Final Reflections

For the final post from our amazing adventure, we've put together a little summary of a variety of  superlatives. It was really hard to simplify 5 months into a single list, so we've both put our own touches.

Biggest Cultural Differences

G: Daily routine in Spain. Even though we begrudgingly ate supper somewhere between 9:30 and 10:00 each night, we seemed to enjoy the two hour rest (insert nap time) after a 2:00 pm lunch.

P: The manual labour in Nepal. Roads were being built with pick axes. Rocks were crushed with sledgehammers. Asphalt was heated with a wood fire.

Most impressive

G: Paul's Sunglasses. I'm not sure which is more impressive. The fact that Paul broke/lost 7 pairs of sunglasses, or the fact that he's kept his last pair in tact for 8 whole weeks!

P: Nick’s Tools. I was able to play in the “tool sheds” at many places. Some had next to no tools or the tools were simply broken. Nick had every thing in his work shop- although I never did find the level. (So I made one from a hose!)

Nicest People

G: British Alice that we met at MRCI in Madagascar. She's pure positive, all the time. Need a boost, go chat with Alice for for a minute.

P: Terrie and Alan - our newest auntie and uncle. Pure salt of the earth people.

Generous Hosts

G: OMG is really all I can say about the generosity shown by Connie and Fernando, Ute, and Jay. Homes were opened, special outings were arranged, and lives were shared. I can't say thank you enough to my beautiful friends.

P: Agreed. Please come to Canada so we can reciprocate.

Hardest

G: Spotting geckos and chameleons during our night hikes in Madagascar.

P: Slowly, Slowly. In Nepal and Madagascar we heard this repeatedly. It’s taken a lot to adopt a slower pace.

Coolest Animal

G: Pablo from the Food Farm. Any dog that can open the door to let themselves out is a gem!

P: Lemurs in Madagascar. These little beasts are very cool. 

Greatest Effort

G: Trying to figure out what was being said. This happened in our home-stays in Nepal, at shops in Thailand, at camp in Madagascar, and at the dinner table at Can Ponet. It's fun to read body language and tone, but potentially dangerous too.

P: Trying to get Binoculars in Bangkok. I ordered them only for $8 to be delivered to a lock box. We walked about 5 km in the heat to the lock box, and they weren’t there. What a mess. They finally showed up at our Airbnb, not the lock box, 3 days after we left Bangkok.

Better Than We Found It

G: Despite cold and rainy weather, Terrie and Alan's gardens looked remarkably better after our time there. My rain jacket will never be the same. Sigh.

P: Oh, there’s a lot to choose from. Sarangkot homestay stands out because we fixed the tunnel houses, installed irrigation and dug trenches.  All of these will lead to more food production for a long time.

Wicked Cool

G: Snorkeling at Tanikeli Madagascar. The fish and corals were SO diverse and SO colourful.

P: Blackwater rafting in the glow worm caves.

Hilarious

G: For me, it has to be the slow roll bus at Hari and Maya's that took 15 minutes to go 1 km while blowing its horn all the way.

P: Staying with all the young people at MRCI. It was funny be able to interact and also to sit back and watch their various levels of maturity.

Yummy Street Food:

G: This is a tough one but my vote goes to Nepal's momos, donuts, and samosas.

P: Has to be Phuket. We were always on a mission to get a $5 dinner and the options seemed to be different every day!

Scariest: 

G: Sitting very close behind a stalled transport truck that kept rolling backwards towards us on a bridge incline in New Zealand. Yikes.

P: That huge spider in our room in Sarangkot.

Unique Experience:

G: Radio studio recording with Ute for her podcast. Who got to be guests on an Austrian friend's podcast? We did!!!

P: Framing the shed at the Food Farm. Measuring and buying wood in metric and being able to make my own plan.

Best Deal

G: Phuket Thailand - Modern Air BB apartment for $30 a night, cheap and delicious (or dangerous) street food, free snorkling off the beach. This place was a little piece of heaven.

P: The food cafe in the Grocery store in Bangkok. We got to try many things for just a few bucks. (And it was air conditioned!)

Peaceful Moment

G: Definitely swimming alongside giant green sea turtles in Madagascar. Wow. Graceful, strong and definitely peaceful.

P: The night sky in the South Island of New Zealand. It was truly beautiful.

