Quinta regardhina
Arrival: 28 Oct 2019 Portugal, Porto

So after a whole adventure to get there that includes almost missing the bus to my volunteering spot that I thought would departed from the airport but didn’t.. (departed somewhere in the city of Porto) ended up in jumping in the first taxi passing by and the driver of course didn’t speak any English, neither was I speaking Portuguese.. But lucky some Spanish kept hanging in there after my travels in South America and I was able to say a few things as, Vamos, no tiengo tiempo! (that means Hurry I’m running out of time!) He got me there on time as my bus was delayed, lucky me.
After a few hours in the bus to Celorico Beira I arrived and there was Goncalo to pick me up!
We had to drive 30m land inwards to arrive at our destination and to put the cherry on the pie we ran out of diesel a kilometer before our arrival. We had to call a neighbor to bring us some diesel and we just stood there in the rain waiting for him to come down. Very good start of my journey.

Well it´s a midweek later now and I’m fully settled.
I´ve been working out in the garden here, moving fences, I’ve been learning lots of things about harvesting vegetables and the preparation of it.
Learned how to make kimchi and knowing the ins and outs of fermentation.

The farm consist out of a stone house where they keep all the stock, fresh veggies, kimchi and the farm equipment’s.
They have a ‘’self-made’’ house where the family lives in, Rita the mum, Goncalo the dad and Dana the little 2 year old daughter. She´s very active and super intelligent for her age, she wants to help out where ever possible and is constantly saying: Ayuda, this means help (helping) Very sweet but sometimes a little difficult as she just cannot help with everything.

They have also build a greenhouse where the pre plant vegetables before they are strong enough to survive outside and I think they’ve got a +/- 10/12 hectares of land.
This land is used for the plantation of vegetables and for the having of chickens, goats, sheep and a horse.

We live in a selfmade (ofcourse) shelter upon a hill with a very nice view all over the farm. It has a wooden construction and an insolation of cardboard. They’ve turned a gas bottle into a heather with a pipe as a chimney. The construction is good, but I wouldn’t live here for a long period as there are no windows and it’s still gets kinda smokey inside.

We are currently with 5 volunteers, 2 American girls but they are leaving tomorrow, a couple from Israel and me. The Israeli people stay in a tent and we sleep in the shelter and in about 2 days there is a new German girl coming.

From Monday to Friday, sometimes Saturday we wake up at 7.30am have breakfast together with the volunteers and go to work at 8.30am. In the morning we mostly work in the field, harvesting or just doing some general maintaining in the garden. Around 11/12 we start preparing lunch together with Rita and Goncalo, after lunch we have some spare time till 3pm. We quite often work for Rita after the break, this can be making kimchi, fermenting or preserving the harvested vegetables. Sometimes we also go back into the field, depending on how much work there needs to be done.

We have our own little caravan where we have breakfast and cook diner. The van is equipped with a little stove, table and cutlery. Although there is barely enough of everything so we use empty glass bottles as drink glasses. Right next to the van is an outdoor spot with a table and a campfire place, too bad we only had rain so far (end of season).

The farm is based on creating as less waste as possible and to reuse everything, everything gets recycled and everything is useable for something. There is no running (warm) water, not even in the showers, and those are outside as well. The water comes from the stream downhill and gets filtered, all the water that we use is going right back in. There is also no electricity, they have solar panels to collect energy. So like this last week we had barely sun breaking through what means that we could not even charge our phone, laptop or just a simple lamp for in our caravan. They do have a generator but they don’t want to use it, only in emergency’s.

The toilet is also 100% natural, we do our belongings in a bucket (and yes we do have a toilet seat) after we cover it with sawdust and when full we just empty it in the big compost bin. How weird as it sounds, there is no smell at all!

It was quite hard, it actually still is a little hard to adjust to this system, but I think I’m doing pretty well. It’s a start of a new week now Monday the 4th and I probably will stay till the 23th of November, so another 3 weeks. Because it’s my first time in Portugal I decided that I also want to have a look in different places near Porto. I already searched a bit for hostels and for a host on couchsurfing that will be willing to show be around.

But I also have some awesome stories to tell.

