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.