Drama

So, things have gone a little sour in these parts. There have been some confusion and conflicts with the work schedule, particularly between Jeannette and Poli and Simone and Åsa. They had argued several times about what each expect from the other and not come to any consensus after two weeks. And because of rising tensions between the two families Jeannette suggested that it might be better if everyone leave because she didn't want to deal with the conflict anymore. This being after I had not said a word about my own opinion, I was just trying to go with the flow. So the next night, after another day of work Mike, Simone, Åsa, and I played Spanish scrabble in the guest house, drank beer and cremed whiskey and ate flan and generally had a wonderful last evening together before they left. Mike and I were left alone and after much consideration decided that maybe we really should leave. After much consideration and a lot more weeding I decided that I should stay a little longer and then move on. I know I had agreed to stay the whole year but I felt that after the conflict things had gotten uncomfortable for me and for Jeannette, and even before this incident I felt like I was intruding and that, besides the language, I would not be learning much about farming or sustainability. In fact, with Poli taking trucking classes he was gone all day and we could not even do much work and certainly couldn't ask questions or learn much of anything. It didn't take long before I had to explain to Jeannette how I felt (it even woke me up a few times one night and an extra hour earlier than usual that morning once I had made my own mind up about it) and I started making plans to leave. As some of you may know, Kim (the friend studying in Germany) proposed going to Paris with a group of friends including Mitch and our friend Stella (a Danish girl who I met over the summer who studied at Iowa). So I decided that I ought to see more of Spain, try and visit La Jimena, try to make it to Munich to see Nici, then head to Paris, and eventually end up in Scotland where I'd like to do more wwoofing. It was quite a relief to make such a decision and eased the tensions of the next week or so of work. Mike and I agreed that we were thankful for the other for keeping us sane.

Gaudy God

As we drove home from Benamargosa after the Fiesta de San Sebastian I thought about the similarity in sound between the noun god and the adjective gaudy and wondered about the origin of each and any possible connection. Today I had my first real taste of Catholicism in the pueblito of España, and actually my first Catholic mass, oddly enough. Several times during the sermon I closed my eyes and imagined away the benches and saw the people standing on straw in ragged tunics and baggy frocks. Really it didn’t seem that far off to me. I had been warned several days before that the 20th of January was the official day of Saint Sebastian, the patron saint of Benamargosa, and that we would have the day off to go the fiesta. Jeannette tried to emphasize the size of the celebration, the biggest of the town all year. And it certainly was. We all got together around 11am for a small breakfast and chat before heading to town at noon. The evening before a friend of Jeannette's, Marie, had arrived. She is about twenty years old and is actually the daughter of one of Jeannette's friends from Berlin and is fluent in German and Spanish because her father was Chilean. She came just in time for the festival and left again the morning afterward but is planning on coming for another visit in about a month. Poli started truck-driving classes at the beginning of the week (which will last for at least a month) and still had to attend that morning but would meet us later, Jeannette, Marie, Mike, Alicia, and I. Simone and Åsa had gotten up much earlier to take the bus to Torre del Mar to spend the morning on the beach. We first met some of Jeannette’s friends who had gathered in the street and were shown into the church where Poli’s mother was attending mass. I was so thrilled to stand and listen to the barely audible sermon in Spanish and admire the people, the décor, the music, the smell of frankincense, and the ritual of it all. The image of the saint sat near the entrance where it would later be taken around for a procession through town. I then met up with the others at a bar where they were already drinking and chatting and I played my usual part of listening. Eventually we wandered to a tent that had been set up with a stage and a counter where free food and beer were served. The live band was amusing and just below was a small gathering of mostly older people dancing, it was charming really, and we found Simone and Åsa and sat with them to eat. I had seen some younger girls dressed in flamenco dresses and was ecstatic to see them get up on stage after the band. There were several performances by different groups of young ladies from probably age 5 to 18. It made me hopeful about finding dance classes near-by but I was too distracted to ask after the performances. It was beautiful but Marie informed me, after learning that she studied Flamenco music, that these dances were far from traditional, which I could tell even from my own experience. It was still delightful to watch and looked challenging to learn. We then went to another bar, Paco’s, and sat down with the aunt of one of Jeannette’s friends, Encarna. She was very friendly and really wanted to buy us a drink. We tried to chat but the language barriers were too much for me and even Mike had a hard time understanding her. At 7pm the procession was to begin and as the hour drew near the church bells began to ring. I skipped to the crowd that had gathered around the church entrance and grinned as people walked by with candles, ready to follow the saint through town. Someone came out carrying a big fancy cross and not far behind came the image himself. What a spectacle! He was of course tied to a mandarin tree (I’m not sure why that’s obvious but apparently it is) and had an expression of agony as drops of blood adorned his arrow wounds. I love how morbid Catholicism is! He was surrounded by a platform covered in red candles and carried by about 30 people and followed by a band playing somber marching music. The crowd shouted some inaudible cantations as the saint made his way down the street and many, including myself, began to follow him. Saint Sebastian made several stops in front of the houses of those who had made promises to him, including Poli’s mother, where he would be set down for a moment and a huge cross would spark and pop with a very flashy firework show. It was amazing! I was grinning the whole time. It must be one of the coolest experiences of my life, I’m not sure how else to describe it. I would have followed Saint Sebastian and his adoring masses all through town but it was getting late and I had to meet everyone to get a ride back home. We finished the day with a cup of tea and some stimulating religious conversation before I turned

