Girl with a chicken on her shoulder
Let's play that famous game called "Never have I ever." Alright, I'll start. Never have I ever believed that some stories are too good to be true. If you don't believe me, then check the name of this story again.
Yesterday we arrived at Villamartin, a small village in the middle of nowhere in the Andalucia region, Spain. The reason why we're here is that we are starting an exciting photography project related to the lifestyle of people in the South of the country to understand more about the living conditions here and to document it. To make sure this project will succeed we found a work away just a few kilometers from Villamartin Cadiz.
The Workaway was a simple olive farm, an organic farm, which is making olive oil in the most natural way possible. The owner is an Austrian woman who is the nicest person I have ever met.
Why this Workaway? Because it's the most Spanish place, you can find. Spanish workers, natural olive harvesting, Spanish food, Spanish lifestyle, no tourists in a 50km radius.
When we arrived here, the first thing we saw was a house, old looking because years ago it was stable and inside it, there was a big fireplace and in front of it - an old man, cooking fresh bread, and a girl with a chicken sitting on her shoulder.
Thrilled by the view, they said to sit down near the table and gave us freshly baked bread and a plate. I thought - ok, I'm hungry and fresh bread, nice. Then the man poured olive oil on my plate and put salt on it. I was like - wtf, I need to eat bread with salty olive oil? In Latvia, something like this would never even come in my mind.
Yes, never have I ever thought, that fresh bread with olive oil and salt can be SO tasty. And it was not because I was hungry but because it was, ok, is tasty! This was the first thing I learned - bread is the most favorite food in Spain, especially in Andalucia Region.
Another thing I learned - they LOVE siesta. Siesta is a time, from ~ 14:00 - 17:00 when everybody sleeps. All the shops are closed, and nobody will answer you call. After 17:00 all the shops open again, people start working again, and life goes on. By the way - I'm still not used to siesta, after this little time of sleep I feel more shitty than before.
And you now what's the best thing in Souther Spain? Nobody is rushing. You can drive so slowly in the city or anywhere else because nobody will be angry at you about it. You can do your job slowly, and nobody will scream at you (like they screamed at us in the Netherlands). The life here is so simple, and I love it!
Let's go back to the story, what happened here, at the olive farm. So, after eating this delicious bread with olive oil they introduced us to the owner, in the same moment when the owner said her name, she said if somebody can help her to put olives in the pressing machine. We still wore those big hiking bags and other stuff, but I was happy to start helping her because I heard stories about her before (I will tell them you later).
After putting few buckets of olives in the pressing machine, I tried to taste one olive. Please, never do that. Just don't. I can eat almost everything but something so bitter like a green olive - I have never even tasted. That was the first day in the olive farm which ended sleeping tight in the caravan. Ok, Richards and Davis got a room, but we slept in the trailer which is nice because I love to sleep closer to nature. But I think this choice was not so good. Why? Let's talk about this in the next article!
