Ben and I went to Portugal to participate with WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) and work on a farm for 10 days. Well to put it shortly, we failed. We left the farm after 5 days. Let me explain. The truth is that, the farm didn't really have much for us to do. We mostly just weeded for about 4 hours a day maximum and spent the rest of the time bumming around. I know that sounds fabulous, but we were also staying there for free and eating for free. We felt like huge moochers. So we decided to go be bums on our own dollar (maybe a bad decision...but one that made me feel less like a dirt bag). In retrospect, I think we should have stayed at the farm longer, but we had already made the decision and committed, so we left.
The farm was really interesting though. It was three Germans, who had moved to Portugal to live on a farm. All the people/friends that came over to the house were Germans. It was like going to Germany and Portugal at the same time. Our hosts were probably some of the most bad-ass Germans out there. They all rolled their own cigarettes, listened to punk and heavy metal music, and were very chill. It was quite the experience. Ben and I had our own apartment adjacent to the main house. Ben got eaten alive at night, and by the time we left, he looked like a leper. He counted his bug bites on one hand and had 22. I think I had 2. He also had sun rash, and we both had sun burn. I think he definitely got the worst of it, but he handled it really well--only minor complaining! I would like to WWOOF again, but I'm sure if I do it in the US, I would actually be expected to pull my own weight.
Anyway Ben and I packed up and headed for the nearest city Aljezur, a beautiful beach town on the west coast. We stayed there for a night and then headed to Lagos for two nights and then to Faro for another three nights. We pretty much did the same thing everywhere. We went to the beach. We got weird sun burns. We ate sandwiches. We drank beer on terraces. It was pretty great. Very chill.
