopped and picked up karob pods to eat and they were surprisingly tasty. For lunch we had a freshly picked salad (when I say fresh I mean from garden to plate) with organic radishes, rice and cauliflower from a few days prior (Nothing goes to waste. Food stays in the kitchen until consumes, and scraps like peels and shells go straight to the compost), and organic peas (everything organic).

At night, the darkness came before we were able to set up the burners effectively, so I slept with about 10 pounds of blankets. I awoke at 3 to answer nature´s call, and despite the cold was able to just gaze at the stars with ease, thinking of how many times I´ve taken for granted a clear sky.

Day 2 started with an early breakfast before heading off to meet up with Francine, Lyne´s Belgian friend (born near Luxembourg) fluent in German, Spanish, Catalan, English, and studying Mandarin, who is also a Tai Chi instructor. We meet up with a few other women and drive to the beach to practice Tai Chi on a jetty, surrounded by calming waters. I skipped the first session to walk the beach and take pictures, but joined when the women insisted I try, and I´m glad I did! Twas pretty relaxing. After enjoying some hot tea and small cookies, we drove to a farm in the midst of a mandarin grove where a Catalonia traditional party was taking place, called Un Calcot (Google "Un Calçotada"): Large green onions, or something in the family of onions, are blackened over an open flame, peeled and dipped in an oil and tomate-based sauce. It´s messy and delicious, and enjoyed alongside wine and sausages, or salchichas, on bread. We stayed there a while, talking of music and technology and this and that, while a Catalan band played some heavy political rock music and kids kicked a ball around and threw a little too much plastic in the fire when parents were engaged elsewhere.

Day 3, Monday, was the first day of work for me. After enjoying a nice breakfast of rice and oats porridge with bread and honey, we ambled off to gather firewood, as we were beginning to run low. The day was cut a little bit short due to some light rain, but I was able to saw a good amount before we left to Francine´s. She was able to get a good cluster of the onions for us to enjoy for another day, so we chomped on those outside before retiring inside for some Chinese tea and lentils and roasted pumpkin with wild garlic.

I think a little too much when it comes to picking a spot to pee. It seems everywhere has something growing that is edible enough to end up on my plate, so I could possibly be recycling my liquid waste, which begs the question: ¿To pee or not to pee? Hope you enjoyed. Another set of exerpts to come when I can get to internet. Hasta luego.