Hotel Sao Joao de Deus Elvas

... br>Drink- Sagres beer, or homemade wine

In a Word
¨Shut up Louie¨ Becky yelling at the X-Factor host

Trademarks
Crazy cats, quirky dogs, delicious jams and chutney, endless starry nights, beautiful sunrises

Surprises
Stone wall building can be satisfying

Only a few hosts can claim to rise to the level of "underground tourism", Becky and Martin do so in style. With so much potential and positive energy, there´s never been a better time to visit.

... of saying that "WWOOFing is underground tourism". He did his best to show me the places the average tourist never sees. Martin and Becky have accomplished exactly this. They have taken time out of their days to show us around small towns in Portugal and Spain, they´ve taken us to the most obscure little folk festival, and they´ve introduced us to their friends and neighbors in their community. To me this is what travel is all about.

... here, no fences stopping us. We checked out the little nooks and crannies. If you can get to it, its fair game, nobody is going to stop you here.

After a bit of a walking tour it was time for dinner. We eventually settled on a small little bar/restaurant that seemed like it was able to give us a proper meal.
¨Carne con Tomates¨, ¨Iberico y Salsa¨, ¨Cerdo Rojo¨....as far as I was able to discern the first 8 of the 12 menu items basically translated to ¨pig and ...

... these all but forgotten places. If it weren´t for WWOOF, I would never see a place like this, I suppose that´s what I´m really after.

I took the opportunity of being off the farm to fill up on meat. I´m doing fine on the vegetarian diet, but I´m still keen to chow down on some good pig when the I get a chance. Badajoz didn´t disappoint with a whole variety of tapas to choose from. I filled up the meat tank on delicious cured hams and exciting squid dishes. Happy Birthday to me!

... that pass their days waiting for a bit of food to go unattended that they can nip. . Tripee, the three legged cat, hobbles around the house. She looks like a cat version of the Trailer Park Boys character "Bubbles". Two dogs, Po and Wolfie, keep the place secure, while barking at everything and nothing; not the brightest dogs in the world, but they´re cute and quirky.

Our first couple days have been spent clearing land, and weeding. As Martin likes to say ¨weeding ...

After our day in Fatima we hopped onto a bus to a small town about 2 hours away from Fatima, named Santarem. A city that was blessed with a Eucharistic Miracle that dates back to the early 13'Th century. We arrived there at about 6 pm and the church was closed. 5 other girls and I were not going to leave until we got in to the church so we walked around the church knocking ...

... trabajado y con muchísmo ritmo. Por ponerle un pero, faltaba el teclista y su lugar lo tuvo que ocupar el guitarra, Juan De Dios. Un salao', chiquitín que lo hizo lo mejor que pudo, pero el concierto perdió un poco de punch comparado con el que vimos en SS. Bueno, ese pero y luego otro mayor porque no sé si le habían dado al jarro o qué pero Xoel, el cantante, se equivocó varias veces con las letras... De todas maneras, lo bueno de estar tan a gusto es que hasta estos detalles ...

... hacia el Festival. A pesar de los años, los primeros instantes son de nerviosismo: vamos a los conciertos... no, no, mejor comemos... no, vamos a los conciertos... espera que no me dejan meter la cámara.... Era un día un poco atípico y se empezó a notar. Primero nos dicen que no podemos entrar con cámara de fotos. Luego nos encontramos a nosotros mismo a las 21:00 en la plaza del pueblo habiendo cenado ya (Jaione con su gazpachito, claro;))... y para las once ya estábamos que ...

¡Cómo pasa el tiempo!... ¡¡Este ya es nuestro 3er Festival Contempopranea!! Parece que fue hace nada cuando (no se sabe muy bien por qué) nos aventuramos hacia un festival que estaba a 800km de distancia y en el que decidimos montar un mercadillo con cosas hechas por nosotros (Jaione de super-jefaza y Edurne y yo de "chinos" de un taller clandestino XD). Han pasado 3 años y muchos buenos momentos. En estos 3 años hemos aprendido lo que se puede hacer y lo que no ...

... for the night. What a day! We entered Portugal blindly, not having done any research, adding it to the itinerary as a nice diversion from Spain. So after recovering from our hangover (2pm), the first order of the day was going to the nearest shopping mall to find an English language book on the country. I don't even like shopping malls at home but this one was a treat, and we spent the bulk of the day ...