Most Learning 

G: It's a toss up. Can Ponet and woofing in Spain or MRCI in Madagascar. We milked goats, made cheese and yogurt, did a butterfly survey, and lived the day to day life of a Catalonian family. We also lived in a poor African country, in an island camp with locals and young volunteers from around the world and learned their social stories. As well we surveyed birds and lemurs, identified geckos and chameleons, planted tree seedlings, I'll while following the mantra "mora mora" - slowly slowly.

P: The Food Farm. This amazing couple has adopted the Permaculture Lifestyle and are delighted to share it with others.

Unexpected Bonus

G: When Connie and Fernando's car broke down in NZ, we were invited to spend the night at their friends, Fernando and Sonia's. Well, their lovely rural estate came complete with our own room, fresh pan de yucca for breakfast, and an indoor pool. Unexpected and a huge bonus!

P: Bangkok Airways Lounge. We arrived at the airport in Chiang Mai for our return flight to Bangkok and at check in we were told to go hang out in the lounge! What a treat. Free coffee, juice and snacks!

Grateful For:

G: PAUL. I couldn't ask for a better traveling/life partner. It will come as no shock that Paul was always super planned, well organized and always keen to do anything and everything. I'm grateful to have shared such memorable adventures with him.

P: GAYLE. Thank you for being curious and caring. You kept many conversations alive with so many people. And everyone loved you for it! You were always a hard worker and willing to do anything during our building and maintenance tasks. You never once even frowned about the sunglasses fiascos.

Exceeding Expectations

For those of you that have been following along, you will know already, and for those that haven’t, well, THIS HAS BEEN AN AMAZING ADVENTURE!

We have met so many people, done incredible things, experienced new challenges and learned a lot over 5 months. We are truly blessed to have had this opportunity. Rather than identifying “best of” or “top ten” we will highlight a few things that stand out as having exceeded our expectations (in no particular order).

Life on farms as wwoofers, it turns out, really agrees with us. We knew that we would enjoy being outside and physically active, however we didn’t account for the people, the learning, or the animals. The daily chores, gardening, harvesting, feeding and milking provided routines and purpose. And, we also struggle to find the words to describe how valuable it has been for us to leave a legacy - like replacing fence posts, building sheds, or storing preserves.

  

Over the first weekend at Turtle Cove, we had the opportunity to go snorkeling with many camp mates at Nosy Tanikely- a small, close by island. Our experience snorkeling on the reef at camp was not great, so our expectations were low. As the boat slowed on our approach we actually could see the fish and the colours in the crystal blue water. It was a new world when we jumped in. Neither of us had seen fish so numerous or varied that combined with the vivid colours resulted in an adrenaline rush complete with increases in heart and respiratory rates! 

 

When most of us travel, we use hotels or BNBs that offer little or now interaction with others. Our Home-Stays have allowed us to enjoy life-immersion experiences in ways that we did not expect. We learned about life style culture, politics, history and religion. We are also more confident than ever that teenagers are quite the same, worldwide. Whether staying at the homes of old friends or adjusting to new routines and languages with strangers, we are so grateful for the generosity, acceptance and openness that everyone showed us.

  

When organizing our trip, we purposely put less structure into our time in Thailand. In March we chose to add a jungle hike to our time in Chaing Mai. The “company” had no website or other online presence, but the reviews for the guide and owner, Kalu, on trip advisor were very good. We booked an overnight trip with him on WhatsApp - very unusual. The whole thing seemed sketchy.  He showed up exactly on time and we had amazing jungle hikes (except for the leeches), ate fresh meals, stayed in a remote village, rode a bamboo raft and bathed elephants!  Incredible!

 

As part of the Forest Conservation program at Turtle Cove headlamps were on the mandatory gear list for the night hikes. We weren’t terribly excited about trudging through the jungle at night, however, we quickly learned from other volunteers that the night hikes would be a highlight. Hikes attracted many volunteers from other programs. After our first one, we knew why!  We were so fortunate to be able to go out for three different hikes to see and hear life in the jungle. 

Our Chicken Experiences

Over the past few months we’ve had many interactions with chickens. I guess that goes with the territory since we’ve been living on farms. Chickens and eggs make up a large portion of our diets in Canada and, as it turns out, the rest of the world as well. Here are our chicken stories.

Caution - This post acknowledges that farm animals are not pets. Please don’t scroll down if that bothers you.

In New Zealand, our first farm was very busy with some fancy breeds of chickens. There were two flocks that wandered everywhere on the property - including into to the house occasionally. 

  

Debbie was dedicated to getting the hens to move into the new “chicken tractor” that she had purchased - after 5 days there, they still weren’t interested in it at all. I did repair the door on the other coop to keep them safe until they decided to move into their new home.