Like that the mushrooms that are growing here are giant! Almost everyday we go out after lunch or before diner so search and they are everywhere, so big and so jummie!
And as I told you before is that they use literally everything here. A few days ago we needed to move the fences of the goats, as they need to have a new place to grass every week! And Goncalo noticed that there were a lot of nettles in that area and he asked me and the American girls to harvest all of them! We looked at each other a little surprised, but he wasn’t joking. So we put on our gloves and started to pick them. We got stung so many times, my hand was quite painfull, it felt like a thousand needles were sticking into it.
Eventually that night we ate nettlesoup for lunch and it was soo good! And I even took some to the caravan to make tea out of it and it’s yummi! It’s so smart to use a ‘’weed’’ like that.

A few days later Goncalo came in our shelter and left a lot of cardboard so we could insolate our shelter a little more. We needed too as it’s becoming so much colder lately and sometimes after a heavy wind pieces start falling down from the sealing.. it kinda freaks you out at night haha. But it’s affective, keeps the cold out. I just got a little afraid when I had to do my part next to my bed because I found 2 giant black harry potter spiders next to it.. I’m kind of used to it right now but it freaked me out in the beginning! Carly was suggesting to name them, so they would more feel like pets then scary iterators. And so I did, they are hanging almost right above my bed, although I’m freighted to death, I’m able to sleep.

4 days go we also found out that most of the sheep were pregnant! And now I think we already got 4 more lams! They are the cutest!

And last Sunday I was a bit lonely and went to the castle village nearby, I think it’s called Linhanes. The people from Israel didn’t wanted to join me and the American girls already left so I was alone that day and decided to go there by myself. Goncalo told me that we’ve got Dutch neighbors and they are living on a house on the way to Linhares. So I decided to just knock on their doors to say hi! The dogs joined me for this walk and as soon as I arrived I yelled, hallo, anyone here? There was a voice coming out of a shelter, we are here come in! I introduced and told them that I was from Holland and just what I expected, happened. They gave me a hug, offered me food and we had a very nice chat. After this meeting I walked further al the way till linhares, I climbed the castle and walked into another Dutch guy! And after that I drank coffee in a café and talked to the lovely owner Maria and the told me that a lot of Dutch people have bought land here. And yes, not that long after that I met another Dutch guy, it’s like I’ve never left Holland haha!

Today it’s the 7th of November and I decided to stay till the 18th. There is a village party on the 17 and I’m invited by the Dutch people to come along, of course I don’t want to miss out on that one! They are going to roast a pig on a spit, drink wine and play live music, I’m such a good vegan for joining that party. I might be a vegan but I love cultural happenings.

Today it´s Saturday and I just returned from a hike to Carrapinchana, Carrapinchana is a small village on a 1 hour walking distance. It´s the only village in the area with Wi-Fi, I went there because I needed to find out what to do after the 18th. I figured that I’m going to Lisbon for 3 to 5 days.

On the way back, Dennis a Dutch guy that i´ve met last week, pulled over and asked if I needed a ride back to Goncales place, so that 1 hour walk became a 7 minute short cut drive. I directly asked him if he wanted to drop me off in Carrapinchana on the 18th so I could catch my bus in the morning to Lisbon, and he said yes! He also offered me to stay with him for a night next Sunday so we could leave early.

The train will take about 4.5 hours to get to Lisbon and I just booked a hostel in Lisbon near the sea for 3 days for only 16 euro till the 21st. 3 days will probably be enough if not I just book another day directly in the hostel itself.

I will continue travelling to Aveiro after Lisbon, that´s a little fishersman town with a lot of history. They also call it the Venice of Portugal because they use the same traditional boats as form of transportation. Around the 23rd I hope to arrive in Porto, I will be picked up by my host Miguel that I found through couchsurfing. I think i´m going to have an amazing time with him as he has been a tourguide for the last 15 years! He also likes to kitesurf and loves being outside and active, well it probably will be a good combination! I´m looking forward to stay with him till the 27th.
The last few days I will spend in a hostel, hope to meet some more people.

The last few days on the farm were cold and wet. I actually left Goncalo’s and Rita’s place on Saturday morning. Dennis invited me to come over a day earlier as I told him that I had a stomach flew and The shelter is not a great place to recover from that. He picked me up and we did some sightseeing that day and I got in early to recover.

