My First WorkAway Experience

I had a WorkAway adventure over Christmas break! WorkAway is similar to WWOOF or HelpX.  It's a program where you do a few hours of work each day in exchange for room and board.  It can range in anything from farming to babysitting to construction to hostel work.  You create a profile on their website with some information about yourself and you send messages to the hosts that you're interested in working for.  I chose a horse farm out in the middle of nowhere in the province of Tarragona in Catalunya.  I was there from December 23 to January 5.  It was a great experience!



The village of Xerta

The town was the quintessential Spanish pueblo.  According to Wikipedia it had about 1,200 residents, but it seemed like there were less than that! There were barely any cars on the road and everyone spoke Catalan instead of Castellano.  One of the things I noticed was that when I spoke to them in Castellano they easily switched over and responded in the same language.  I've had a few experiences in Barcelona where they continue speaking in Catalan even though they know you can't understand.  

I had the morning shift with the horses, so I would wake up early and ride a bike through the village to get to the farm.  The 5 volunteers all stayed in a 2-bedroom apartment in the village and we could either walk, ride, or drive to the farm in about 5 minutes.  The morning bike rides were the best.  The town was sleeping, the sun was rising, the bakeries were opening, and I would see maybe 2 or 3 people maximum on my way to the farm.  Working in the early morning with the horses was nice because everything was quiet, our boss was still in her trailer, and I could go about my business in peace.

There was lots to do on the farm; making hay nets, cleaning out stalls, cleaning out paddocks, grooming horses, working with horses, construction, and one of the jobs that I was given....being a kind of P.A. for our boss. 

Gypsy enjoying our smelly farm shoes

With WorkAway, both parties are taking a risk.  The volunteers have to trust that the host will be normal and a good "employer" and the hosts have to trust that the volunteers will be hardworking and good people.  It's hit or miss, but it really is what you make of it.  I had a great time with the other volunteers, and having the volunteer apartment was really a luxury.  There are lots of WorkAway hosts who can't afford to give the volunteers their own private apartment and three full meals every day.  Because we had the apartment and a little bit of independence, we had lots of fun in our down time.  We had Christmas dinner together, celebrated New Year's Eve in a nearby town, and even went on a day trip to the beach and a mini-adventure into the mountains.  We even had a pet to complete our weirdly dysfunctional family, our neighbor's cat who essentially lived in our apartment.  He had been named Gypsy by previous WorkAwayers and was slightly psychotic.

I finish teaching in about a month and will be working this summer with Rustic Pathways in Spain.  In August and September, I'll be travelling all around the U.S. visiting friends and family.  Once October rolls around though, I will probably be looking into some more WorkAway opportunities that will get me down to Central America....and I'm sure there will be many more adventures to come!!!