We spent way too much time at The Corner Stone Cafe chasing escapee chickens. After several attempts, we finally found and blocked the escape route. They were crafty, so I am guessing the next wwoofers did the same thing.

The Food Farm had two flocks - one for eggs and one for meat. Our chores included feeding them twice per day and of course, checking for eggs. One hen insisted on incubating every hen’s eggs and she would curse us in her best loud running cackle when we had to chase her off of the nest. Despite the noisy, 3 am rooster, it was very nice to be able to eat fresh eggs!

During our time at Panchase Homestay in Nepal there was only one interaction with chicken - on a plate. We felt very privileged at the time, because meat is a rarity. Although, it was much tougher meat that we are used to.  

Soon after arriving at the Sarangkot Homestay (also in Nepal), we were told that one of the three chickens would be soon made into dinner because she was eating her own eggs. That’s the early retirement plan for a chicken. On a Thursday night, dinner was that chicken. We learned that the nice orderly 9 pieces of chicken that we Canadians get from a chicken was not the norm. The entire bird was chopped into bits and stewed for 40 minutes. I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out one of the bones in my bowl - it was the head.

Chickens lived at our camp in Madagascar, however they seemed wild and other than hearing them scratching on the cabin roof or the rooster crowing at 5 am, we didn’t notice them much. There were plenty of chickens, chicks and roosters wandering around the nearby village. (Some ducks, too!) Our 3 Dollar bed experience, a interesting night for sure, began with a chicken dinner that was so bad, that I chose the vegetarian option and ended with a rooster centimetres from our heads, separated by a very thin bamboo wall. Mattia, an Italian with a excellent mobster accent, was not happy when he woke up and proclaimed, “AND NOW I WILL KILL DE FUCKING ROOSTER”. Thankfully, he didn’t.

In Catalonia, the interactions with chickens got real. During our introductory tour of Can Ponet, Cesar, invited us to help with the processing of the meat chickens if we were interested. Just a few months ago, at the Food Farm, even the talk of that made me queasy. So, of course, when Cesar offered, we said “yes”.

On Sunday, he told us that Monday was the day. Cesar, we’ve learned is terribly patient and willing to take the time to show what he is doing and allow us to try anything. We began early and after watching him dispatch the chickens, we each had a chicken and removed all the feathers. Cesar demonstrated how to make the incisions and, like a surgeon, remove the intestines. He had knives for both of us and WE DID IT!  There is nothing quite like pulling warm innards out of a chicken! Everyone should try it.

 

Wednesday was carving day and, once again, Cesar demonstrated his technique then handed me the knife to have a go. For my first time I did ok. I still have all my fingers and the chicken didn’t complain once.

Stories we haven’t told you - Part 5

Charging at Camp- The was no electricity at the camp in Madagascar. Cabins and common areas were equipped with 12 volt bulbs that were powered by solar panels. However, because most of the volunteers and staff had phones, the generator would usually be turned on for about an hour per day. With 30 volunteers, you might guess that it was a competitive game to find a spot and to keep your phone plugged in. (Not to mention the fire hazard!)

Thankfully, we had heeded the warnings in the camp documents and brought a solar panel and battery with us. Managing to keep 2 phones, 2 head lamps, an iPad, a GoPro, headphones and occasionally other people’s devices charged was a fun challenge for Paul.

Lost in the Woods - If you ever get a chance to come for a walk with us into the wilderness, you should be prepared to get off the trail at least once or twice. 

You know where this is going, right… Last week at Can Ponet, Cesar showed us his hand drawn map of the area and said we should go for a walk. After gathering ferns one morning, we decided to take the long loop (45 minutes) - using our “memory” map.  Within 15 minutes, we realized that neither our memory nor google maps were of much use.  90 minutes later, having butt-skidded down a good chunk of a very steep hill, we arrived at home - dirty, scratched and smiling!  

Not a Dirt Tan - We play outside a lot. After one of our excursions years ago in Trinidad, we removed our socks and noticed how dirty our legs were above our socks. The term “dirt tan” has been a part of our vocabulary ever since. 

While at our farm stay in Nepal, the expectation was that we would wash (hands, arms, feet and legs) before going inside. The first time, Amma, was there to inspect our cleanliness. She pointed to my real sock tan, which looked a lot like a dirt tan, wondering why I hadn’t washed by legs. I said, “tan” and rubbed my wet leg to show it wasn’t dirt.  I doubt she understood the word, but the sign language was effective.  

