entonces

i like this word, entonces. it's the english equivalent of so, and i think i prefer it; it's just more exciting. makes me feel like a dance party is about to happen. even if in reality, another sentence about how to till the soil for tomates is about to happen instead. also, i recently discovered that it is used sporadically  in the background of the animal collective song, "peacebone". great song. kendel the goonis (in case you ever happen upon my blog), i would like to publicly thank you for introducing me to this band.

anyway, today is my last day at the current farm, and i have to say, i have mixed feelings about leaving. i'm proud to announce that since i've been here, my spanish has upgraded to basic. i recently held an abbreviated conversation with three people who speak no english whatsoever. 
as far as farming, i've also done quite a bit of planting, pruning, and tilling here. last week, i was even introduced to grafting trees, which i've been interested in ever since i watched the botany of desire. my time here has allowed me the freedom to be a novice and explore. 
i've hiked to the top of some of the highest mountains in the alpujarras and seen some capricorns running across them...ok i missed the capricorns, but my fellow WWOOFer, julia, filmed them and showed them to me later. 
volunteering at just this one farm, i've met people from all over europe, africa, india and latin america, learned some new games (munchkin and the indian game that merely goes by the name of "dice"...no sé), and snuggled some of the cutest dogs i've ever seen. 

(a big) but, all that snuggling has recently given me a plethora of flea bites. yes, fleas. i can't wait to get out of here and clean all my shit for good. i mean they'll never go away as long as i'm here, because the dogs are not being treated. it's quite sad. 
interestingly, arriana also has flea bites in the same exact areas as me. we seem to both attract the same plight around here. in case you didn't hear, she and i both caught the same ferocious stomach virus which had us out of commission for 7 days. 
and one bitter-sweet detail is that i've had unlimited internet access for a change. of course it's great to be able to plug into the outside world when i'm living in such a remote place (not accessible by mass transit; the nearest town is 1 hour walk away, and it only has homes, a pharmacy, 2 bars, and a healer that people travel to see). on the other hand, i have watched three entire television series and countless movies online when i could (should) have been hiking, or you know, studying spanish. 

what's nice about this trip, though is that half of my goals (experiencing eco-living and growing) is happening by default. the other half (studying spanish) is the hardest part, and it's not even that hard. accordingly, i spend the rest of my time doing whatever i want, and i have little to no guilt around that. #lifeisgood

i think i'm gonna order a couple books though for the next few weeks. 

the next farm is in the same province (granada), but there will be only 2 of us volunteers. it's also solo spanish speaking, so i'm looking forward to another upgrade. this time, i'm gonna try to muster up the discipline to actually study regularly on my own. i'll let you know how that goes. 

meanwhile, here're some photos from the past week or so: 

Sara snuggling peppito, the perro.

see that black one? that's the one with all the fleas. cute and dangerous!

had to hide behind this tree to get a good (?) shot.

the lettuce we planted a few weeks ago. looking good.

onions also doing their thing.

Julia snapped a few photos on one of our hikes.

Juaquin, the brain and brawn behind this whole operation. he wanted me to get a photo of him wearing my hat. 

an interesting rock we found on a hike.

Julia wanted to practice using her new camera app.

more photos by Julia.

i found a michigan rock!