Tag 224 - Silves, Portugal (22.08.2020)

After spending another week in Lagos, we came across a really great place again through the Workaway platform.

We have been staying with Will from the Netherlands for about two weeks now. She is currently building a retreat center near the town of Silves, where people can escape the stress of everyday life and, for example, spend a relaxing day in nature through massages or meditation.

In addition to 4 dogs (Izy, Plyvkje, Fledermaus, and Budaka), two cats (Snowby & Pixi), and a donkey named Buruburu, Olivia from England and Hazem from Egypt also live here.

The two of them also came across this place through Workaway and are supporting Will.

Since a big open day was planned for one of the weekends, our main task in the first week was to do a lot of gardening and handicraft activities to prepare the whole place.

So we weeded, created signs, built rock gardens, built an outdoor shower, prepared the natural pond, and spent a lot of time with the animals.

On the day of the open day, we served the guests with homemade curry and Hazem's traditional lentil and chickpea soup.

Since we worked hard for almost 10 hours a day in the first week, we relaxed in the pond and the garden in the following days and enjoyed the sun of Portugal.

In the week after, our main task was to dismantle the old dog kennels on the premises (formerly a dog shelter) and dispose of the trash in them. This was a very sweaty job in the blazing sun, and we were very happy to be able to cool off in the natural pool.

Currently, we do not know exactly how long we will stay at this place. We are simply enjoying the time and peace, away from all the Corona news, and living day by day.

We will of course continue to report on our experiences here in the coming weeks.

See you soon and sunny greetings to our homeland!

Bianca and Michael