Profile information
Host rating
100 %
Last replied
13 Apr 2024
Reply rate
100.0 %
Usually responds within 2 days
Feedback
49
Email verified
Badges (2)
Details
Description
Come and join us!
However, it is important to know that the work can be hard, we really need strong & motivated volunteers who are not scared to get dirty hands ! There will be a lot of building work AND some great time to spend after work on this beautiful island :-)
The volunteers will have their own kitchen furnished, fridge, gas oven,etc...
We provide a private Canvas tent or wooden house for accommodation as well as hot shower and flush toilet
Hi everyone,
We (Val & Eddy) are a Belgian couple of 47yrs and 55yrs young :-) and decided to completely change our way of living. We met each other 18 years ago at work and both have grown up children of 27, 29 & 31 who decided to pursue some other opportunities in Belgium and come to visit us whenever possible. Together we speak 6 languages (native French & Flemish, English, Spanish,some Italian & some German). I used to be Buildings and Facilities coordinator as well as Events’ organizer in big multinational companies, Eddy was Information Technologist.
We live in the Canaries on the Island of La Palma near El Paso since November 2014 and we are enjoying this great experience with all our volunteers.
We decided to “test” a life during 1 year far away from the stress and the system and traveled as volunteers for 8 months in Asturias, Andalucía & all the Canarian Islands and both fell in love with La Palma, also called la Isla Bonita, where we bought a land very well located close to the center of El Paso. The average temperature in the winter is 15°C and 27°C in summer … there are 300 days of sun a year, what else? ;-) We are working on developing a finca with fruit trees and vegetable garden to become autonomous . Ecology is one of our main concerns and our idea is to build as much as possible with local lava stones & nature elements that we find on the island while discovering this beautiful nature. We work with pebbles, shelves, trunks and most of our constructions are made out of pallets (furniture, wooden houses, walls).
For nature lovers, this island is absolutely amazing and we can certainly share some great leisure time together as we love trekking, discovering beautiful beaches & other landscapes and we love nature shopping.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Language practice
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
Farmstay help
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
We know the hidden gems of this beautiful island and will share them as well as all other information such as different hikes, nice restaurants, places to visit and some history.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
We are looking for smiley, handy & motivated volunteers who would help 5h/day (5 days/week (2 days off , flexible) with a preference of volunteers who can stay for minimum 4 weeks. In exchange, you’ll get accommodation and food. We provide tents and a floor mattress for all volunteers, we only ask to bring your sleeping bag along with you. If you are easily cold, bring some warm clothes with you as mornings and nights can be colder (750m altitude).
Type of help we need
Various tasks such as gardening (lots of stones on the land so digging is also a big work), stone walling, sieving stones, all types of small constructions (pruning, watering, terraces, etc.) for 5 hours/day. Please note that we are looking for volunteers who don't mind doing hard work in the gardens.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Fluent
French: Fluent
Dutch: Fluent
German: Intermediate
Italian: IntermediateThis host offers a language exchange
We would love to practice Spanish, German , Italian to improve as we mostly speak French, Dutch and English
Accommodation
ACCOMMODATION: We provide tents or caravan, pillows, cover and a floor matras for all volunteers, we only ask to bring a warm sleeping bag along with you. As we are located @ 800m of altitude, the weather can get sometimes colder, do not hesitate to also bring warm clothes to be safe.
For your info, we sleep in our caravan.
KITCHEN: We share a common space with volunteers and also have a wooden house (20m²) with little kitchen that will be used as common place for all volunteers when the weather is colder. A little kitchen and a table will be at the disposal of all volunteers. The cleaning of this area belongs to all of our volunteers. We also have a common kitchen with a roof in case of rain or wind.
FOOD: The volunteers will be provided and mostly do their own cooking
We hope you like hiking and discovering nice places! We love nature and would be pleased to give you details of this amazing and magic island!
What else ...
Guagua (local bus) accessible at 15min from site (1.5km)
Center of El Paso 20min by foot (less than 2km) - 1 hour internet for free in the center of El Paso (on site no wifi)
Centro de visitantes Caldera Taburiente 30min (2km)
The whole island is reachable by guagua, the local bus.
Fantastic island, the sun is most of the time shining somewhere, green and lush, bikers, trekkers and nature lovers' paradise.
However, the weather can be very different depending on where you are on the island (one of the steepest island in the world)
If you look for sun and farniente after work, Tazacorte and Puerto Naos beaches are the place to be (easily reachable by guagua)
For your internet connection, you can take a prepaid card with Orange or Vodafone , we also have internet on some places on the land.
We are waiting for you!!!!
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
This host has indicated that they love having digital nomads stay.
Space for parking camper vans
This host can provide space for campervans.
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
Hours expected
5 hours a day 5 days a week
Feedback (26)
He's the kind of workawayer everybody wants, very respectful, responsible, good worker, motivated, good hart and a nice, interesting person in general.
Those two months were fantastic Johannes, thanks for everything, wishing you all the best and please, come back one day 😉
The residents of this place are amazing. Unfortunately, Valerie was not there, but with Eddy and the dog you have some very friendly, helpful and just adorable people. During my time, there where also other volunteers and it was a… read more
I wanted to take a moment to express my sincere appreciation for your time and effort as volunteers during your stay with me. Your positive attitudes, smiley dispositions, and eagerness to learn about the project were truly remarkable.
Your help with tasks such as gardening and pruning was greatly appreciated, and your motivation… read more
We were housed in a mobile home and had everything we needed to be comfortable, despite the bad weather.
