The second work-exchange project was due north of the first one, also on the Spanish border, this time near Beira in Marvao, Portugal.
We weren’t sure where we were going to go when we left Serpa, so we decided to go to the beach in Spain and figure it out. Nomadic life has it’s advantages. :)
And indeed, we took a left turn at Alburquerque! (Heh. American joke. We say this to describe getting lost… and we were in the middle of nowhere! And even though we weren’t lost, I laughed so hard that Benoit agreed to reverse in the middle of the deserted intersection so I could take this photo. It still makes me laugh. Heheh.)
As we drove north, the land was still very dry yet noticeably greener. The cork trees were much bigger here and there were stones everywhere: huge ones dotting the fields and smaller ones piled along the borders in low stone walls.
The back country roads were very narrow and often lined with these walls, made by piling the rocks on top of each other without using any kind of mortar. It’s an ancient art and most of them are very old.
This project could not have been more different than the first one… we went from meticulously clean, fully planned, stressed out micromanagement to complete freedom, filth, chaos and love. What a contrast. It was an emotional breath of fresh air. And physically a bit shocking with the lack of order and cleanliness.
Our first task was to finish the olive harvest that two previous wwoofers had done the bulk of. This site has over 75 olive trees, and we harvested about 10, I imagine. I also spent the first few days cleaning the kitchen so that we could eat out of it. I checked with our hosts almost every hour of the cleaning process to make sure they were ok… it was a big change and I wanted to make sure they were serious about feeling comfortable. They were. It turns out one of them had been very sick for years and sometimes only had 30 minutes of energy, so this was used feeding animals versus cleaning dishes. Cleanliness was very welcome, it had just stopped being a habit. Thank goodness.
This was an exciting day! One of our goals in coming to Portugal was to establish residency so that we could have a better return on our crypto investments. Out of the blue, our host suggested that she take us to Marvao, the county seat, and set up residency so that in case any boarders closed we could get back into Portugal after Christmas in France. Wahoo!
This was a dream coming true. We weren’t expecting this to happen so quickly or easily. It took less than an hour to get Benoit certified as a fiscal resident. I would have to wait as I wasn’t an EU citizen yet. And we made friends with Pedro, a really friendly local who works in the fiscal office. We would have many a pleasant exchange with him over the next several months. Thanks, Pedro!
Our host took us to visit several friends who host wwoofers, to see if we might want to land at one of them upon our return to Portugal after Christmas. One of them had very imaginative buildings!
We thought that we might return and work here, but that was not to happen. That story comes next…
In any case, we really enjoyed our second wwoofing experience. We again learned a lot; this time about the importance of planning, what can happen if you keep starting new things before finishing old ones, and that creativity (minus sufficient knowledge) is quite a slow engineering tool. Who knew? :)
Also, here we talked about a common experience, that there comes a stage in many projects where there is a sense of overwhelm from the sheer amount of things to do, for example the innumerable amount of things to build like gardens, sheds, barns, homes, fences, gates; water, electrical and waste systems, and on and on. Some quit, many over-do it and go into burnout, and a few learn to navigate this stage well… eventually. :) I’ve experienced this in my own life when doing my thesis, moving countries, business projects, etc. and observed it often in home building / renovation, wedding planning, career change, death in the family, etc., etc., etc.. No surprise that it happens on farms and large homesteads as well.
And of course, we learned a lot from the strong contrast of the two projects: how clearly emotional comfort trumps physical (to a point of course).
Finally, we had a very clear experience, yet again, of how much better we do in environments where we’re asked to apply or innate intelligence and creativity. Where tools, instructions, expectations and advice are given, and then we’re set free to accomplish the task in the best way we can. The amount of love, beauty and gratitude that infuses our work becomes palpable.
There is a balance, of course. No equipment, training or clearly expressed outcome means that the work can’t be done, or not well. On the other hand, too much control means that the we cannot express our knowledge, life experience, creativity or love.
In this way, I find that life is a balance of science (logic and structure) and art (imagination and creativity).
If we go too far on the science side, we get machines who dig the exact same hole no matter what the requirements.
One size fits nothing.
On the other, too much art makes chaos.
No size fits anything.
This balance between order and chaos is compelling to me, and we’ll see it over and over as we move on.
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” – Scott Adams