Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Current mood: complacent
Let´s do a little recap on the farms that I have worked at in the last 6 months, shall we?
Farm no.1) Torino, Italy -- Duration: 2 weeks
*No work to be done, mean Romanian Kitchen lady
Farm no.2) Parma, Italy -- Duration: 1 month
*Good work, mean Suiss lady, last two weeks spent in/out of
hospital, 2 operations, unable to walk, from a venomous spider bite on heel
"Farm" no.3) Ibiza Isle, Spain -- Duration: 2 weeks
*More like spiritual dump run by a wacko. No work (of any purpose really)
Farm no.4) Ibiza Isle, Spain -- Duration: 3 weeks
*A REAL farm, run by Permaculture methods, excellent work, lots to be
learned.
**********************************************
ANYWAY, onto life at a GAY FARM.
So life at the next farm, called Casita del Bosque and run by a man called Carlos, was pretty nice. The work was serious, for a change, a nice change, and the company pretty good. The other WWOOFer there was a small, blond little 20 year old Hitch hiker Canadian boy named David. We got along swell. Had a ball working together. Favorite moment(s) with him were, in particular, the two afternoons we spent working nude in the sunshine (Carlos had gone to town and it was so warm and sunny...) I felt a little sorry for David cause he was adored by Carlos and Carlos´ posse---a whole group of sophisticated Spanish gay men, which Carlos was always taking him to gatherings of...he was like a little golden angel to them all. Oh how creepy. But freaking hilarious.
Ánywho. At the farm there was also a man named Raul (an old ex of Carlos´) who was the farm accountant and lawyer and also his British boyfriend Mark was always coming and going. And then then there was Manu. Or more specifically, Manuel Emilio Maran Martin. Oh how very Spanish, and, otherwise known as: The Hippie in the Big Yellow Van.
The Hippie in the Big Yellow Van and LIFE in that Van.
So I have a confession to make: our relationship started before I moved to the second farm, and was ONE reason why I decided to go there. But we were only acquaintances at that point. I actually met him for the first time my 2nd day in Ibiza at a Permaculture workshop at Carlos´ place that the people at my "farm" had been planing on going to.
But I´ll try to avoid all the gushy details, cause those are just like walking through half-dried warm algae---really freaking gross but at the same time oddly pleasant. Or that´s how I feel anyway...
(---that was a VERY odd sentence that was just written...best thing to do: ignore it and move on ; ) Okay, so where was I? Ya. So. To make a long story short, as soon as I relocated myself to the other farm, he started in after my ass. And, because he was interesting and really freaking quirky (and AWFULLY handsome in my opinion), it wasn´t too hard to catch. So what kind of person is Manu? Well, he´s a 34 year old hippie. When in Madrid, he is disguised as a professional radiologist when he needs money to fund his lifestyle (contrary to some peoples opinions, life in a van DOES have to be financed. Ya can´t just get gas out of a river, don´t cha know) and is also an aspiring acupuncturist and Chinese medicine guru. When I met him in Ibiza, he had been living in his van for 8 months there, not doing a whole lot, just enjoying life. An interesting tid bit about our relationship to each other is that we are both Capricorns and are exactly 10 years and 10 days apart. In the Mayan astrology (yáll should look it up if you don´t know much about it, cause it´s the major FAD here in Spain now), I am a solar seed and he is a lunar seed. I could go on but I fear that it would just be putting more gushy algae under your feet.
Anywho. I worked at that farm for 3 weeks in the day and then spent the evenings and nights with Manu and his van. Every morning we woke up on a different beach to the sun coming up. All we had to do was just simply open the door of the van, crawl back under the covers and enjoy the fresh air, sunshine and GORGEOUS scenery. It was incredible. So, as you can imagine, when Manu asked me to go back to mainland Spain to travel around with him for a bit in his van I said "Yes." Tough decision, huh?
After spending the last night at an awesome rave in the mountains, we drove the van onto the ferry, and 5 hours later, were in Alicante, just south of Valencia. We spent a week driving around, checking out Northern Spain. Just when we found an enchanting little stone town way up in the mountains called Moia that we wanted to stay in for a while, Manu got a phone call. It was for a job. In Madrid. He needed money for his 4 month Chinese medicine certification course in Beijing coming up in June so how could he say no? He wanted me to come with him.
