Sorry this blog is coming so late!
When planning my travels I
decided to plan a week where I would get out of the typical tourist
role and into the country. To really see the land and the people. I
chose France as the country to do so in through a website called
helpx.net. At helpx people who need help with their project or small
business (i.e. bed&breakfasts, ranches, farms, reconstruction
projects, etc.) can post little profiles displaying their project and
then people (like me) who want to help with some project can go to this
website and search through the different profiles and pick a project
they want to work on. Generally the exchange is your work for room and
board. In my search through different opportunities in France I came
across one in Mayran, France. It is in the hills in Southern France.
The organizer of this project is named Nicolas (one groovy dude) and he
has a large vegetable garden he needed some help with and he is also
restoring a 13th century monks tower. In choosing this property I had
not a clue what I was getting myself into. It turned out to be better
than I ever could have imagined and much much more than a place to stay
and eat for free.
I arrived In Rodez, France on Sunday, Sept. 12.
I never took the time to orient myself with the area. I just assumed
that where I was going to be working would just be super close to the
train station. WRONG. Rodez is much more built up than I ignorantly
assumed. Arriving on a Sunday, at night may I add, didn´t make figuring
out how to get to the property, 20 km away, easy. After calling Nicolas
and leaving a message I decided to figure out how to get to his
property myself. First I thought I would take a taxi, but they wanted a
wopping 50 euro to drive the equivelant of 12 miles. I decided to not
do that so I checked out a hotel across the street, too expensive! So
then I started scouting out the area for tree I could just pitch my
tent in and camp. I figured I would have better luck on a Monday
finding my way. Well, like I said Rodez is much more built up than I
thought so the whole sleeping outside thing wasn´t going to work unless
I wanted to pitch my tent in a square or something. No thank you. After
a bit of panic started to set in Nicolas called me back and said he
would be there to pick me up in 20 minutes. Thank goodness! In the
meantime I am sitting outside the train station and some guy comes a
sits next to me and tries talking to me. He speaks french, I speak
english, so there really isn´t any conversation that happens besides a
lot of confused looks on both parts. Anyway, I understand enough french
to know that he was saying he could drive me to his home and I could
sleep there for free. Ugh, deep shivers! He is harmless though, just
extremely full of himself. I tell him no, but he keeps bringing it up
like maybe I hadn´t understood what he meant. Eventually he asks
¨Pourquoi?¨ And I respond in a raised tone in blunt english ¨Because I
don´t know you!¨ He stopped talking to me after that, just in time for
Nicolas to pull up! He brought me back to Ruffpyre, the street we lived
on, in Mayran and gave me a small tour of the property and introduced
me to Kim, the other helpxer! Both Kim and Nicolas are extremely nice
and really funny people. Soon after I hit the hay.
They next day
we meet for breakfast in the rustic outdoor/indoor kitchen and then to
work. That is how everyday starts. So on Monday I got to work in the
garden. I helped uproot potatos, beets, carrots, and tomatos. I felt
amazed everytime I would dig into the earth and out pops more food! I
know it is common knowledge that this is how it has always been, but it
was really powerful to experience it. Especially to cook with it right
after you dig it up! After a few hours we meet for lunch. Then we worked on sanding down a really long, old table.
It felt so good to be out of busy crowds and exhaust fumes and to be
working with my hands! Everyday I did a little bit of everything. It
was really nice to have versitality in the day, I didn´t ever feel
bored! Also, I appointed my self cook. Nicolas and Kim both cook great
food, but they let me take over because I really enjoyed it. Everyday I
was baking fresh break sometimes putting different things in it like
walnuts or cheese or honey. I just got to play around with all these
ingredients and it was always well recieved, so I just kept on cooking!
It was lovely having the garden right there also because there was
always fresh potatos, carrots, beets, tomatos, and zucchini to cook
with. And fresh eggs!!! We had 3 chickens who I love very much! They
had lame names though like Ginger and whatnot, so I changed them to
Franchesca, Josephine the Second, and Henrieta! My lovely chickens
layed beautiful, tasty eggs!
Towards the end of the week two
more helpers arrived. Allison (Scottland) and Stan (London). I couldn´t
have asked for a better group of people to live/work/explore with!
Nicolas threw an amazing party at the tower on Saturday so we could cut
loose a little. Kim, Allison, and I prepared dinner which was make your
own pizza themed. So we made pizza dough and it into 30 individual
sized balls. Then we had a buffet of toppings you could add on
yourself. Then Nicolas had prepared a raised fire outside. So
essentially it was a fire on top of grill thingy so there was about 8
inches of space between the ground and the fire. Then on a long piece
of stone the pizzas were placed and then put under the fire. Within a
minute they were ready and SO GOOD! I also prepared a sauted pumpkin
and zucchini dish (all ingredients from garden) for the side and the
guest brought desserts, bread, cheese, and wine... lots of wine! After
eating and a bit of digesting the party was moved into the bottom of
the tower. Where Nicolas has a disco ball hanging from these ancient
beams. He also has a spot light shining on the disco ball and speakers
set up in this tower. Try to picture this with me. A 4 story tower made
of stone, red dirt, and lime from the 1200s that monks used to live in,
in the middle of no where souther France, with a disco ball and some
sweet jams with 15-20 inebriated French/Scottish/English/American
people dancing away in it. It was SO MUCH FUN!The French know how to get down.
The
next day we all were a bit slow going. I made a huge brunch for us and
then off we went to Albi. A town west of Mayran. We took the scenic
route through the hills, which proved to make us all feel a little
worse for the wear, but it was beautiful none the less! In Albi there
is this huge old Cathedral that we went to! After walking around a bit
we decided to head back home. After getting lost on more windy back
roads we finally made it home where we just wanted to sleep!
Monday
(my last day at Ruffpyre) we all worked really hard in the morning
because we were going to call it a short day in order to drive to
Montpellier. Nicolas had a rugby game and I was meeting a couple people
there the next day to catch a ride to Barcelona. On the way to
Montpellier we stopped in Belcastel, a beautiful old city with a sweet
little castle Nic wanted me to see. It was worth the stop. Also, we
stopped at the worlds tallest bridge. It is fantasitc! It is taller
than the Eiffel Tower. After stopping to take pictures we crossed it!
If you go to Google and type in ´worlds tallest bridge´ you can see
pictures of it. We picniced at the stadium where the game was going to
be. Then Stan, Allison, Kim, and I went and walked around Montpellier.
It is a cool city with a lot of youth. We made it back to the stadium
to catch the end of Nic´s game. It was the first rugby game I have ever
seen. Then it was time to say my goodbyes. Leaving them was hard. It
was like this little happy family that I obtained. We ate every meal
together and really shared with eachother.
It was a great experience
going to Ruffpyre. I definitely want to return in the future to see how
the project has progressed. Nicolas has a really good thing going with
the property.
