A wwoofer's paradise

... Or anyone's paradise, really. We have been on the 'farm' in Mallorca now for 4 days, and i still pinch myself every 20 minutes or so to make sure I'm not dreaming. Its the most beautiful place I've ever been, and to be wwoofing here is really kind of ridiculous. Its not a farm but an 8 million euro 'finca' (which technically just means country house) surrounded by 250 acres of mountain and thousands of ancient olive trees, 300 sheep and a bunch of wild goats. Part of the house we are staying in was built by the moors over 700 years ago.

The view

In our courtyard with the farmer's dog. Our apartment is the door up the stairs to the right

We work 5 days a week, for 5 or 6 hours. Its different than other places, because we aren't growing anything for sale. The garden is mainly for the owners or people who rent the property, but there aren't any renters here right now. The farmer, Tolo, is this really bad ass mallorquin who hunts wild goats with a lasso and goes spear fishing, holding his breath for 3 minutes and diving down to spear some fish. Hes also a really funny dude but he gives us pretty lame work. Probably because we would be useless at doing the real work. With all the animals scattered over the 250 acres his dogs are much more useful than us. We spent one day cutting pieces of this strange grass that grows by runners, and then we spent the next day planting all the pieces in another spot. We also weed the garden and pick whatever is still growing there, and the other wwoofer who has been here all summer whipped up some really delicious gaspatcho.

The vegetable garden

The afternoons are much more grueling than the mornings. We have lunch, then lounge by the pool, read, swim, sleep, lounge some more. Intense varsity lounger training. Then we have weekends off, for hiking, going to the beach, going to the market, whatever.

Our afternoons

I really cant believe that we're here, so far from where we started 2 1/2 months ago in Ireland! So much heat and sun. I love it.