Eddy is flexible with hours and work, and we can have free… read more
Holà Val & Eddy,
It's been almost 2 years now that I've spend 3 unforgettable months at Val and Eddy's place. We stayed in contact by email but now it's time to get this lovely couple one more positive review on workaway because they really deserve it. It's never too late to "officially" post a feedback to your friendly hosts !… read more
Feedback
These are extra optional ratings when members leave feedback. The average rating left for each option is displayed.
Accuracy of profile:
(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(4.5)
Communication:
(5.0)
He's the kind of workawayer everybody wants, very respectful, responsible, good worker, motivated, good hart and a nice, interesting person in general.
Those two months were fantastic Johannes, thanks for everything, wishing you all the best and please, come back one day 😉
The residents of this place are amazing. Unfortunately, Valerie was not there, but with Eddy and the dog you have some very friendly, helpful and just adorable people. During my time, there where also other volunteers and it was a… read more
I wanted to take a moment to express my sincere appreciation for your time and effort as volunteers during your stay with me. Your positive attitudes, smiley dispositions, and eagerness to learn about the project were truly remarkable.
Your help with tasks such as gardening and pruning was greatly appreciated, and your motivation… read more
We were housed in a mobile home and had everything we needed to be comfortable, despite the bad weather.
Eddy is flexible with hours and work, and we can have free… read more
Holà Val & Eddy,
It's been almost 2 years now that I've spend 3 unforgettable months at Val and Eddy's place. We stayed in contact by email but now it's time to get this lovely couple one more positive review on workaway because they really deserve it. It's never too late to "officially" post a feedback to your friendly hosts !… read more
Take… read more
Probably the best workaway experience I ever had!!
I really wish I could go back to their place in the future. Love you guys!!
Dusty & Gabri
Sharing this time with those two energic smiling people was great.
I've learnt so much about construction and plants through the work but i have shared also a lot during free time about food and cook, laugh, Belgian French, and above all,… read more
Val and Eddy
I ve spent two weeks in El Paso with this incredible family. it was a big experience.
Valerie & Eddy are great and the place is very quite. I have helped their to build and to rip grass and I could see what kind of miracle they are doing. I hope that they will open this wonderful place early. I think that the world's mind has changing… read more
Sylvain has been one of our BEST volunteers ever. We were more than spoiled to realize how much his motivation and big smile were present every single day. At the same time, we had another exceptional volunteer who joined the project twice in a short period of time (Thomas). Great team,… read more
First of all, because of the opportunity that is given to live in such a nice place and feeling alive doing useful stuffs... I will always encourage people doing this demarch... Opening their… read more
The work which Perry was able to make here in the 2 weeks allowed us to move forward a little, thank you for the tasks which were done with motivation as the preparation of the cement, the harvest of enormous stones of lava, sanding and the weeding. As mentioned in our profile workaway, we are looking for… read more
I really did enjoy my short stay here. Val and Eddie are very good at making you welcome and go out of there way to help you from providing the most fantastic meals which were outstanding and really did not expect this and to helping you with local knowledge.
The work was interestingly good building from many of large… read more
Stay amazing with your crazy cats and even more crazy, lovely parents! See you soon :D
If you are looking for a workaway where you have a huge amount of freedom and can do minimal work in order to do your own thing all of the time, then this probably isn't the place… read more
I loved the physical hard work, being outside all day in a completely stress free environment. I did a lot of removing weeds and rocks from the earth in their garden and on the paths on their land. Also a bit of cooking, building a wall and some other… read more
Thank you very much for your great words of thanks! I very much enjoyed my stay with you in the nice el Paso mountains! I love the way you live; working hard, eating well, feeling good. I appreciated the positive attitude you both have in general, but also concerning all of my crazy ideas, bringing compost… read more
You are very smiley, funny & motivated Estonian guys who gave us a very good hand and we can tell you that we are VERY pleased with the construction of our second shed that you made out of pallets while… read more
First i just cant emphasize enough how we MISS the cooking. Val and Eddy are both masterchef material and every future workawayer should feel confident… read more
Valerie and Eddy are incredible people and inspiring to be around. What they are building something very beautiful and I would urge you to be involved if you can. I stayed with them for nearly a month and enjoyed the natural setting immensely. Waking up in an ancient volcano caldera is pretty cool.
The work is physical and… read more
As hosts they treat every volunteer as a member of their familly. And you will notice straight away that valerie and eddy have endless amount of motivation & inpsiratation when it comes to realising their dream. Just being… read more
MANY THANKS for your kind words, it was also a real pleasure for us to have you around and to help us out for our project…You are a very smiley, funny & motivated person who gave us a very good hand during one month!
If another host is reading this feedback, go for it!!! Nicolas is an absolutely great person to hang around with and… read more
Val e Eddy are super people,available and very clever.
I need to be greatfully you for the last month.. I love your project, good luck for everything.
I hope that we ll meet soon.
Thank you!! :)
Nicolas(the stupid italian
Thank you so much for the lovely words and the very positive feedback ! You only stayed for 2 ½ weeks but during that period we had a wonderful time here… Our walls will also remember you forever :-)
Right away we were on the same wavelength, hard working but enjoying as well this beautiful island and sharing delicious meals… read more
Dear workawayers if you find yourself having a match with Eddy & Val, don't hesitate, go for it!
I spend the first three weeks of march on their land, working in a amazing area surrounded by the rolling clouds (really their!), daily ocean-sunsets, just really special nature all around,… read more