CONCLUSION:
So now I am living in Madrid with Manu (and his parents) and Manu is making use of his education working in a hospital as an x-ray specialist. Ya. Way exciting. But we do take off on the weekends and explore Madrid A LOT. So it´s all good. Plus, my current "legal" visa for the EU is supposedly "expiring" this week ( I believe that I am currently illegal and HAVE BEEN for the last 3 months, but more on this sticky situation later...ha....heee....), hence the bulletin I posted for South America. Once again, it is time to MOVE ON for our FEARLESS TRAVELER, ONWARDS and UPWARDS for our Adventure Junkie. Or DOWNWARDS maybe, since S. America is south....(As long as she can get past customs in Spain....) Time for her to RETURN BACK to the JUNGLES OF THE AMAZON, and explore Patagonia, SEE SOME FREAKING PENGUINS!!!!
**I have two months to "kill" before I have to be in Costa Rica and I am currently toying with the idea of traveling down to the tip of S. A. and then traveling all the way up the Continent to Costa Rica. I wonder if it can be done...(maybe with a plane at one point or something cause heaven knows I don´t really wanna go through Colombia now...) I´ve already journeyed across the whole Asian/Russian continent why the freak not the South American continent too??? HA! We shall see if it can be done in 2 months! WOO HOO! (So stay tuned cause there is BOUND to be some *more* CRAZINESS coming my way... and that´s JUST the way I like it!). HELL FREAKING YA!
6:48 AM
Showing posts with label volunteer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label volunteer. Show all posts
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Ibiza Pt.1: The Dump, Wacko, German Mafia, Toxic Compost of Death & Dumpster Diving
Friday, March 16, 2007
Current mood: accomplished
As luck would have it, after my travels with Ben around Europe, (and after a great week visiting my friend on the Italian Riviera), one day in early January, I suddenly found myself living at a dump in the center of the small hippie/party island of Ibiza (For those of you who don´t know where Ibiza is, it´s an island right off the coast of Spain, just south of Majorca). But this wasn´t just any old dump; this was a dump DISGUISED as supposed spiritual retreat/organic farm and consequently, as all things THIS fucked up are, it was run by a wacko.
This wacko operated on the principle that everything you truly need shall be provided to you from the universe. So, under this principle, the place itself did not supposedly use money in any way to acquire food or other materials necessary for a somewhat modern lifestyle. (It did however make a business out of repairing pallets and reselling them for money for electricity and car expenses...) Now, I know you´re all asking yourselves if they don´t BUY food how do they then GET food and the other stuff?? Well, by a very entertaining, little-known sport called DUMPSTER DIVING. Which is what I found myself doing on my VERY FIRST DAY in Ibiza. Along with dumpster diving, they also have agreements with some stores and bakeries to take all the old, stale, expired food as well.
Anywho, so the whole system of receiving and recycling that it operated on was, objectively and theoretically actually a very good system. It took a lot of perfectly good material that was otherwise going to be wasted and actually used it. The only problem (and there are always problems in matters this esoteric) is that the wacko, as I have lovingly decided to dub him, took it a little too far. He was unable to turn anything down, whether it was offered to him, or if he simply saw it lying next to a dumpster. This awful habit of his turned this, what used to be a LOVELY spiritual compound, into a living and breathing dump. Everything you could imagine was stacked up in piles EVERYWHERE. Windows, bikes, washer machines, cars, tables and chairs, old signs, TVs, etc. It was unbelievable.
The Toxic Compost of Death
As an independent student of ORGANIC and SUSTAINABLE agriculture the thing that really offended me was *The Toxic Compost of Death* (my term for it anyway, some---ahem, the WACKO, would beg to differ...) which was a very F-ed up experiment of the wackos in composting. His idea was that ANYTHING could be composted. That magically, when you put stuff like old chocolate milk, mayonnaise, sports drinks, potato chips, (hmmm....what else did I compost while I was there???.....) pastries, along with other normal composting materials (fruits, veggies, yard waste) that everything would just break down and decompose into something beautiful and usable. Unbelievable. I´m sad to say that my conjecture is that we were simply polluting not only the earth underneath it, but the ground water as well with that toxic sludge. Sigh.
The German Mafia
Well, honestly, there´s not much to say about the German Mafia, they were just two older German guys, Otix and Gunta, who spent a of time working there, and so had special privileges like a vehicle with which they went out on the town every night, and did a ton of weed. But they were cool.
