Discovering southern Spain

After spending some time in the beautiful Nationalpark Sierras de Cazorla, I drove down the way through the Nationalpark Sierra de Castril and then settled down for some days at the Embalse de Negratin, which is a lovely sea near Zujar. Especially the sunsets at this place were phenomenal. From Zujar, I drove a couple of kilometers further to visit the desert of Gorafe. There I found some nice parking spot directly at the hill of the village Gorafe. The view was amazing, and the sunset was astonishing. The next day I took a 24km hike through the desert of Gorafe. It was a new terrain for me, but I enjoyed the calmness of the desert a lot. There were only a few people on the path, so most of the time I was completely by myself, and I enjoyed the trip a lot. There were also possibilities for hikers to sleep in a cave. There is some food provided and some beds for staying the night. It was a special place and it was amazing to see how they built a house out of rock. After my visit to the Gorafe desert I moved on to the Nationalpark Sierra Nevada, which is located next to Granada. There I took another little hiking trip. 

Normally the mountains were full of snow (ski season), but this year there wasn’t a lot of snow and it was possible to hike a few kilometers. It was a Friday, and I felt a bit of going out and meeting some people. So, I joined spontaneously an event on Couchsurfing, located in Granada. I parked my van at some abandoned parking space next to the city, then walked half an hour to the pub, where we met. I was the first one at the pub and wondered where the other people were. I had no contact with anyone, so I decided to search for people who seemed a bit lost. Luckily, there went a few minutes later this type of person inside, and I found a member of Couchsurfing. It worked. He explained to me soon that the other local Couchsurfers always appear at least half an hour later than the normal time. That’s Spain, he told me. Soon, the pub filled up with people and I met some guys from all over the world, and every age was represented. It was a nice experience, and we had a lot of fun that evening. They even invited me to the local volleyball event on the next day. It’s such a nice community and I really appreciate the people who are bringing these events to life. The next day I moved to the volleyball side. We played a couple of hours of volleyball and then moved to the local pub to get a few drinks and some lovely made Tapas. We had another great day together. I was filled with good vibes and wanted to join some more events in Granada. Some women invited me over Couchsurfing to a reforesting event in Granada. That sounded nice, and I joined there to help. This event was all about reforesting some parts of the landscapes around Granada. I was warmly welcomed, and we soon planted the first trees. The association (ACCC Granada) is a non-profit association that carries out the repopulation and regeneration of landscapes with native trees and shrubs from treeless areas in the capital and province of Granada. The organization plants trees to combat the fight against climate change. They told me about the circumstances in the south of Spain and the long-lasting dryness they had in the last couple of years. It was a good refresher and it felt great to be part of the mission. We were around 20 volunteers and had a lot of fun together. It was a long-lasting experience.

With those great memories in the bag, I moved on to another volunteering project (over Workaway), located in the near of Malaga. This place is all about designing a life with the principles of permaculture, edible forest, orchard, bio-construction, coexistence with animals, caring for the environment and local biodiversity, reforestation and regeneration of the ecosystem. I was warmly welcomed by the new hosts Marina and Maro. This time, I was not the only volunteer at this place. I shared the accommodation with up to four other Workawayers.

One week passed and I really enjoyed this time at the side. A typically workday starts at 9 am. We could choose between gardening and construction stuff. I supported them with my construction skills and built so far a new chicken house with upcycled materials. I also helped one day with reforesting the valley on the other side of the property. It was always nice work, always something new to learn, and we had a lot of fun together. After work finished at 2 pm, we had lunch together, and the rest of the day was free. Most of the time I spent the days with the other volunteers, playing card games, having a nice evening around the fire, hiking in the national park, or making dinner together. I enjoyed the company around me, and we had so far a nice time here at this lovely place. I stayed 2 weeks in Jorox then moved on.

Thank you Marina and Maro for welcoming me at this beuatiful place.

It was a fantastic time togehter, maybe we see each other again.