The past couple days have been a bit slow going. Ron has been on tour guide duty for Bernard, Deb, and Ingrid- taking them around to various rural Spanish towns in the vicinity. Apparently they also went up a mountain that had trees covered in vertical sheets of ice. O_O.
As for my fellow helpx'er Tom and I, we've been keeping ourselves busy through various means. On Saturday we cleaned out the storage room to make space for Ron to set up a shop. All of the various scavenged items were moved to the outdoor storage room. Here is the after pic of the clean store room.
Aside from that, we've spent most of our time here helping out in small ways- cutting firewood, scavenging the dump for useful items, getting water from the square, cooking, cleaning... and the rest of the time has been more or less eating meats and cheeses, playing ping pong and drinking wine. As Dad says, "tough life, but someone has to do it."
On Sunday it was extremely cold and windy so we spent most of the day inside except for a brief excursion to the plaza de toros. As Ledesma is so small they only have bullfights every month or so. Sunday we also got a chance to peek into the church occupying the Plaza Mayor- a rare privilege as the only time you can get in is right after a mass.
After the walk around town we headed back to the palacio to wait out the hours until dinner. To bide the time, we fired up the wood stove and cooked up some mashed potatoes and I fried up the skins for Deb and Bernard. While doing this I tried out my vinho verde which was outstanding (so much so that I finished it without paying attention!). Ron then took us to this restaurant that Tom and I had happened upon earlier in the day by accident for some great local meat fare. Tom, a vegetarian until coming to Spain, dove in head-first trying the sausage, fried baby pig, and finally settling on the boiled pork tongue. Talk about baptism by fire.
At the end of the meal (and by meal I mean wine, meat, meat, wine, meat, wine, tiny salad (with meat), wine, meat, wine and wine), it was time for the CART OF CHEESES! They wheeled out this cart of cow, goat, and sheep's milk cheeses (mostly aged) from all over this region of Spain and proceeded to cut off chunks for us to try. Why didn't they bring this out at the beginning?? I would have just eaten that with the wine! By far the best "cheese plate" I've ever had.
On Monday Tom and I took off on a hike through the country side ultimately hopping a barbed wire fence onto wild bull grazing land. We followed a dried up river bank through this amazing picturesque valley to an ancient Roman bridge "puente mocho." It was at this point that the town was gathering to celebrate Lunes de Aguas (Monday of water), which is a festival where historically people would gather outside of town to welcome back the prostitutes. The prostitutes were, of course, banished prior to Easter to "clean up" the city. These days everyone just gathers with friends and family for an all-day picnic.
Tuesday we were confined to the house waiting for an oven to be delivered while Ron was out on business. The oven ultimately arrived around 8:30pm and we were able to get in several games of ping pong in the meantime. After the oven arrived, we headed to the Casa Rural for dinner and to watch the Real Madrid vs. Bayern Munich and enjoy our complimentary bottles of wine.
Wednesday was spent helping Ron with chores- installing the new oven, gathering water, chopping firewood, and playing this great Yugoslavian card game. At night we went to Casa Rural for the Barcelona vs. Chelsea game. Needless to say I think my Brit counterparts were pleased with the Chelsea victory. Now I again sit in the Salamanca bus station awaiting my ride to Porto, Portugal.
In all, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Ron's. While I felt like we accomplished a lot- I wish I could have done more! He was a great host- the food was simple, natural and delicious, the wine very good, the philosophical conversation outstanding, the company lovely, and the accommodations most comfortable. I also learned a great deal about increasing your self-sustainability in life. When you pay attention to the energy you use in a particular day, and consciously try to reduce your footprint, it is astonishing how simply you can live while still maintaining a fantastic quality of life. It actually makes me a little embarrassed for how much energy and money I've wasted over the years taking so much for granted.