Honestly, the real highlight of the place, overlooking the dump atmosphere, the old food, the toxic compost of death, no flushing toilets, no hot water or heating, was the other people that had ended up there. There were a lot of really cool, laid back people (all wondering why they were there, along with me, and why they stayed there). The tragedy about the whole place was that there were so many people, 15 in all, and everyone was there to help and work and everyone WANTED to clean the place up and make it beautiful again, but the old wacko (and his henchwoman) would not allow it. He insisted that everything was perfectly fine and that everyone simply had to deal with their own *concepts* as he put it.
Anyway, after two weeks of that¨---LITERALLY PURE INSANITY--- I decided to switch "farms". But to what, well, I´ll be honest, I had some clue. But only a glimmer. Ha. How would life be on a farm being the only woman surrounded by 5 men; 3 of them being gay (and one after my ass)? Well, READ ON my dear friends! READ ON!
4:25 AM
Current mood: accomplished
As luck would have it, after my travels with Ben around Europe, (and after a great week visiting my friend on the Italian Riviera), one day in early January, I suddenly found myself living at a dump in the center of the small hippie/party island of Ibiza (For those of you who don´t know where Ibiza is, it´s an island right off the coast of Spain, just south of Majorca). But this wasn´t just any old dump; this was a dump DISGUISED as supposed spiritual retreat/organic farm and consequently, as all things THIS fucked up are, it was run by a wacko.
This wacko operated on the principle that everything you truly need shall be provided to you from the universe. So, under this principle, the place itself did not supposedly use money in any way to acquire food or other materials necessary for a somewhat modern lifestyle. (It did however make a business out of repairing pallets and reselling them for money for electricity and car expenses...) Now, I know you´re all asking yourselves if they don´t BUY food how do they then GET food and the other stuff?? Well, by a very entertaining, little-known sport called DUMPSTER DIVING. Which is what I found myself doing on my VERY FIRST DAY in Ibiza. Along with dumpster diving, they also have agreements with some stores and bakeries to take all the old, stale, expired food as well.
Anywho, so the whole system of receiving and recycling that it operated on was, objectively and theoretically actually a very good system. It took a lot of perfectly good material that was otherwise going to be wasted and actually used it. The only problem (and there are always problems in matters this esoteric) is that the wacko, as I have lovingly decided to dub him, took it a little too far. He was unable to turn anything down, whether it was offered to him, or if he simply saw it lying next to a dumpster. This awful habit of his turned this, what used to be a LOVELY spiritual compound, into a living and breathing dump. Everything you could imagine was stacked up in piles EVERYWHERE. Windows, bikes, washer machines, cars, tables and chairs, old signs, TVs, etc. It was unbelievable.
The Toxic Compost of Death
As an independent student of ORGANIC and SUSTAINABLE agriculture the thing that really offended me was *The Toxic Compost of Death* (my term for it anyway, some---ahem, the WACKO, would beg to differ...) which was a very F-ed up experiment of the wackos in composting. His idea was that ANYTHING could be composted. That magically, when you put stuff like old chocolate milk, mayonnaise, sports drinks, potato chips, (hmmm....what else did I compost while I was there???.....) pastries, along with other normal composting materials (fruits, veggies, yard waste) that everything would just break down and decompose into something beautiful and usable. Unbelievable. I´m sad to say that my conjecture is that we were simply polluting not only the earth underneath it, but the ground water as well with that toxic sludge. Sigh.
The German Mafia
Well, honestly, there´s not much to say about the German Mafia, they were just two older German guys, Otix and Gunta, who spent a of time working there, and so had special privileges like a vehicle with which they went out on the town every night, and did a ton of weed. But they were cool.
Honestly, the real highlight of the place, overlooking the dump atmosphere, the old food, the toxic compost of death, no flushing toilets, no hot water or heating, was the other people that had ended up there. There were a lot of really cool, laid back people (all wondering why they were there, along with me, and why they stayed there). The tragedy about the whole place was that there were so many people, 15 in all, and everyone was there to help and work and everyone WANTED to clean the place up and make it beautiful again, but the old wacko (and his henchwoman) would not allow it. He insisted that everything was perfectly fine and that everyone simply had to deal with their own *concepts* as he put it.
Anyway, after two weeks of that¨---LITERALLY PURE INSANITY--- I decided to switch "farms". But to what, well, I´ll be honest, I had some clue. But only a glimmer. Ha. How would life be on a farm being the only woman surrounded by 5 men; 3 of them being gay (and one after my ass)? Well, READ ON my dear friends! READ ON!
4:25 AM
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