While the majority of my program spent Easter week, our first spring break, roaming the streets of London, Paris or Italy, I spent mine in the woods of northern Spain, cut off from technology and the bustle of life. I'll go ahead and say that it was probably one of the greatest weeks of my semester and the rejuvenation that I needed to push through the rest of the semester. Here's my recount of that wonderful week, full of nature exploring, new experiences, hard work and lots of reflection. I'll attempt to sum it all up, but I think that some of it was too wonderful to truly express.
As background, I registered with a website called Workaway, a website where hosts seek volunteers to help with a variety of work including organic farming, child care, house refurbishment and much more (big THANKS to Lisa Waller for the tip!) It is similar to WWOOFing, which is an organization of organic farms--in fact the project I did is listed on WWOOF as well, for those of you who may be avid wwoofers. The eco reserve I found is based around organic farming, although it is at a self-sustainable level rather than commerical. For just 18 euro, I've got a 2 year membership to find places to volunteer--and receive free food + accomodations in return! It is a pretty awesome deal I must say.
But let's begin my journey. Thursday, 10 pm, arrival in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia: I arrived at the airport in Galicia fairly late, but to my advantage, Barney, one of the people I spent the week with, had arranged to come pick me up in the car! We spent the 1.5 hour journey back to the village talking about lots of things, the history of the eco-project, my studies and my experiences in Spain so far, and the natural beauty of Galicia. Upon arrival to Valderrodas, it was straight to bed for me (but only after meeting wonderful Emma of course!), in my cozy and rustic room lit only by candlelight.
The reserve is in Verducido, a little village about 30 minutes from Pontevedra, the nearest city. It is an eco-community nestled in the Galician mountains, where the members raise their own livestock and grow their own produce, sharing it with the neighbors. Emma and Barney definitely embody the idea of living off the land, and it was such a welcoming and refreshing change of perspective. Everything about Valderrodas, the reserve, is organic and sustainable--from the natural spring irrigation system, the solar power electricity, the compost toilet :), the plant based fertilizer and the completely natural building materials and wood burning stoves. Currently, they are working on several projects including refurbishing many of the finca ruins (stone houses) for living, removing the invasive eucalyptus from the forest (to restore its natural tendencies), planting lots of vegetables, fruits and herbs for consumption and working on plans to make it an educational nature reserve for children. Currently they have space for about 15 volunteers, but I was the only one their during the week, which was just fine! It is clear that the ambition at Valderrodas is bounding, and I was quite fortunate to be a part of this, starting from day 1.
My enchantment with the eco-project and Galicia in general began that next day with breakfast and the following days' food--breakfast comprised of a delicious DIY museli and toast with peanut butter. Barney and Emma are vegans and the food is completely organic--and TO DIE FOR! From homemade guacamole and hummus, fresh salads with self-grown vegetables to jars upon jars of olives and gerkin pickles, I was eating like a queen for the week (no fried food!). We even had a dessert every day--lemon-coconut cake, rice pudding and ginger cakes topped it all off. I think that vegans sometimes get a rap for not having any "normal" food, and that's entirely false--spaghetti, fried rice and pasta salad are all pretty normal in my book. And with it all being organic, I felt the best I've felt all semester. But the food was just one part that made Galicia so wonderful.
Generally speaking, I often enjoy the chance to have a hand at some good old manual labor. And that is exactly what I did up in lovely little Verducido. A few days consisted of preparing several irrigation beds for planting tomatoes, squash, lettuce and much more. A few more were dedicated to ring barking or taking an axe to the invasive eucalyptus that still cover a good portion of the land (yes, I hacked away at a tree. and cut one down. champ!). We planted and composted, cleaned up a few of the fincas and got down and dirty--I think I was still covered in dirt about a week after I left. And although every morning I would wake counting how many more muscles I could not move easily, the hard work was incredibly refreshing, especially when I began to see the progress. There was always something to and that made working that much more enjoyable.
Axing, I mean ring barking some trees
But it would be silly to do all work and have no time to play. My afternoons at first consisting of exploring the forests, which look like those from the children's novel Bridge to Terebithia, covered in ancient ruins and lush vegetation (that looks an awful lot like my lovely NC). I climbed to the tops of hills and stare out at the wonderful natural beauty, went swimming in a rather chilly, but beautiful river, hiked along the ancient stone path and explored the moss-covered finca ruins and even had the chance to attend a birthday party for a cute as can be one-year-old (where I ate delicious cakes and played with some of the best kids, making a perfect afternoon). I watched a fantastic documentary about a community garden in the heart of LA, met all of the locals and connected with Emma and Barney's friends, I talked about the state of my own countries politics, sustainable food and my passion with the growing Latino culture in NC with Pili and Isa (The Chicas) at the local bar and learned Egyptian belly dance moves from Laura. From sharing my passions and adventures with everyone I met to trying countless new things, I felt right at home in this rich community and was quite amazed by its liveliness. I watched some beautiful sunsets over the hills and will never get over the endless mountains teeming with vegetation. I journaled everyday and enjoyed the time to reflect, something I had not had much a chance to do so far this semester. Overall and most of all I lived life simply and fully, just the way it should be done.
Abdul, such an awesome kid
my favorite, Jamal
I could probably go on and on about my week, but honestly it has been hard to truly explain it to people--the impact was that immense. In a lot of ways, it draws a lot of parallels to my incredible experiences at Blue Ridge and I would be lying if I said I didn't think of the Mountain often during the week. Physically speaking, it looks so much like the mountains of North Carolina, but also the genuine people I spent time with made it feel like I was at my mountain home. I've got about 15 pages of journaling (in Spanish mind you!) to remind me of the week, a few hundred photos, but mostly rich memories of some the most inspiring conversations to date. Considering that I've got quite the gift of gab, I think that that week's discussions will be treasured for some time to come.