As for my fellow helpx'er Tom and I, we've been keeping ourselves busy through various means. On Saturday we cleaned out the storage room to make space for Ron to set up a shop. All of the various scavenged items were moved to the outdoor storage room. Here is the after pic of the clean store room.
Aside from that, we've spent most of our time here helping out in small ways- cutting firewood, scavenging the dump for useful items, getting water from the square, cooking, cleaning... and the rest of the time has been more or less eating meats and cheeses, playing ping pong and drinking wine. As Dad says, "tough life, but someone has to do it."On Sunday it was extremely cold and windy so we spent most of the day inside except for a brief excursion to the plaza de toros. As Ledesma is so small they only have bullfights every month or so. Sunday we also got a chance to peek into the church occupying the Plaza Mayor- a rare privilege as the only time you can get in is right after a mass.
After the walk around town we headed back to the palacio to wait out the hours until dinner. To bide the time, we fired up the wood stove and cooked up some mashed potatoes and I fried up the skins for Deb and Bernard. While doing this I tried out my vinho verde which was outstanding (so much so that I finished it without paying attention!). Ron then took us to this restaurant that Tom and I had happened upon earlier in the day by accident for some great local meat fare. Tom, a vegetarian until coming to Spain, dove in head-first trying the sausage, fried baby pig, and finally settling on the boiled pork tongue. Talk about baptism by fire.At the end of the meal (and by meal I mean wine, meat, meat, wine, meat, wine, tiny salad (with meat), wine, meat, wine and wine), it was time for the CART OF CHEESES! They wheeled out this cart of cow, goat, and sheep's milk cheeses (mostly aged) from all over this region of Spain and proceeded to cut off chunks for us to try. Why didn't they bring this out at the beginning?? I would have just eaten that with the wine! By far the best "cheese plate" I've ever had.On Monday Tom and I took off on a hike through the country side ultimately hopping a barbed wire fence onto wild bull grazing land. We followed a dried up river bank through this amazing picturesque valley to an ancient Roman bridge "puente mocho." It was at this point that the town was gathering to celebrate Lunes de Aguas (Monday of water), which is a festival where historically people would gather outside of town to welcome back the prostitutes. The prostitutes were, of course, banished prior to Easter to "clean up" the city. These days everyone just gathers with friends and family for an all-day picnic.Tuesday we were confined to the house waiting for an oven to be delivered while Ron was out on business. The oven ultimately arrived around 8:30pm and we were able to get in several games of ping pong in the meantime. After the oven arrived, we headed to the Casa Rural for dinner and to watch the Real Madrid vs. Bayern Munich and enjoy our complimentary bottles of wine.Wednesday was spent helping Ron with chores- installing the new oven, gathering water, chopping firewood, and playing this great Yugoslavian card game. At night we went to Casa Rural for the Barcelona vs. Chelsea game. Needless to say I think my Brit counterparts were pleased with the Chelsea victory. Now I again sit in the Salamanca bus station awaiting my ride to Porto, Portugal.
In all, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Ron's. While I felt like we accomplished a lot- I wish I could have done more! He was a great host- the food was simple, natural and delicious, the wine very good, the philosophical conversation outstanding, the company lovely, and the accommodations most comfortable. I also learned a great deal about increasing your self-sustainability in life. When you pay attention to the energy you use in a particular day, and consciously try to reduce your footprint, it is astonishing how simply you can live while still maintaining a fantastic quality of life. It actually makes me a little embarrassed for how much energy and money I've wasted over the years taking so much for granted.
But... speaking of expenditure of money, I'm excited to announce that I'm nicely on budget so far and I have avoided buying anything unnecessary (except for a present for young Maddox of course). There is one impending purchase that I MUST make in the next few days: flippy floppies. I realized I didn't bring any and I have no shower shoes or sandals to wear around the house/hostel/etc. And HOPEFULLY the storms over Western Europe will finally break and I can get some use out of them and my shorts and retire this jacket I've worn every day since being here! Come on Portugal, let's have some warm weather.
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