Backpacking

Shanti just left for home. It hasn´t hit me yet, I know I´m really sad about it. We´ve spent two solid months together, talking only to each other, we´ve both been on top of the world and on the bottom; we have a great bond. I hope distance won´t erode it.

I can´t believe Christmas is in less than a week. The consumer bombardment of seasonal carols and decorations I´m used to at home simply doesn´t exist here... there are random decorations here and there, or an Xmas commercial on TV, but otherwise it really hasn´t hit me.

Lately I´ve had a whole bunch of plans that really haven´t worked out in terms of travel. I don´t really care. I have really changed my philosophy on the whole thing since I left home. It isn´t about the number of places you see, it´s the time you spend, the people you meet... the quality of the whole exerience. Travel isn´t something separate from life, it IS LIVING.

Today I had my birth chart done by a profesional astrologer from up the road. I really gained a lot of insight into my emotional self, which is on a theme of the past while of learning. The things she was able to pinpoint about my life and my personality were startlingly real and clear to me.

I´ve had a few really great days here. Chipping up garden material, planting veg, helping Ainsley with his compost heat exchange radiator... and going to Granada for a day to visit the Alhambra again. I can´t even describe how much I love the Alhambra... it´s just the whole feeling of those really ancient places. You can feel the people who have been there before, the feelings and the words that still live in the walls. Ahh.

Right now Ainsley, Claire and their two friends are decorating for the party here on Thursday, in celebration of their birthdays, and of Christmas. It should be a blast. I will stay here for Christmas at least. And THEN I have some ideas... but I won´t speak about the future, only what has already passed, because it can all change with the drop of a hat.

So I ended up staying with Neil for only a week. He is a nice guy, sure. Picking olives was easy work, I really didn´t mind it. I just couldn´t handle the loneliness that comes with being given work by and living with a single man 60 years my senior. He was peculiar, only burning twigs and dried orange peels in his woodstove, and living on a diet of rice, tomato, and copious amounts of red pepper. After the couple from Quebec left, he remarked that he must have taught them a lot about cooking. They were less impressed with him than I was, we reunited briefly in the market yesterday to talk with relief about escaping Neil´s.

I am now staying with Ainsley and Claire, the WWOOF hosts of Shanti. They have a beautiful house and garden, two guesthouses and lovely pets. They are in their fifties, and have the perfect mixture of structure and laid-back sociability in their lives. It´s delicious, Ainsley is a quirky artist and Claire an on-the-ball reflexologist.

I just came back from Baraka, the local Moroccan cafe; they serve the best falafells I´ve ever tried, and have an entire menu solely for teas. I just sat and wrote.

Last weekend I visited Beneficio again and met a lot of interesting people. A 41 year old guy from Madagascar who insisted he was a mountain elf, a couple of beautiful Czech girls, and a soulful Israeli songstress. I played with some homemade poi, we visited someone´s yurt for tea and Hebrew songs, then moved to a large teepee for Bajams, Indian chanting with guitar accompaniment.

The next day, I hitchhiked with a few other girls to Almenecar for the big market. Lots of people, lots of goods... soon the Beneficio people began to group outside MacDonalds... 4, then 7, then 15... then about 25 of us. Naturally the drumming began, then singing, guitar and flute, dancing, poi, juggling and general grooving. It was beautiful; purposeless, but passersby seemed really curious. I found a ride back, which really turned into an epic journey, with a young Spanish couple, child, dogs, and rusty van.

Over the past few days I´ve been chilling here, reading and drinking a lot of tea, just enjoying life. A few days ago I climbed up this smaller mountain in the middle of the valley, and I could see snowcaps to the north, and the ominous blue mountains to the south, the snaking roads along the rolling hills to the east, with the sun high in the sky and wind in my hair... okay it´s beautiful.

So I´ve left the Canaries. Flew to Granada. I was with Shanti in the city. It took us a while to find out hostel, but we got settled in quickly once we entered the place. It was beautiful, and full of beautiful people. We sat at the bar and met two irish hippie guys and a californian who were rocking the place. Soon, beer was drank and faces were painted, drums and reggae was played. We met people from Autralia, Brasil, Britain, Panama... it was great. Ronan, one of the Irish guys talked to me for a few hours and gave me a really neat necklace he made.

The next day we awoke to a free breakfast, and set out on the town. We visited all the main sights of the city and explored. Back at the hostel it was another party night with the same three guys and more people all over. There was poi, chess, techno, and all kinds of languages... and more face paint. The next day Shanti and I walked a bit in the morning and took the bus to Orgiva.

In the town, we found our respective hosts. Neil met me on a bike and showed me the market which was closing up just then... I have never seen so many dreadlocks in my LIFE. This place is packed with the old hip and the new age, with three ¨communes¨. So to Neil´s house. A Quebec couple was there, they have left now. Neil is old but spunky and young inside. I´m picking olives for work now.