I Have Hives - For one of many possible reasons, like food, bugs, plants, ... I (Gayle) have hives. And I mean red, itcy, nasty little buggers, mostly on the right side of my body. I'm guessing they're related to digging fence post holes by hand or removing black berry vines from the orchard at Can Ponet in Spain. One patch, in an undisclosed location, even looks like the constellation Orion. Did I mention they're VERY itchy?

Lessons in Goat Milking

Our adventure has taken us to another new place as we have begun to learn to milk goats. Goats are cooperative, quiet and love humans, so we figured this would be super easy. Yeah Right! We knew that the goats would teach us a few things - and quickly if we were going to be successful.

Here are a set of instructions for anyone who wants take on this challenge:

1. Wear long pants and rubber boots and be prepared to get “up close and personal” with your goat. When your goat pees on you, you’ll be happier if you have worn boots. 

2. Give the goat lots to eat and pick a slow eater. The goat will focus on her breakfast and be less inclined to step on you or into the milk pot. You will be a terrible milker at first, so take advantage of the slower chewer. 

3. Be aggressive and take ownership of the process otherwise your goat will own you. You may have to use your body in strange ways to control her. Even if you are super-nice and tell her she is beautiful, she will still manage to kick and head butt you - so you better be prepared to suck it up. 

4. Watch for an arched back- this is a sure sign that you are going to get crapped on. If the crap ends up in the milk bucket, you have just made cat food. 

5. Be patient with yourself and don’t get frustrated when you squeeze and spray a bunch of milk into your boot. You will soon learn how to aim. 

If you follow these instructions, you will be milking like a pro in no time. Please don’t ask for a demonstration. 

From Blog To Podcast

When we were in Vienna, Ute asked if she could interview us for her podcast "A Cup of Care". We enthusiastically agreed. I believe it went something like, "Heck yes! That sounds like fun. We're in!"

Here is the end product. It’s about 30 minutes long. 

https://cba.fro.at/623471

And a big shout out to Ute for organizing, preparing and making this final product. Podcasts certainty don't make themselves!

Life in Catalonia

We arrived to our final destination in Catalonia a few days ago. "Where the heck is that?" you might be asking. Catalonia is a province in the northeast corner of Spain. Just take a train 35 minutes north of Barcelona, then drive about 20 minutes into the beautiful mountains full of cork trees and you'll find us. We're living at Can Ponet with Cesar, Liliana, and their two teenager daughters Johanna and Gemma. And we're having another most excellent woofing experience. 

Here are some of the highlights so far:

-The Language - Cesar and his family are proud Catalonians. They speak Catalan, not Spanish. Catalan is an old language that has some French and Spanish sounding words. Cesar was clear that we are in Catalonia, not in Spain.

- The Goats. They have friendly goats, complete with fashionable bells around their necks. We attempted milking the goats today. (Special note: The Chickens do not make the highlights because the roosters are right outside our window and are the “Early Loud” variety.)

- The Tasks. Let's sum it up with two words - varied and plentiful. The farm is rustic, so there is lots to do. We've built rock steps, added onto an existing pergola, weeded the garden, picked plums, forged for ferns, observed cheese making, replaced rotted fence posts, put away grass for the winter. By the time you read this, we will have done many more things!

 

- Meal Time. Now this is interesting. Our family is fiery. Not that we can understand much (or any) Catalan, but we can tell by the tone and volume that a lot of spirited arguing is happening. In fact, we sometimes feel very uncomfortable. But, since there haven’t been any tears or broken dishes, we'll chalk it up to “cultural differences” and try not to let our faces show our discomfort.

- The Food. Our meals are very plain and not spicy. Things like cured pork, cheese, stale bread, fresh yogurt, olive oil, fruit from the orchard and fresh lettuce are found on our plates. Liliana works at a pharmacy from 4-8 every day and takes care of the kitchen before and after.

- The Daily Schedule. It seems Spanairds rise and shine around 7 or 8 or 9, have breakfast, then work until 2 or 3 when the big meal of the day occurs. This is followed by a two hour rest. Insert "nap time" here. Almost everything - stores, schools, offices shut down. Some restaurants are open, but they are usually not busy. From 4 to 8 people return to work again, and then have supper around 9 or 10 pm. The late supper and bed time is taking some getting used to.

- The Weather. We wouldn't be Canadian if we didn't mention the weather. Day highs have been around 28C, and lows of 18C. It's been sunny, with little humidity. Rain - only once so far, with a hard downpour for about 20 minutes.