Spain
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We are artists, middle-aged, with an international background but living in Spain. We paint and sculpt for a living. We speak English, Russian and Spanish. For hobbies we love to travel and cook, read and watch films.
Building
General Maintenance
Cooking / shopping
Help in the house
Life in a Spanish village is a beautiful cultural experience. The tranquility, friendliness, and truly Spanish lifestyle is a window into another world. You can work on your Spanish, and learn about the world of olives and almonds. There are artists about, and there is time for reading, walking and contemplation. Weekends offer buses to Ronda, Seville, Jerez and Malaga. We do not have "culture" in the sense of museums, exhibitions, and classical concerts, but the sense of mediterranean life pace is strong and rich.
A passion for organization, building care and cooking would be of great use to us.
We have recently started a small side business, and at the same time signed for an exhibition in the upcoming future, and so we are swamped with painting and the new project. The house, an ancient masonry building which requires frequent, small repairs and needs a basic hard scrub, is being neglected. As do all Andalusian country houses, it needs annual scraping and re-painting in spots. Book cases need re-organizing. The pantry is a mess. There is daily cooking to be done with our limited but delicious local produce. Do you have a passion for healthy cooking? Does your heart soar with pleasure when a good house is brought into good working order? We might be a match.
We send a special invitation to adventurers who look at the care of a house as a fulfilling endeavor, and not a heinous chore. We have had extremely rewarding visitors in the past to help with office work, with the creation of videos, and data organization, and we look forward meeting new, interesting travelers.
English, Russian Spanish
We offer a simple but clean guest bedroom on a separate floor from ours, a queen sized bed, semi-underground (this is a good thing in Andalusia in summer), adjacent guest bathroom with a shower, toilet and bath. The guest bedroom is the coolest and darkest place in the house, we call it the sleeping cave. These rooms are in a house roughly 300 years old where we live mostly on the second floor. There is a beautiful roof terrace which is lovely when it's not hot. The house is in the old town high on a hill in a Pueblo Blanco of Spain in the province of Cadiz, but on the border of the province of Malaga and Sevilla (inland, not coastal). There is a good kitchen where we share some meals, but where volunteers can also prepare and tidy up their own meals. Self help is encouraged, as long as one cleans up nicely afterwards. Vegetarians cook with joy in our village, where local produce is seasonal and divine. (Not so easy for vegetarians in the tapas bars...) There is a coffee maker and the ability to brew good tea. One can eat inside or in the patio or on the roof, when the heat permits. There is wifi. No car is provided. The house has no airconditioning, but the ground floor generally remains under 26 degrees in summer or around 20 in coldest winter.. In summer a tolerance for heat is absolutely required. In Winter warm clothes come in handy intermittently. We have some books and films in the house, in English and Russian. Near the guest bedroom is a dining room, where volunteers can set up a private office at all times except dinner parties. The village is completely pedestrian-friendly. Buses to other towns run once or twice a day. Sometimes you can hitch a ride. It's great to sit at cafes, go for long walks, read and write, and make new friends, both Spanish and English-speaking expatriots.
We have room for one workaway.com guest or couple at a time.
The village is very restful. This can mean boring to those who require cinema, museums, etc, but to creatives and free-spirited roamers it is paradisical. It is very friendly. There are many simple bar/cafes, a decent library, and occasional flamenco/musical performances provided by the city. There are a few, small, charming bars for young people. There is good walking for the morning or evening. The greatest joy about this town is to take a nice long walk, and several times stop somewhere for a good cup of cafe con leche in a cafe, read a book and write a postcard, then move on to the next one. The Spanish have taught us to breath when we are not working. It is a wonderful thing.
There is in summer a public pool, and we have bicycles (again, providing you can take the heat or cold, and if you have the endurance for high hills). By bus there is access to Ronda, Seville, Cordoba, Cadiz and the beaches of Costa del Sol. There are roughly 100 English-speaking ex patriots. Getting away by bus for the weekend is easy, costs about 11 euro each way on the bus. The weather is universally hot and dry in summer through October. There is a horseback riding stables twenty minute's walk from the house. Eight hours of riding for 100 Euro. Cooking here is lots of fun for us. The wine is good and relatively cheap.
Formal art instruction is NOT included in the work stay. The dining room can be used by volunteers as an office for writing or reading.
We have hosted Homeexchange.com people before, and enjoyed the process very much.
Ours is a household of artists, so we keep varying hours, usually sleeping roughly between 1 am and 9 am, and can be very social and curious. At other times we need to be left alone. We love articulate interesting people who can socialize but who essentially can entertain themselves. We love people from other cultures, and we want to welcome to our home volunteers who are open minded about world cultures as well.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Two
about 4 hours per day, five days per week
