Green, green, green.....and gray.

Alright so I've been in Ireland for about 5 days now and couldn't have asked for a better place to stay! My travels from Portugal started Tuesday the 15th with my sleeping in the Lagos bus station because my host wouldn't take me there in the morning at 6:15. It was too early for her despite her having nothing else to do that day so I slept in the cold at the bus station. Took the bus to Sevilla though, and then a train to Madrid. Camped out at the Madrid airport on Wednesday night and flew to Dublin Thursday morning. After a train to Cork and a bus to Skibbereen I finally made it!



My host here is Barbara and her 8 year-old son Reuben. Barbara runs Barbara's Cottages (www.barbarascottages.com), which she built herself over the last four years. Quite an accomplishment to do all on her own and the cottages are definitely well put together. Check out the website for pictures!







Barbara and Reuben are great though. Work here is pretty light and involves mostly a few hours in the morning and then helping Reuben with his homework after he gets home from school. So far here I've mowed the lawn, dug up some potatoes, strimmed the tall grass around the garden, and worked in the garden quite a bit just in general.



On Friday Barbara's nephews came over from Scotland for a couple nights and I hung out with them over the weekend. We went to a few pubs and a nightclub on Saturday night and each time I go out to Skibbereen I like it more and more. It's really a cool little town. I've met quite a few people here, definitely more in the first 2 days than I did my entire trip in Portugal.

Barbara's friend Joe took us fishing on Sunday, caught quite a few Mackerel and some nice, big Pollock. Had a great time though and got some amazing views while on the boat! I've been running quite a bit here too for the race and I've been getting to go some amazing places that I keep stumbling upon just by accident. The scenery out here is so fantastic with just endless green!





More to come later!

Portugal Recap

Alright then here are a few of my Portugal pictures for those who want to see...make sure to check out the Spain ones below too!







First one is of sunrise one morning. Second is a view of the beach we lived near from the cliffs above. Third is of the great little dog Lucky, always ready for someone to throw him a ball and never gets tired! Fourth is of a beach in Lagos, the nearest town, and fifth is of the great unspoiled beach we lived near, hardly any people whatsoever! Kind of a shame, but I didn't really take many pictures from Portugal. I've got a good video of where I stayed at, but can't post it. Ireland update coming soon!

Recap of Spain, Portugal

Alright so where to begin....Ireland is absolutely great! It's much more than I thought it would be and certainly more beautiful. In case anyone wants to look me up, I'm in a tiny town called Skibbereen in the very southwest of Ireland. It's a really nice small town where everyone in the area knows EVERYONE. No street names or street numbers here, the post people just know who lives where. But I'll get to Ireland in the next post (hopefully tomorrow, no promises). First I'll try to post up my pictures with some short descriptions from Spain and then Portugal. Hope you like them!






So as for Spain from top to bottom, just a quick description. 1) Kristian and I at the beach condo in Almerimar, 2) Kristian getting attacked by Serena, 3) Me eating snails, 4) Maja and Pjuskiis, and 5) Part of the great view from where we lived in Spain in the Alpujarras. I'll do the same thing with Portugal, then a little about Ireland!

Well......

I'll keep this short because I really don't like posting without pictures and I'm sure most of you don't enjoy reading as much without pictures.

Today is my last day in Portugal, and I'll save the details for when I get back home I suppose. My time here has been nice...but interesting also. To sum it up though, I was here about 4 days, my host Susie had to go to Spain for 5 days, and I have been here another 4 days before I leave tomorrow. The area here is beautiful with the great beaches and perfect weather everyday. Overall I think this HelpX left a little something to be desired though, like I said I'll save the details for back home. I have had a good time experiencing it all though. Nothing is ever a mistake in my book, only a lesson to grow and learn about myself.

Off to Ireland tomorrow! Staying with my host Barbara and her 8 year-old son Reuben in a tiny town called Castletownshend on the south coast. Leave there on October 2nd and then to Scotland for the Loch Ness Marathon! I've been training pretty hard for that and it should be a good one.

While this post is pretty short though, I'll try to list all of the cities I've slept a night in just to get a feel for how I've been traveling around and the places I've seen. I figured it'd be interesting for all of you to see as well...

Pisa, Italy (Couch of apartment)
Florence, Italy
Rome, Italy
Orte, Italy
Venice, Italy
Purbach, Austria
Budapest, Austria
Frankfurt, Germany (Train Station)
Damiatte, France
Carcassonne, France (Car)
Avignon, France (Soccer Field)
Montpelier, France (Train Station)
Girona, Spain (Airport)
Tutzing, Germany
Malaga, Spain (Airport)
Lobras, Spain
Figueira, Portugal

I think there may have been a couple cities I left out, but it's been quite the ride! Hope everyone is well at home, pictures for sure from Ireland!

Back to the Stone Age

Alright here's the quick low down while we still have the sun up for power.

1) I'm here in Figueira, Portugal on the south coast inbetween Lagos and Sagres.
2) There is a secluded, untouched beach here in a national park just 5-10 minutes walk away with no hotels, not a whole lot of people, and it's absolutely BEAUTIFUL!
3) We're running on solar and wind power. I haven't asked (Susie doesn't like questions) but I don't think we're able to run more than a combined 100 watts at a time...think about it and you'll understand how little that is. The computer plugged in is about 60-65 watts. I think I'm back in the stone age.
4) Also have rain water here with gravity doing the work for pressure. Bottled water for drinking, but everything else is from stored rain. My shower is a camping bag that you put on the roof and it comes down on me. Also using the good old-fashioned compost loo.
5) Susie, my host, is an amazing cook, one of the best I've ever met. She knows so much about different foods that it blows me away. We eat only organic vegetarian and it's delicious.
6) Didn't know this before I came, but the south coast of Portugal/Spain is one of the windiest places on Earth as far as I can tell. There is a constant 20-30 MPH wind blowing all the time.

That's it for now, if I tried to post pictures the house might explode, so I'll wait until Ireland. Having fun here, hard to believe it's already been 3.5 months though.