The next day, Sunday, was the day of the festival. A local happening nothing really big but very interesting to experience. The were roasting a pig on the spit, there was a bit of music, all long tables were set up and there was a great atmosphere! You’ll the the pictures.

This Monday I left the farm. I had a wonderful experience and I learned heaps about preserving, fermentation, harvesting, sustainability, and recycling.
But considering the facilities during winter time, with no running warm water, outdoor showers, outdoor natural toilet it’s a little too rural for me.


Lisbon
Arrival: 18 Nov 2019, Portugal

Lisbon, the city of romance. I’ve got a feeling walking in the streets of Paris, with a hint of Italian and a Spanish twist, I love it.
It’s completely different too Serra da Estrela (the mountains), it’s a city with lots to offer. The city has a giant history of mostly only sad stories. Lots of burned churches caused by earth quakes and falling candles, they tried to rebuild them (multiple) but the same tragic happened again.
But nothing the less, it is beautiful. I stay in a hostel very close to the city named save stay Lisbon, it’s very well located as it’s about 100 meters from the metro station and there’s a bus stop almost in front of the hostel.
I’m already here for 3 days and I’m enjoying every minute of it and of course it’s very good to have the convenience of ‘’normal’’ facilities again!
In the last couple of days I’ve been mostly busy with exploring the area. I arrived quite early during noon so I still had a whole afternoon to spend. Through due couchsurfing I found two travelers who were looking to explore the area later on that day and I joined them. The guy named Rafael was already here for a week so he kind of showed us around a bit and brought us on the top of a mountain named Senhora del Monte, where we had the best sunset that I’ve seen in a very long time! After the sunset we all had a nice meal together to finish off the great day.
In the days that were following I’ve seen more sights, more churches, statues, national parks and the beautiful tiny alley ways of Lisbon. Sometimes even so narrow that when the tram drives through it you either need to get out of the way or go into a shop because there isn’t enough space between the wall and the tram.
Kind of funny story is that I’ve been eating out with Pedro here. Pedro is a friend of mine who used to live in Holland but immigrated to Portugal 3 years ago. He’s originally from Brazil so he does speaks Portuguese and we danced in the same dancing school when we were young! We had such a great time as we joined a pub-crawl later that night.
Today I just returned from a palace named Palacio da Pena, an old historical palace that has been used a long time ago as a ‘’summer’’ house for the royal family of Portugal, now a days it’s a big touristic attraction.
Tomorrow morning I will leave this beautiful city to explore the Venice of Portugal, Aveiro!

Aveiro
Arrival: 22 Nov 2019, Portugal

During my staying in Aveiro I stayed with a couchsurfer named Abel and he is Portuguese.
He is a biologist and he plays professional poker online for a second income.
I arrived in Aveiro around 12 o’clock and we met somewhere in the city, he was a little bit delayed because he had to finish something at work but it was not a problem at all.

As soon as he picked me up our friendship began, he immediately gave me a hug and so another started. He told me that his mom came over to stay at his place near Aveiro so I will also be meeting his mom and his brother who he lives with.
During the ride he showed me all the nice places in Aveiro, he is a really nice tour guide and he has lots to tell about his city. For example he told me that Aveiro once was a small fishermans village that lived of the fresh fish and the production of salt.
He even showed me that the production of salt is still in progress, he showed me the fields and he explained the produces.

There’s also a place in Aveiro that looks like Venice, it’s called the Venice of Portugal. Well, as we all know, Venice is the city of Romance, love and seduction. Everything that happens there goes slowly and peacefully with a lot of charm.
Here in Aveiro they are really trying their best by ‘’copying’’ the nice transportation boats, especially for the use of tourist but instead of having a sailor they have an electric motor that makes lots of noise. The boats are very well painted so that’s definitely a plus 1 but I still prefer Venice 

We have also brought a visit to the beach and the highest light tower in Europe! We drank a beer and did some grocery’s to cook a lovely vegan meal at his place as that was the promise I made.
I was able to stay if I cooked him a nice meal, so I did!
We had a lovely time in the kitchen, drinking red wine, cooking together and I met his mum as well.

She is such a sweetheart, she works in Africa because the wages in Africa are better then in Portugal. She likes the work but the fact that she is not near her family hurts her a lot.

