Share life and learn languages in a remote mountain community near Villabre, Spain

Details

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  Description

  We are entering a new season—autumn and winter—and our activity level will be lower... but we are always open to sharing our time and energy with volunteers interested in this intense experience, especially those visiting the area with the intention of staying for a long period. We are very keen on strengthening the community and creating a social network that boosts the project's long-term viability... and right now, we are particularly interested in meeting people who speak Italian, French, or English fluently to help us improve our own language skills.
  
  Currently, the project involves six people: three family members; a Spanish mother with a young daughter (aged 4) who plans to stay for years; an Italian man who has been here for two months and is on a long-term stay; and—potentially—you, the person reading this description.
  
  Here is the profile of the traveling volunteer we are looking for:
  
  1) Someone who does not smoke... the house is made of wood, and we do not want to run the risk of fire. Smokers always claim they will smoke outside, but burn marks on the furniture tell a different story. We do not wish to live with smokers; we dislike smoke, consider it a health risk, and prefer living with healthy, intelligent people.
  
  2) Someone without dietary restrictions; we follow a Mediterranean-style diet (we are not interested in sharing our time and effort with people who reject certain foods based on pseudoscientific ideas). We eat and cook together... we do not prepare individual meals... we are a group. We view food fads as nothing more than a trendy facade; we prefer traditional Mediterranean food.
  
  3) Someone who can stay for at least a month (or longer); we will teach you carpentry skills—such as the correct use of a drill or electric screwdriver—and this requires at least two weeks... just like working in the vegetable garden, building a stone wall... whatever is needed to make progress. 4) We do not accept people traveling with animals who wish to keep them in their rooms (dogs, cats, rabbits, etc.); we do have chickens, but they live outside the house. We like to keep the house clean and tidy.
  
  5) We are interested in people who are committed to the environment—who recycle, share ideas, and communicate. We don't want volunteers who shut themselves away in their rooms; this isn't a hotel, but a project focused on building a different way of life—a minimalist lifestyle.
  
  6) We would like you—our future volunteer—to have a video call with the current volunteers and those who have stayed here previously; we want you to get to know the project. The question is: could you—or would you dare to—live for a while in an isolated village in northern Spain? This is a *coliving* project managed via Workaway that has been running for 17 years; it began a new chapter in early September 2026 with the goal of repopulating a village that currently has no permanent residents. Besides us, there is a woman living here with her daughter... would you be interested in helping welcome the next resident? The idea is simple—bringing life back to abandoned villages—but the task isn't easy... we simply like having neighbors.
  
  If you are interested, I will send you more information.
  
  If you think this project is for you... we can always make room for those who want to stay longer or have special skills to share. If you are an expert, we can learn from you... if you need to learn, we can teach you... here, learning goes both ways.
  The minimum stay is one month. Why? It’s simple: the host only comes on weekends; the project is managed by volunteers. I train them, and they learn to perform specific tasks, such as tending the vegetable garden or looking after the chickens. All of this requires training sessions (three days). The remaining days (four) are dedicated to excursions, visits to abandoned villages, and climbing... and a month has four weekends. If you are an expert, there is no minimum stay requirement.
  
  It is a project where volunteers help breathe new life into a beautiful mountain village—a place that becomes almost deserted in winter. We love it when volunteers connect with others (current and future ones) via WhatsApp so they have a clear idea of ​​the project before arriving.
  
  The project takes place in a remote mountainous area. We prefer volunteers to stay for at least a month, and ideally two. Many of our former volunteers return time and again... and staying longer is certainly possible. The record is held by two people who stayed for over two years during the pandemic.
  
  You will join a group; that is the plan. It is a group project. Everything here is done collaboratively. We don't shut ourselves away in our rooms... we don't cook separately—this is fundamental
  
  I hope see you
  
  P
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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Language practice

  Help with Eco Projects

  Light gardening

  Creative DIY projects

  Animal Care

  Help around the house

  Light maintenance
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  Interests

  

  Plant care

  

  Writing

  

  Languages

  

  Gardening

  

  Carpentry

  

  Architecture

  

  Mountain

  

  Hiking
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Being in the project for a month... will make you a character with certain knowledge about DIY... you will learn to solve everyday problems in your repairs... you will be an expert in the use of a battery screwdriver... example.... certain knowledge of gardening... and you will be members of a living community in a Spanish town... and perhaps in the future you will surely use all or part of those skills.....
  
  The Puertos de Marabio Natural Monument is made up of sinkholes and blind valleys.
  