Introducing Finca del Rio

So, after another epic journey on train, ferry, hostel, and bus, I arrived in Cútar on the evening of January 11th. Antonio, who everyone calls Poli, picked me up at the station in this tiny village drove me the few kilometers back to the finca. The short drive consisted of us finding out that we each knew about the same amount of the others' language, which I found surprising but positive since it meant that communicating with Poli would require me to practice more Spanish. I was so excited to arrive that when I walked into the house and was introduced to Jeannette and gave her a big hug just because I was so happy to finally be there and not dealing with the stress of travel. The house was lovely and very modern and I met Jeannette and their daughter Alicia and sat down for dinner. The TV was on when I arrived and stayed on for the rest of the evening. I was shown around the house and up to my room, the only room upstairs complete with shelves, dresser, closet, and plenty of books! The first book I noticed was one entitled Conversational Spanish and I asked if I could grab it to study. We sat down for dinner and I mostly chatted with Jeannette who is German but is fluent in English and Spanish as well. It was interesting to hear her go back and forth between the three languages with Alicia, Poli, and I. Jeannette explained that I wouldn't have to work the next day as she had a shopping date with a friend that I would accompany her on. I also briefly met one of the other wwoofers, a Swede named Simone who was staying in the rental house next door with his family. Shortly after dinner I headed to bed wanting to get plenty of rest after my travels. The next morning I got up around 9am to a gorgeous view of the valley from my window. Downstairs Jeannette offered me some bread and jam and a cup of tea for breakfast and we chatted some more before heading out. While they live near Cútar, the family is more connected to Benamargosa, a slightly larger village at the bottom of the valley. There we picked up Josí, a good friend of Jeannette's, and drove to Vélez-Málaga where there was a shopping center. I wasn't terribly interested in shopping and spent my time watching after Alicia. We headed back for a late lunch and rested for evening, again with the TV on. Jeannette pointed out that watching the news in Spanish would be a good tool for learning the language and this was when I heard about the disaster in Haiti, eating dinner with the family. Simone's partner Åsa also stopped by in the evening and I met her as well. The next day I got up earlier and spent the whole day helping Jeannette clean the house inside and out and learned more about how things work around the house and the farm. That evening the whole Swedish family came over for dinner and I met Simone and Åsa's sons, Juwar who is three, and Elis who is five months. It was sweet to watch Juwar and Alicia play together despite the language barrier (Alicia knowing mostly German and Juwar speaking Swedish, they mostly communicated in screams). We adults sipped wine and Simone and I talked politics. Both Simone and Åsa speak English quite well but are here to work on their Spanish which is also quite good. The next day I finally got to work in the campo where Poli and Simone were working on pruning lemon trees. I followed and gathered the fallen branches into piles. It was nice to listen to Simone and Poli speak Spanish and I worked on understanding as much as possible, deciding that this was my first step in learning. I began picking up on the schedule and the dynamics of the farm over the next couple days. Anticipation was rising for the arrival of another wwoofer, another American named Mike who had worked before back in November when Jeannette was visiting family in Berlin. However, he did not arrive on the day he was expected. But we continued with work as usual and two days later, on Saturday after a day working in the family garden, they got a call that he would be at the bus stop that evening. I had already heard a lot about him, Jeannette told me he had studied mathematics at Yale and just graduated, he was from Oklahoma and so on. When he arrived he demonstrated his skill in Spanish and told us all about his travels around Spain and to Italy since he had been there last. Sunday should have been a day off but Simone and Åsa wanted to work and we set up the irrigation system on the mango trees that lined the mountain side down from the front of the house. That evening Mike and I went doen to Benamargosa with Jeannette and Alicia to Pub Paco where they spend every Sunday evening socializing and where I brought my computer for free wifi! Wednesday, January 20th, would be my first day off when Benamargosa celebrates the Fiesta de San Sebastian, the town's patron saint and the biggest festival all year.