During night time when I wanted to go to sleep I got offered a huge prived bedroom, the bed was all made tight with folded towels on it to use the next morning. Just what I needed, great hospitality.

The next morning his Mom made us breakfast, just butter and toast but it was fine. She made me coffee and tea and not that long afterwards he brought be to the train station to catch my train to Porto. He picked me a bag full of manderins to take with me and I hugged his mom goodbye.

This is like one of the examples why everyone should have a little more trust in strangers. It’s a wonderful example of how couchsurfers can be. He told me that it gave him much more satisfaction to show someone around and make someone happy, then just be sitting at home.

Isn’t that an example for everyone in life. Share happiness and make memories!

Porto
Arrival 23 Nov 2019, Portugal

Rains and clouds, a grey sky is falling upon us. I’m in the bus having a phone call with a new friend made in Lisbon who is born in Zutphen, the same hometown as me, Rianne. She decided to come to Porto as well, in the hope the weather would be better over there.

Once arrived in Porto I had to take a metro to get to my new CS Miguel. He lived near the city and has hosted me for 4 nights. Miguel has two jobs, he works on the airport and he is a tour guide. He was a little to busy to show me around what is quite reasonable with two jobs but he still managed to give me lots of information about Porto.

Porto is quite the opposite of Lisbon. Lisbon is the city of romance, spacious squares and it has those tiny alleyways where you can find street artist playing while watching the sunset on the river.

Porto compared to Lisbon is an intense city with high buildings, smaller streets and less romance.
I felt a little trapped inside the streets and I missed the romance of Lisbon.

But of course I still had a great time here! If you don’t like the area you in, you just move. So nice to have that possibility. 
So me and Rianne we took a 2.5 hour train to the Douro valley, the valley where most of the port and wine is produced. We had such a great time and the sun even came out too!
We had lunch with an incredible view all over the Douro river and did a boat tour to get a different perspective of the valley. Imagine us on a boat, the sun comes out, we’re having some snacks and the captain of the boat offers us a glass of port. Life can be very good!

On Rianne´s last day she took me to this vegan ‘’all you can eat’’ restaurant and it was amazing. I’ve never been eating 3 plates for only 8.50euro. The most fun part was that there was sitting a lovely old lady next to us and she ordered a massive slice of strawberry cheesecake. I just joked and said to her, if you can’t finish it you can put it on our table if you want! And in the end she did! She made our day, what a lovely sweet woman she is.

On the 27th I left Miguel’s house to chance CS, Diogo picked me up at Miguels house.
Diogo lives near Matosinhos beach in a very lovely apartment. Also Diogo was very busy with work because it we were still in the middle of week. He gave me a pair of keys so I could enter when ever I wanted. It’s so amazing to see that there are still people in this world with trust in others, such an inspiration.

The next morning started with a run along the coastline here. I completely forgot what it felt like to have a morning run while watching the waves cracking on the rocks, the fogginess that’s still between the trees, in one word, amazing!

During my staying here I’ve been to Guimaraes twice, a city located on a 2 hour ride a little more north east to explore. Diogo works there and he invited me to do some sightseeing there and to get a ride back home with him after work. So I did, I’ve been drinking coffee, I’ve seen a Chinese store to buy an umbrella and a pub where I stayed for 2 hours on my own because even my socks were soaked! Not the best experience.

The day after I went again to have lunch with another CS. That was great, we made vegan bean burrito’s, we drank some wine and we did yoga. A great last day in Portugal!

When I got back home we finished the day off with some drinks at Diogo’s place because it was Friday evening! Diogo and his mate went out to party and I stayed home, I hate it to be hungover on the airport. So this morning I woke up all fresh and I had heaps of time to pack.

All though this journey didn’t really went as planned, but the best plan is the have non.
Instead of working on a farm for 30 days I decided to explore some of Portugal. In 30 day’s I’ve learned about permaculture, fermentation and general farming. I have not just seen 1 city in Portugal, I’ve seen 4. Lisbon, Aveiro, Porto and Guimaraes. Again I’ve met lovely people and I gained so many beautiful experience, a well succeeded journey.

Time to go home.

Geschreven door NLD-wanderlust