Hang-on, hang-on...let me start from the start!!
I cant recall if I explained before, but since I had already studied for 2 months in Italy and had entered on a regular tourist visa where they just stamp your passport at the airport without many questions, I only had a month of travel time in Italy before I should legally get out at least for one day. Now Im sure no one would have chased me if I hadnt left but I didnt want to leave and then them realise and then say to me "Well now since you have overstayed your welcome you cant return for 10 years!!"...particularly just after I have begun to master the language!!
So by the end of my time in Napoli, I had only about a week left before I needed to leave (and the plan was to catch a boat across The Adriatic to Albania...but that is another tale yet to come) and wanted to see some of the south-east, ie Puglia or Basilicata, but I hadnt had any cities recommended to me and nothing was jumping out at me in the guide book...my Bible!! haha
Before I had left Melbourne I had an idea planted in my head and an organisation recommended to me as a different option for cheap travel and different experiences which sounded interesting to me...
It was WWOOF...Willing Workers On Organic Farms...and it exists in many countries throughout the world. So I researched and liked the sound of it and joined over the interent...it was all very easy.
Basically the deal is that once you join you are given a list of farms (for me all in Italy as I only joined the Italian WWOOF Organisation), in every region with a blurb about each farm and what they produce and who they are and then you, as a "WWOOFer" contact them with when you are wanting to visit them...the longer the better!! Once you recieve responses and decide which one to go to (if you get multiple responses that is), you head to the farm.
Once on the farm (or maybe I should call them rural properties as they are always in the countryside but sometimes an "agriturismo" is run from there also which is basically a farmstay type accomodation for tourists), as a "WWOOFer" as we are referred to, you help out with whatever needs doing, whether that be pruning trees or picking fruit or olives or nuts or weeding or tending animals or helping in the agriturismo with cleaning or cooking. In return you get accomodation (generally inside a house but it was clear that in summer it was sometimes in a tent) and all of your meals...and of course some time off to see towns and sights nearby.
After going through this process (and getting mostly negative responses as being directly after New Years and the Italians normally holiday from Christmas to Epifania on Jan 6th), I ended up at a farm in central Puglia (the heel of the boot of Italy).
I caught the train and was met at the station by the man in the operation of this farm, Toni, who I had spoken to a couple of times to organise my arrival. He drove me straight to the farm, and after arriving and having a small tour and settling in, I began to see it wasnt quite what I expected...
AND THEN, things only seemed to get worse!!
And the highlight of the tour...
The drop toilet!! Outside and in the cold with a flip lid and a bucket of compost that I had to put a shovel of in the hole everytime I used it...
Now before you start saying "Oh Jo, you princess..."...I dont think I am that precious and had thought that there could be these kinds of conditions...AND, as many of you know I was once a Scout and a Venturer and so am not new to this kind of situation, but what made it worse was the COLD (and I write that in capitals because it was BITTER!!) And whenever I went out to that toilet and squatted, the two dogs would come over to see what was going on and would nuzzle at me for some love and attention and some pats...really not the time!! haha
Bob...Toni's dog...
The neighbour's dog who spends all his time and gets fed at Toni's house...
And then there was Toni...I could say a lot about this man, but I think it better to keep it brief, also from the point of view of my karma!! haha
Toni is a man who lives his life the way he wants to which I think is very admirable, as he pretty much lives on basically only things which he grows or creates. Or swaps with friends who have other farms that grow and create other things. He also tries to use as little energy as possible by heating the house only with the fire, that then heats water for the wall furnaces and for the TINY hotwater system that he created...it creates about a bucketful of hot water at a time!!
Toni standing next to one of the other dwellings on his property...there are a few of these and I think that originally when him and his wife bought the property they hoped others would buy parts of it off them and they could form a bit of a commune...like some of their friends in other parts of the region.
It was very interesting to learn things from him about the way he lives and eats and prepares food and approaches life...but in my opinion he was a little TOO closed to other ways of life and other ways of doing things and thought his way was the BEST way...and wasnt very willing to accept the way other people lived and see the reasons for that!!
But the WORST part of my time there was THE COLD!!!!
And my terrible hand and feet circulation didnt help with this!!
I was assured by a few locals that the cold and rain and wet that I experienced was extreme for the region and for that time of year...
Me trying to warm up by the fire...it is very dark as he liked to avoid turning on the light.
But with the lack of heating in the house, it was particularly bad, especially when we returned in the evening, in the dark, and the fire obviously hadnt been on all day and there was NOTHING warm about the house.
This happened quite a few times, as another one of the good things about the time was meeting quite a few of his many friends in the region. A few friends dropped round to say hi and ended up staying for lunch with us, one of whom was a quite elderly german man who sounds as though he has been a bit of a nomad for all of his life and has done and experienced a lot...and he told me many interesting stories when Toni left him with me for about 45 minutes when he went to collect some olive oil from his wife's house.
We also had a meal at the commune which I mentioned before where around 20 people live (including children) and they all contribute to produce food and goods (bread, biscuits and wine for sale) and to make meals for everyone as they all eat together. This was particularly interesting to experience and to meet all of the different people living there...
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And we also spent all of Sunday at another friends' house, a young couple who are reconstructing a trulli (traditional Pugliese hut) to live in, off the land...
Oh...and I was there at the farm by myself...so it was just me and him for most of the time...apart from when we were with his friends.
It wasnt all bad and maybe I am making it sound worse than it was, but let me just say I was VERY happy to arrive in Brindisi (from where I was catching the boat to Albania the following evening), to find a room, to have a long hot shower and to wash all my clothes...
The best description is that it was an "EXPERIENCE"!!
Here are a few photos of Toni's property...it was very beautiful and puglia is another very different region of Italy!!
All of the olive trees lined up with the circular clearings below each from the collection process of the olives...
Me and most of the animals...
Despite this experience not being the best, I can still see how wonderful WWOOFing can be and would love to give it another try, and maybe for longer, sometime soon...and DEFINITELY in warmer weather!!
Ci vediamo
Jo xox
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