Onward March!

Ya está. Se acabó. Time on the farm is done. One month came and went faster than I imagined. I am now in Barcelona, the first time having consistent internet, but strangely am using a computer even more complex than I used in Tortosa; it´s in Catalán, some letters are rearranged, and some of the keys don't match up how they should. Well, no use complaining, ¿verdad? Onward!

TomTom

Freshly squeezed tangerine juice from a
neighbor´s farm. Very sweet.

I had a fantastic last week and a half in Tortosa. The weather was much improved, Lyne took me with her to see the delta (she was a translator/guide for a large group of French students visiting Spain), I went on an awesome hike in the very mountains I had been gazing at for the previous month, and Francine and I finished pruning her whole olive tree farm on the Friday before I left. I also finished reading Mary Shelley´s "Frankenstein" and Douglas Adams´"The Hitchhiker´s Guide to the Galaxy," but that´s not exactly related to organic farming.

At the delta, I rented a bike and strode off to find the beach, stopping here and there to admire the large flocks of flamingoes or mallards or grazing bulls, or to have a snack. I meandered along the beach once I got there, but the strong winds kept me from staying too long. They also kept me from biking most of the way back, as walking was much easier and more sensible than riding against the wind. It was the first day of rice planting season, too, so all the fields were prepped and ready to go, and the land stretched on and on, flat as could be. It was quite a fun day, and I even met a Leo Messi lookalike. Whoa! That´s the exact same as meeting him in person!

On the penultimate day, Lyne´s kids came to town with their significant others, and us along with Francine, Claire, a French girl who Lyne previously knew, and a woman from France who is Lyne´s best friend all went to the mountain and had a great day hike. I was on the lookout to see mountain goats but only saw them.... off the mountain. But they were mountain goats all the same, I promise. We stopped midway for a big picnic filled with French cheeses and olives and breads and French apples, much of which was supplied by Lyne´s friend. I ate so much cheese in Tortosa. So much. And oil. And bread.

Cheeses brought to us from France

Lyne´s farm from a day I wanted to climb
the terraces

Una mona, a Catalonia traditional Easter
cake with hard-boiled eggs, filled with cream

The next day was Lyne´s birthday so all of us plus a couple more had a big lunch with wine and dessert and more cheese and more oil and more bread to celebrate, with a Catalonian traditional Easter dessert (see picture). Whilst talking with Lyne´s son and his girlfriend, they offered to drive me back with them to Barcelona and let me crash on their couch for the night, and I accepted. So five of us crammed into the car that night and headed off, and it was a great opportunity for me to get to know the four of them better and practice my Spanish more. I originally planned on taking a train the day after to Barcelona, so I was happy to get a lift!

Being in Barcelona has been a drastic change, of course, but a nice one at that, as the city seems to me very clean and upbeat, but not so inyourface as Bangkok or Seoul or many big cities I´ve experienced. The first night I met an incredible man in my hostel room. He was around 75, and I quickly discovered that he had to be up real early to catch a plane to Cary, North Carolina (!). Not even 3 hours from my hometown. I always seem to meet people and make a weird connection. Funny how the world works. Funny how small we are. Anyway, he told me his area of interest was third world economic development. He summed up his life as thus: An Aussie that went to school for some time in the States and for 2 years in Cairo, as a man who taught high schoolers in New Guinea, who volunteered at an orphanage for 2 years in Beirut, who just got done with a 6 month stint in India, plus numerous other long-term trips throughout Tanzania, Ethiopia, Lithuania, Croatia, and he even talked of doing backpacking trips through Vietnam and from Vancouver to San Francisco, many of which done post-retirement, and on his own dime!

Me at La Sagada Familia, Barcelona

Steps up one of the towers of Sagrada Familia

Jason, why didn´t you tell us you were famous
in the Barcelona dandruff shampoo division?!

View from one of the tower spires

Back to farming. I had a wonderful experience, albeit a short one, and I don´t regret a second of it. There are innumerable other ways I could have felt, had I gone into the situation with a less open mind. The fact that I´ve traveled a lot certainly helped me understand that what I was to be doing was my choice, and I wasn´t going there to change anything, I was going to learn and to adapt. Adapting is one thing I am very good at, so things like going vegetarian for a month was absolutely no problem for me, and going without showering much of the time was okay, because I knew I would survive, and disconnecting from life in terms of internet and technology was awesome (even though I had it occassionally to check emails). I think that also made it easier on Lyne, my wonderful host, as she didn´t need to try hard whatsoever to fill my hot shower needs, or carnivorous cravings, as they were left in the States before I got on the plane.

A quick last note: I don´t know if I will be adding more blog posts, so if not, my itinerary is rough, but includes Bordeaux, France (April 5-9), Brussels, Brugge, and Ghent, Belgium (April 9-14), Holland, Netherlands (April 14-17), Bremen, Cologne, and Bavaria, Germany (April 17-May 1), Liechtenstein (May 2), Lucerne, Interlaken, Switzerland (May 2-13), London, UK (May 13-16), Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Provence, France (May 16-24), USA (May 25).