I couldn't post this because I didn't have wi-fi at the time - so it's really a post from about a week ago. enjoy! xx
I’ve been in Tobarra for a week and a half now – and what a whirlwind it has been. I arrived thinking that this horse-riding ranch would have a lot of life in it and there would be a few people working there. All I really knew was that I got to do some work with horses and some gardening, and that I would be living in an apartment in the local town which was about 1.5km from the farm.
When I arrived, there was a Swedish girl Martina and an Italian guy Simone who were living in the apartment, and on the first night, I met Juan who is a family friend of the farm owners who has taken to coming to the apartment to cook for the wwoofers. This was and is one of the best parts about being here. I have eaten several meals of traditional Spanish food cooked by Juan and in the time I have been here, learned more Spanish than I thought possible. It was great the, because both Martine and Simone both spoke Spanish, so they could translate for me. Juan speaks no English whatsoever.
The first day was really great. I was so excited to see all the animals, especially the horses. There are 40+ horses, chickens, roosters, 2 geese that we have named Harold and Bert, 1 Goat called Carmen, 4 dogs – 2 of which are half wolf and of course the people who run the farm. They are an English couple by the name of Sue and Richard.
After a couple of days, I started to notice that there was something that just wasn’t sitting right about the way things were run – and that I was pretty much going to be cleaning horse shit every day that I was working for at least 2 or so hours. This was not what I had in mind at all! Everyday we spent an indeterminate period of time searching for Sue or Richard to tell us what to do next. There were many an instance where they would say one thing and then do another, or just promise things that never came true. We found out from Juan that no-one had been in their house in 6 years, although he had invited them to his home several times, he had never received an invitation back. Before I found this out and on my first day, after milking Carmen, I knocked on the door of the house and after no answer, went inside to put the milk on the kitchen bench. They never saw me, or said anything, but I got the distinct feeling that, that day I had gotten away with a one time steal into the house.
Simone left after a couple of days and it was just me and Martina. We got along like a house on fire, and to be honest, the fact that we had each other was the only thing keeping us sane. We would work as fast as possible to get out of there and go home to eat lunch, drink a beer, and sun ourselves on the terrace. We even went out on the town on Saturday night to see what it was all about. The answer was, not much! No-one in Spain really goes out until 1-2am so there wasn’t a lot happening, and even then, had we waited til that hour, I don’t think much would have changed. Then it was time for Martina to go back to Sweden, a really sad moment, considering I wasn’t really too pleased with being at the farm, let alone without her company. There was supposed to be another wwoofer coming that day, so I thought I would at least wait it out and see what she was like while still deciding how to tell Sue and Richard that I wouldn’t be staying a month and that I would be leaving.
I worked two days on my own, cleaning out 15 cages of shit, which is usually done by two people. Sue left me on my own to do this, said she was coming back and never did. Once I finished, she drove me back to the apartment, and not once did she mention having left me to do all the work on my own. These people are crazy and not to mention rude. After living here for 6 years, they speak horrible Spanish. Worse Spanish than what I have learned in the last week, and they consistently complain about the Spanish, saying that they are selfish people and the like. I don’t understand what they are doing here if they hate it so much, but I hope they get their own and I don’t come across more people like them.
After doing the same thing the next day, I had had more than enough. By this stage I had worked 8 days straight, when I was supposed to work 5 out of 7 days a week and I was up to my ears in shit – almost literally. I told her that afternoon that I wouldn’t be staying a month and it wasn’t working out for me. So I have had a couple of days off, and go back to work tomorrow. I didn’t want to leave them high and dry, it’s not really right. Even though they are weird and I shouldn’t really care. I’ll be here until the next wwoofer gets here and has a couple of days working and on the 8th of April, I’ll be out of here.
What I haven’t mentioned is that at present it is Easter in Spain – and everyone goes crazy around this time. In the town that I am living in, they are enjoying a 104 hour festival of NON STOP DRUMMING! You have never heard anything so insane in your life. If you go outside and stand in one stop and listen, you can hear people playing contradicting drum beats whilst walking right past each other. It goes on, all day and all night. No stopping. Lots of drinking. LOTS AND LOTS of drinking! And although it is hard to get to sleep at night, I think I might be going mad, and I don’t quite understand the significance, it’s a new experience. But I mean really…what happened to Easter Eggs? If you are reading this, you need to send me a Cadbury Cream Egg…that would make me most happy. I know I don’t have an address, but that can be arranged…
So I have 5 days left here and now that I can see there is an end in sight, I’m going to try and make the most of my time and enjoy the horses and the animals.
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