Morocco in Words

As if putting this experience into words has been easy… why do you think I haven’t published anything in the last nearly 5 weeks? I have been through a lot in these weeks since leaving Germany. It starts with a mix up with my flight back to Spain and then flying later than expected but with the national Dutch soccer team (I sat next to one of their trainers, Henri, who was chatty and fun). When I did arrive in Málaga, Abbie was waiting patiently at the bus station, confident in my eventual arrival. We had no idea how we were going to get to Morocco but were determined. We set up at a hostel and decided to leave the next day when we found a bus to Algeciras, a ferry to Ceuta, another bus to the border, a taxi to Tangier, and finally a train to Marrakech. The most memorable part of this epic was almost certainly crossing the border. Ceuta is actually a Spanish city and you have to cross through the border guard before entering Morocco. It was disorganized, thousands of cars were lined up to make the cross and hundreds of people on foot, including us, lugging our baggage between cars and trying to find the right line to get our passports stamped. And upon crossing we were bombarded by pushy taxi drivers. Luckily we found one that rushed us to the train station in Tangier so we could take the night train to our destination, where we spent the night. Abbie and I arrived in Marrakech at 9am and quickly found the closest (and supposedly only) hostel in the city. Once we dropped off our things we started out looking for food and a market. The hostel was on the touristy side of the city surrounded by fancy restaurants and hotels and we grabbed some nosh and relaxation at a nearby café. We found a map and headed toward the center of town where we hoped to experience some local markets. We first came across a park and decided to check it out. The flora was beautiful and photography from around the world was on display and we enjoyed observing the people as well. When we finally found a market we watched some men make filo dough and were given a very tasty, free pastry that they made for us. We were then taken to a spice stand where we were shown the flavors and beauty products of the Atlas Mountains. We wandered more through various markets and found a nice plaza to sit for some tagine where we were quickly surrounded by begging cats. This was quite a difference from the begging dogs I remembered from Spain and rather amusing since they were everywhere and I don’t remember having seen a cat beg like this before. For a while Abbie and I wondered if there were any dogs here since we didn’t see any the first two days. But we enjoyed our cheap and flavorful lunch before heading to the main market. We got a bit lost wandering around the narrow, winding roads but enjoyed taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of Marrakech. We also got our fair share of pushy salespeople but easily resisted buying anything since neither of us wanted to spend or carry much. We watched a man carving wood figures with his feet and admire some gorgeous rugs and tapestries. The whole day was quite overwhelming and exhausting. We also found an amazing bakery/juice shop and sat down for date juice! It was so good. As it began getting dark we found the center square where huge crowds had begun to gather and tents of food set up, musicians played and peddlers set up, and we were about to get some fresh grapefruit juice when a couple women grabbed our hands and began scribbling on them with henna. I tried to pull my hand away and said no several times but the woman had a tight grip and when she finished she asked for money. I didn’t want it anyway but gave her the little change I had but this was not sufficient and she became aggressive and as Abbie grabbed my arm to pull me away they cursed us both. I was quite shaken, as was Abbie, and having had a full and tiring day we rushed out of the square. It was much quieter several blocks away and we grabbed some ice cream and then headed back to the hostel. We had breakfast at the hostel the next morning but it was raining so there was not much we could do. I think both Abbie and I were exhausted from all our travels and the previous day’s intensity and we decided it was the perfect day to find a nearby café with wifi and spend our day sipping tea and computing. It poured all day and we just sat in the warm lounge area of a café where we had lunch and worked on future travel plans and updating our friends and family of our adventures. Eli had sent me a long message about what all to do and to watch out for in Marrakech so I shared it with Abbie and we thought about what things we would like to do for the next few days. Once the rain stopped it was fairly dark but we decided to head back toward the market to search for some local flavors. We found a friendly place and had some kebabs and then searched again for the juice shop we had enjoyed the day before and sipped more date juice and had some delicious pastries. The third day we decided to find a hammam (bathhouse) and asked the man at the hostel where we should go. He directed us in the opposite direction of the town center where there were almost no tourists at all and we experienced a real, local hammam. I’m sure we looked quite out of place but everyone was friendly and helpful. It was just three open shower chambers and a young woman who was just finishing up and spoke a little English showed us around and told us what to do and even gave us her name and number if we needed more help! We stripped down and filled up our buckets and find a place to sit among the other women soaping up and scrubbing down who also helped us make sure we were doing things properly. There was a woman there who would scrub you down for a fee but we didn’t have any cash and decided to do it ourselves. It was hot and lovely and refreshing. Afterwards we went back to the hostel to change and went back to the markets where Abbie wanted to invest in a nice leather bag. I waited for her near the mosque, people-watched, and walked around the rose gardens of a nearby hotel. I had the intention of finding some of the other sights but enjoyed what I saw. The last day I decided to make sure my flight had been confirmed and went by myself to the café with wifi only to find that it had not gone through and spent another couple hours trying to find another one that was fairly priced, but found it impossible. So I decided not to worry about it and take the train and ferry like I had on the way there. Abbie met me and we walked up to the north side of town, had some more juice, some lunch and chatted with the waiter. He was nice and invited us out for the evening to a bar with live music. We then looked for a garden we were recommended to go to but it closed just as we arrived. So we headed back again and relaxed for a while at the hostel and chatted with some of our roomies. We decided we were tired and again and wanted to take it easy so we went to a nearby café with great tea and crepes and spent my last night staying warm and relaxing. At 6:30am I got a wake-up call so I could get to the train station for the 7am train and said goodbye to Abbie and to Marrakech. It had been an exhausting experience and I hope I have another opportunity to go because I know there’s a lot that I missed out on. But I loved seeing the diversity of people and learning and exploring without any type of guidance besides the kindness of strangers. On the twelve hour train ride back to Tangier I realized how generous most of the people really were, especially when they weren’t trying to sell you anything. I certainly hope I have another opportunity to go back and experience more of the beautiful country.