  It is a natural space protected by the existence of a peculiar karst complex, formed by sinkholes and blind valleys that give it great hydrogeological interest. It has three large cavities: the Sumidoiro del Fondadal, 156 meters deep, the Vistulaz Cave and the Vegalonga System, which with its 5,900 meters of development represents one of the main underground complexes in the region.
  
  In the ports we can find grasslands with deer and scrub surface, generally heaths, gorse, holly, Genista occidentalis, hawthorn and blackthorn.
  
  This Natural Monument is included in the Protected Landscape of Pico Caldoveiro.
  
  Location in the Area
  
  The Ports of Marabio are located between the councils of Yernes and Tameza, Teverga and Proaza, and are delimited to the east by the Sierra de Peña Padiella, to the west by the Sierra de la Granda, to the north by Pico Caldoveiro and to the south by the watershed of the River.

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  Help

  Join us to help with building and repairing a cabin in the woods with people to help
  
  YOU DON'T NEED TO BE AN EXPERT...THIS IS AN EXCHANGE PROCESS...WE CAN TEACH YOU WHAT YOU NEED... But learning is a process that takes time... .. we need calm minds, kind people and helpers with a sense of humor
  if you are a professional perfect weeks if we have to teach the process is slow, and the minimum stay 1 month

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  Spanish: Fluent
  English: Intermediate
  French: Beginner
  Italian: Beginner
  Portuguese: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  A current volunteer profile: we are looking for an Italian person who will give us one hour of class a day. WE SPEAK CASTELLANO SPANISH, WE HAVE NO DIFFICULTIES TO SPEAK ENGLISH AT A MEDIUM LEVEL ... WITH GRAMMATICAL ERRORS BUT GOOD COMMUNICATIVE LEVEL. THE FRENCH IS A LITTLE RUSTY, WE ARE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND PORTUGUESE AND ITALIAN The language of communication is English, I am here one weekend a week, the rest the volunteers decide the language of communication. The stay is to practice climbing, to learn to cut a tree, to make a path... to speak but in English, French, Italian or Portuguese, .. A current volunteer profile: we are looking for an Italian person who will give us one hour of class a day.
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  Accommodation

  All volunteers have their own room and there is even a small apartment
  
  Volunteers have "all inclusive" food, transportation visits to the area ...
  Volunteers have a room Comfortable and functional.
  
  Volunteers have "all inclusive" food, transportation visits to the area ...
  
  Have private room
  
  Everything we need to work we have, your clothes, if you have a normal size, but this is never a problem .... we are used to finding solutions.

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  What else ...

  we receive numerous requests, to your request for stay we have said yes but we need to have an approximate calendar of the date of your arrival, since we need to answer the e-mails today yes or no.
  
  
  A small comment about respect for other ways of living.
  In the town our neighbors are cattle ranchers, with their peculiar way of understanding life and the struggles to survive in the balance of the natural environment.
  The neo-rurals -e
  Among those I find myself very given to preaching that it is the right thing to do and not about how the balance between wildlife and livestock should be.
  I think we should reflect from a respectful point of view. We must not fall into cultural ethnocentrism, walking slowly and listening previously allows us to build another way of thinking but it is a process of years, the countryside is not changed with speeches from the city. I think respect and listening is a good point of view.
  
  Volunteers are expected to be autonomous, if / the project adapts you will enjoy it, if you don't adapt. Don't suffer, look for another site that suits your philosophy.
  
  We are interested in receiving people who understand what it means to live autonomously in a rural environment. Sometimes visitors expect to find the same as in a city and that is not the case. It is not necessary to have experience but to be disciplined and autonomous. There is a lot of free time. The help schedule is 24 hours a week, we usually concentrate it on three days so we have more days off ... if you want another distribution there are no problems.
  
   The cabin no. It is comfortable, HAS ALL KIND OF CLOTHES, WATER BOOTS ... but life in the countryside has some characteristics that need important energy and adaptability from visitors.
  
  This is not a good option for travelers who believe that this is a hotel ... no, here this is a house where three days a week really works and four is enjoyed .... it is your time ... for what That you decide, THIS IS AN EXCHANGE PROGRAM ... IT IS SOMETHING LIKE A WORKSHOP SCHOOL ... PEOPLE ARE THE IMPORTANT ... THE HONESTY..THE BEING ABLE TO SHARE .... the fundamental ... enjoy of what you live

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  Digital nomads are accepted, we have an acceptable Internet speed for a remote village, the maximum for the Vodafone company.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  Large vans do not fit well on such narrow roads. A typical WB van fits well, in the town there is a lot of place to park in front of our house there is a park and a fountain

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  My animals / pets

  

  Gallinas y gallos

  Son animales con plumas que ponen huevos....típicos de los pueblos españoles

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