On Sdaturday I was in the town and met this guy I had met at the hostel in Granada... long story short he invited me to visit the commune of Beneficio in the mountains. We got a ride up in a group. There were crazy people and crooks in the beginning, but eventually I made my way to the main teepee full of so many people singing, drumming, playing guitar and flute, love and fire and energy... loved it. Met a gorgeous Swiss guy. aThe next morning, I happened upong Nerya, a spiritual teacher from Israel staying with a family in Orgiva... he took me to visit a few people and showed me around the place. It´s so huge... teepees, tents, domes, and permanent houses all over. Gardens, trees, mountains, streams, a freshwater spring. Nerya and I talked so much about spirituality and life, we really connected. I felt so so calm and centred with him. We got a ride back to the town together at dark.

Beneficio really has opened up my world... I can´t wait to visit again, and to see Nerya at the market on thursday. I have met so many people, so much language and individuality and uniqueness. So much power and simplicity. This entry isn´t reflective, it´s a summary, because I haven´t had time to think on all I have learned and discovered. I love people. I have felt and seen the young and beautiful and real over the past week, and I really believe in people right now.

My daily life here pretty much goes like this, on a weekday; Wake up around 7:30, eat breakfast. Make some tea and sit outside or wander about. We get our boots, work gloves, and clothes from the ´Boutique´ (toolshed), and work begins at 8:30. We work until about 11:00 or 12:00 if it isn´t too hot, then take a break for some homemade lemon or maraquya juice. Resume work in about 15 minutes, and go until about 1:30. I usually shower, and then we have lunch, which Roser has been cooking for us... always delicious vegetarian food, she is really a great cook. After lunch, I try to sleep for about an hour, but I get frustrated and usually eat some more lunch leftovers. Then I paint until dark outside... make some tea and talk or play cards with Shanti until 9:00, and I go to bed to write or sew for a few hours until sleep.

Lately Shanti and I have been helping Alfredo built these two long strips of garden. It´s mostly shovelling and picking rocks... there never seems to be enough soil, and there are always too many rocks. When the days are sunny, it´turns into really hard work. Heat is something I am especially adverse to, so it´s a challenge to shovel for four hours. And the flies.

Shanti and I have been talking so much. I can´t believe we have so much to talk about, but I guess that is the nature of the human beast; chattering. We have a lot of jokes together now. One day last week we took the bus to Las Palmas. We waited for the first one for an hour, then took about five different buses, which must have taken an hour and half more. We spent the afternoon trying to find this beach that I had been to once before, but we had the hardest time... finally we got there, had some Lebanese food, and just laid in the sand for a while.

I was thinking about this blog, and how I´ve written in it so far. It seems like a fairytale almost, to me. I´ve mostly chosen to talk about the good things, because those are the ones I like to dwell on. But, this place has it´s downsides, and I amd still me. Life, I think, doesn´t really get better or worse, we just react differently. I could fill this blog with talk about the rats and barking dogs that keep me up at night, the ticks and the dog crap that are everywhere, or the day I got heatstroke. But that really doesn´t give an accurate picture of the place, or what I feel is important, I can´t write everything. I suppose this is just a disclaimer; I´m not in heaven, I´m just changing the background of a fairly ordinary life.

I have a flight booked to Granada on Tuesday. Shanti has one to the same place on the same day, but we are not flying together. She´s still awaiting responses to find hew next wwoof host, while I already have mine, in a town south of Granada called Orgiva. It´s owned by a British man named Neil, who I have already talked to on the phone and been charmed by his accent.

Life is so random. Shanti is the new WWOOFer who has also come to stay with Roser and Alfredo. She is a slender, dark-featured young girl with bright, soulful eyes... (you can tell I have been reading fantasy novels). She is 21, and from Winnipeg! Both of our parents are teachers... we have some other shocking similarities as well. She is very down to earth, and open... she has only been here two days and we have talked very frankly to one another about some very personal stuff. It feels great to have another young person here to explore and do things with. Today she taught me some guitar chords after a fabulous session of cutting away the tall cactus hedging in towards an area cleared for a chick coop to be built.

Recently, I have explored Telde, which was kind of a seedy town. I visited some very old churches and streets, and got chills down my spine from the sense of history in these places. I learned that construction workers and toy stores are the same everywhere. I´ve also seen from a higher point, the volcano on who´s outer side we are on. There is a single house in the middle of the volcano, where a man lives with his cow.

I´ve done a lot of work clearing and lifting and levelling and piling. Physical work is so good for my body, mind and soul. It seems so strange because I am so arts and intellectual oriented, but at this point in time I would rather be a labourer for money.

I think I am ready to move on to my next WWOOF place, which is an olive and almond farm in Orgiva, which is south of Granada. It sounds very exciting, but I would also like to enjoy some time here with Shanti. I think she may want to move to Southern Spain as well. I finally recieved my new bank card, so I have freedom to do as I please... however I will not speak before I have money in my hands.

I hope everyone is doing well. Email me if you want to chat further, for the moment I have good internet access. And also, I would like to add a sentiment epressed well by my well-travelled friend, Graham S. If you find yourself wishing you could travel, or that you were me, or you are envious of any of this, then have it for yourself! Travel! Come with me! Meet me in Spain! By all means, do it if you wish it.