Profile information
Host rating
80 %
Last replied
2 Jun 2022
Feedback
22
Email verified
Badges (3)
Details
Description
I am José , sculptor, skateboarder, and nature lover, currently living with my partner Maria our baby Graça and our dog Lion in my great grandparents home, a very big house that is about 120 years old and has been uninhabbited for more than 40 years. I welcome volunteers to help me put this old beautiful house back together.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Babysitting and creative play
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Learning possibilities and cultural exchanges:
•Cooking Vegan food
•Painting with traditional Limestone paint
•Restoring old Furniture
•Portuguese Language
•Nature observation, mushroom hunting, wild fruits and flower picking.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
The kind of work that we are doing in the house will vary a lot during the year, and hopefully take advantage of the volunteers best skills or preferences of work.
RENOVATION - Luckily the house doesn't have any kind of structural damage, so most of the work goes around cleaning, covering some holes in the walls, painting, treating the woods and taking care of the old furniture.
We try to use mostly natural materials in the process, we paint most of the walls with limestone/whitewash, and treat wooden floors and furniture with linseed oil. We do this kind of work all around the year, but from November till April this will be my main work.
CLEANING - After a couple of years of having workawayers helping with the renovation, we decided to make this project economically self sufficient by renting a few rooms. We have 4 rooms that we rent to travelers, and a maximum of 7 guests total. This means we have to clean the house daily and keep it beautiful and tidy.
We are open to guests most of the year (depending on our availability) but from May until October this type of help might be more intense.
IN THE KITCHEN - Cooking and sharing meals is also a very important part of this project, so everybody who shares this passion is welcome to join! Every morning we do a different vegetarian (mostly vegan) breakfast, always with sweet and savory options, where we try to use mostly whole, local and seasonal food, and invite everyone to come share some stories at our table (volunteers, friends and guests). Lunch and Dinner is more flexible, we can either have a snack or a feast, depending on how hungry we feel and how much time we want to spend in the kitchen. Of course all the meals are free for volunteers, and volunteers can eat anything we have on the kitchen.
(Important Note: Unpaid volunteers will not be asked to cook/prepare/take orders or serve food and drinks to paying guests).
IN THE GARDEN - We have a little garden where our chickens live, and where we hope to make a food garden soon. But at the same time we are trying to understand about natural patterns, native plants and bugs. We want to understand the soil before making major changes to it, so (for now) it's mostly a learning experience than a way of being self-sufficient.
MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING - Although we really love getting things done, it's very important to think about how we are going to do them first. We love brainstorming and discussing ideas with our workawayers. Sometimes it might be about the schedule of the next days or week, or might be a garden plan for the next month, or thinking how we will redecorate any space in the house.
LION FROM ZION - We have a big dog. His name is Leão (you can call him Lion). We walk him everyday at least two times, and at least one hour in total. We love to walk him but sometimes is also good to have somebody to take care of that task for us. And we are happy if volunteers want to do it for a long time, it still counts as work, and our dog will be very, very happy.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Portuguese: Fluent
Spanish: Intermediate
Russian: IntermediateThis host offers a language exchange
This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
You can contact them directly for more information.
Accommodation
We can provide a single and a twin room for workawayers. All meals are included and vegan :)
What else ...
Somethings about my house:
Imagine a 120 year old, really (really) big house where nobody lived for 40 years! It's like 40 years of dust! But don't worry! After two years of having workawayers helping, now we have a clean/living area, where people sleep, hang out, cook and have bathrooms (the 1st floor), and a dirty/working area (the bottom floor) which is being transformed until everything is clean and livable :)
My home is in in Vila do Bispo, a town very close to the beautiful beaches at southwestern Portugal and surrounded by the natural park of Costa Vicentina. You have many ways to explore the nature around like hiking, walking in the woods, birdwatchig, surfing, climbing mountains, watching stars, relaxing, breathing fresh air and feel inspired to make a better world.
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
My animals / pets
Feedback (10)
This was our first proper workaway experience, which we initially planned for 2 weeks with José - we ended up staying for nearly a whole month.
The moment we arrived at José's place, we were made to feel at home and like part of the family. From the get go José was super friendly - always with a great sense of humour - and… read more
From our first skype interview, we felt she was the right person to host for such a long time and we connected right away!
Throughout her stay, she had many different tasks which we she learned and adapted easily. From walking our dog, weeding the garden,… read more
I had an incredible experience lasting 2 months. Jose, Maria and, of course, Graca :D are the hosts that you probably want to visit twice. They are very considerate, conscious, polite, fair, cheerful and creative hosts. They always take care of their volunteers and guests and I felt like a part of the family… read more
Photos
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:
(5.0)
Communication:
(5.0)
This was our first proper workaway experience, which we initially planned for 2 weeks with José - we ended up staying for nearly a whole month.
The moment we arrived at José's place, we were made to feel at home and like part of the family. From the get go José was super friendly - always with a great sense of humour - and… read more
From our first skype interview, we felt she was the right person to host for such a long time and we connected right away!
Throughout her stay, she had many different tasks which we she learned and adapted easily. From walking our dog, weeding the garden,… read more
I had an incredible experience lasting 2 months. Jose, Maria and, of course, Graca :D are the hosts that you probably want to visit twice. They are very considerate, conscious, polite, fair, cheerful and creative hosts. They always take care of their volunteers and guests and I felt like a part of the family… read more
It was such good fun to prepare breakfast in the morning, we learned to get very creative thanks to Jose rather unique cooking style;)
Working in the house was also very interesting and Jose took the time to explain us and teach us everything we… read more
Although in the beginning her coffee addiction was a little strange to us, that's what she needed to put her on the go with any task we asked! Either taking care of meals, cleaning or repairing walls she did a very wide range of tasks, with satisfying… read more
As volunteers, they work fast but at the same time carefully, and they are always up for any kind of work. We were amazed and surprised by almost everything they did.
They are an amazing cleaning crew! A lot of times cleaning things even before we asked them!… read more
What can we say? 2 days ended up being 2 weeks.
Everything that everybody said here about these two sunny young people of the earth is true. The house is a labyrinth with good vibes, we slept in… read more
you are both amazing and wonderful people you welcomed us with arms open wide you have such a beautiful house and this was by far the best host we have been to. The work was super fun there was never a dull day. You are always smiling and we never had a bad day with you. You took us everywhere you guys went… read more
-good vegan cooked food
-many trips to the sea or the beautiful land of his parents
-interesting… read more