German reminders of home

Germany was wonderful! It was definitely the right decisions to go, spontaneous as it was. It was nice to be in a foreign country with someone who new the area and the language and could show me around. I loved spending time with Kim, meeting her friends, and being reminded of home. Honestly we didn't do a lot of site-seeing but rather had a relaxing time catching up and being lazy. I arrived rather late at night but Kim was waiting for me at the airport to take me back to her place. We intended to get a bus back to her campus but it stopped around the corner from the actual stop and we missed it and had a rather cold and exciting time trying to call a cab. We eventually had to wave down a car that called a cab for us, oy! But we got home, warmed up, and went to bed. The next day we awoke rather late and decided to have a chill day exploring Dortmund, starting with Kim's campus. We then went downtown and had some curry wurst and glühwein, pleased that the Christmas market still had some stands up. We stayed up watching movies with Kim's friend Mitch. He was another American student and an absolute delight! We woke up late again to go to Düsseldorf where I got to see the Rhine! We walked around and found lots of Spanish restaurants, which threw me for a loop, having just left Spain. But we ate at an Argentinian restaurant and had steak, yums! That was New Year's Eve and we had no definite plans but decided to go to Bochum where there was a bar district called the Bermuda Triangle. We got ready and waited for Kim's friend Jose, a Mexican student, had some wine and headed to town pretty late. As soon as we got off the train people were lighting off fireworks all around us! We had another bottle of wine which Jose masterfully opened without a bottle opener and stood outside and passed the bottle around as the clock struck midnight, watching the beautiful amateur fireworks display explode right above our heads! After watching for probably thirty minutes we went to a salsa bar and ordered more drinks. They did not, however, play salsa music as we had hoped, but we were not going complain as they played American 80s music and even some 50s/60s twist music! We danced the night away and got really drunk. It was an amazing night and Jose got us home safely. The next morning Kim realized at some point she had lost her purse, so we got dressed and looked for it to no avail and then decided to just spend the rest of the day watching movies. Later her friend Christian contacted us to hang out and smoke chi-cha so we spent the evening there. Kim had been wanting Christian and I to meet because she knew we both like gaming. He happens to be a LARPer, which turned out to be a really huge and fascinating culture that I was not aware of. So we geeked out over chicha while Kim listened with a smile. The next night we went out for a bit and had sushi for lunch, then went grocery shopping. I made bruchetta and spaghetti for dinner with Mitch and Sebastian, another of Kim's friends. Sebastian is German but had spent a lot of time in Iowa, eastern Iowa, and speaks English very well and was wearing a Hawkeye hat and sweatpants. If I hadn't been told I might have thought he was an international student from UI just like Kim. Another day of relaxing and movies as the snow fell outside. That evening Mitch, Kim, and I grabbed some dinner and ice cream and then watched Firefly. Christian joined us later and he and I exchanged some music and movies on our harddrives. I now have the audio of several Terry Pratchett novels! It was a lovely last night and a chance to regain some composure before meeting Abbie in Málaga and heading to Morocco! More on that next time!