Rural Escapes

For almost a week now, we have been at our first Workaway job. Our hosts, Ellis and Camilla, have built an amazing life here in the Monchique Mountains in southern Portugal. On their 60,000 m2 property, in the middle of the forest, they have built two cabins, two compost toilets, water supply, solar energy, a tipi, a yoga platform, and much more all by themselves within a year (only the internet and mobile network are scarce). They plan to rent out some sleeping accommodations to vacationers and offer yoga classes in the future. Camilla does yoga with us almost every morning. She is a great teacher. Ellis can do everything somehow, and you have the opportunity to learn a lot of craftsmanship from him. So far, we have mainly redesigned one cabin (sanded and painted walls) or done gardening. We also help a bit with household chores. Especially me, since I sprained my ankle yesterday and now have a swollen ankle. On our day off, we were already taken to a great beach and invited to dinner at a traditional Portuguese restaurant another evening. We are provided with good food for 4-5 hours of work on 5 days per week. Naomi loves it here. She can explore the whole forest around us and has a young dog to play with. Instead of one week, we will now stay here for two weeks, and our hosts want to take a few days off while we take care of the dogs, a cat, and the plants :) The last few days we had almost 30°C, which was really intense to work in. That's why we are glad that it will cool down a bit now. In any case, it's easy to endure here! 'Rural Escapes' is highly recommended for a yoga vacation!