Portugal
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Greetings travelers of the world. I am Michiel, a 34 year old male human being. In Juli 2019 I bought a house in the Alentejo region of Portugal. I am from Belgium and my girlfriend Paola is from Uruguay. We love to work with Workaway and meet new people, share good times, cultural exchange and furious football table games as much as possible.
The house is great and has lots of potential, which has already been tapped into, in the past year. My family came over and we had a big round of renovating all together. We are looking for people who are willing to help out in making this house into a home. Painting, some small construction jobs, gardening. That kind of stuff. It would be great to move forward together.
Art Projects
Language practice
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
The village of São Domingos is a beautiful example of a typical Alentejo village with all the charm that that entails. Surrounded by vast cork oak tree forests, beautiful lakes and fields it is a far cry from the daily grind of an urban live style.
We cannot provide an income for you but we are providing a high standard of healthy vegan food, occasional pizza and a beautiful place to get to know rural Portugal.
Why are we an 'eco community'?
- We greatly value building and renovating with what is available in our near surroundings. This often boils down to pallet wood being used for construction, cork for isolation and so on.
- We cook vegan food and try to minimize waste where necessary.
- We are not all off the grid but are working towards going fully solar for generating electricity in the nearby future.
- We recycle as much as possible, only use recycled toilet paper & kitchen roll and compost all of the organic waste.
As mentioned above we are looking for help with painting, sanding, making furniture from palettes, adapting the electricity, gardening, cooking and petting the house cat. No specific skills are needed, although of course any experience you have is more then helpful and we would be very grateful to learn from you.
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Fluent
French: Fluent
Dutch: Fluent
Portuguese: Intermediate
German: Beginner
This 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.
Couple of options:
- We have two bedrooms available with a private bathroom in a small apartment in the back of the garden. .
- A 1982 'Rapido Confortmatic' caravan with dining corner and a comfy bed. The caravan is located inside the work space, next to the garden, so you will have privacy when you feel like that.
Depending on the number of volunteers we are hosting at the moment of your arrival you will receive accommodation in one of the two options mentioned above. Both are secluded from the rest of the house which ensures you have privacy when you need it.
Food politics:
- We like to eat together as often as possible, which usually doesn't happen in the morning due to people getting up at different times. So please provide your own food for breakfast.
- Lunch is always done together, unless someone is sick, in need of some privacy or away. we are fond curry enthusiasts, a love we would love to share with you!
- Dinner is shared during the week, we all take turns cooking through the use of a weekly schedule.
- During the weekends we might eat together or not, kind of depends on the moment and what we all feel like doing.
- The cost of food is shared between all of us, which means that we go shopping once a week for basic ingredients and fruits and veggies. This usually amounts to about 14€ per week*. The common meals we cook are all vegan. We kindly ask to purchase extras like cheese, meat or anything in particular you would like, yourself. We regularly go shopping so there is no problem if you need something in particular, just ask us and we bring it along.
- We have a fully equipped kitchen at your disposal. We kindly ask you to clean up after meals, and keep the kitchen a clean and happy kitchen.
*In case you do not wish to share the cost of food, you are also free to take care of your own food/cooking.
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Location:
The village of Sao Domingos is located about 20km from Santiago do Cacem, 40km from Sines (which is a coast town) and 120 km from Lisbon and Faro. The region is great for hiking and mountain biking. Local sights are fairly limited but there is a restaurant, two small supermarkets, and four bars.
Buses run two times on weekdays to Santiago so public transport is often a tough one to use here. We can help by getting you into town when we go shopping or need to run errands, and of course we will pick you up and drop you off upon arrival/departure.
We have mountain bike (bicycle) that is yours to use whenever you want.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
We have a high speed satellite internet connection that works great 99 percent of the time. There is dedicated space where you can create a little table/office setup.
We can host people in campervans but please be aware that the van or campervan would need to be parked on the street. The garden is quite big but not big enough to put a van/campervan.
Two
Maximum 3 hours a day, 5 days a week
These are extra optional ratings when members leave feedback. The average rating left for each option is displayed.
Accuracy of profile:
(4.9)
Cultural exchange:
(4.8)
Communication:
(4.9)
