Workaway reviews, feedback and ratings - page 2

Wow… what can we say! Katy & Jason are two of the kindest, most generous and interesting people we have met and we feel mega lucky to have crossed paths with them! They made us feel right at home from the minute we arrived and made sure we had everything we needed to feel comfortable. It was an absolute pleasure to sit around the dinner table and listen to their stories, we had such a laugh with them and felt very welcomed. Katy’s velvet chicken curry was to die for! We stayed here for 2 weeks and we absolutely adored this little surf town. We worked in the morning and had the afternoons off, so we had plenty of down time to explore “Crezzo”. We mainly spent our afternoons in the lazy river and watching the surfers (and made a fair few visits to the local pie shop). Katy and Jason are currently working on a few projects around the place, one of them being to create a low-maintenance garden, and this what we worked on for the 2 weeks we were there. We were given clear instructions of the goal and they trusted us to get on with it, with all the tools provided for the tasks at hand. Our main tasks were to prepare for the new layout, which involved stripping the beds, clearing the existing roots and excavating trenches ready for new plants. We even had a little go at getting creative with some DIY dry stone walling! The work was physical but not too hard and we had a lot of fun doing it! Jason even kindly let us use his garage and tools to fix up our van during our stay too. If you’re interested in experiencing life in a small, world class surf town whilst enjoying working outdoors and staying with cool people, then we would definitely recommend staying with Katy and Jason. Absolute legends! Thank you for everything guys, we hope to stay in touch and we will always be grateful for everything you have done for us! PS - a shout out to the lovely neighbours, especially Jenny, who made us muffins to fuel us whilst we worked!

Hanna is a very helpful and willing young lady. She is quick to learn, with lots of initiative and with all her tasks carried out with a smile. If you get a chance to host Hanna, you will not be disappointed. A lovely young lady, who worked very hard during some rather tough mountain weather and was always cheerful and great company.

Amazing workaway that I did with a beautiful Titou ✨ She was an amazing host very kind, happy to receive her workawayers, full of love and positive vibes, always listening 🌸 An amazing person ! I'm very happy about the time spending there, in this beautiful place full of little details everywhere, such as a magic dolmen circle, or some secret paths to go to some great view point of the valley, and a lot of creativity everywhere ! It was really a pleasure to contribute to this place with murals on some new little houses almost ready for her beautiful project ☘️ And what a nice time spending all together with Melli and Alex, Calinou and Gigi the cutest dogs, Juan the motorsiera warrior and all the chicken and Hippolyte, a funny companion 😂 Nice time full of fun, nice conversations, beautiful walks, super fun karaokes and dinners, and thank you Titou for reading the cards it was very amazing ! 🌸❤️ I will come back for sure to see you and everyone, and thank you Titou for this unique experience so beautiful and meaningful 🤗❤️ you have an amazing smile and a place very rich in good vibes !

Teddy stayed with me for a few days in March and helped enormously with some indoor and outdoor tasks. Together we cleared the outdoor drain system of leaves and dirt, and refreshed some bamboo fencing in the garden. Teddy helped move some furniture with me inside, and then single-handedly took down a suspended ceiling in the annexe without causing any damage to the interior, and helped clear it all away. He definitely deserved spending some free time relaxing in the local sauna and baths facility after all his hard work. We enjoyed some traditional Hungarian Pálinka, (hopefully my cooking), and my friends found him to be very personable when invited over to play Rummikub one evening. I couldn't have managed without Teddy's help, and I'm very grateful he was so accommodating, especially as the property bears more resemblance to an active construction zone than a finished home.

I joined Susana and her family in February and I had a really good time. They made me feel like part of the family from the moment i arrived. I was able to meet the other members as well and joined them on their weekly activities together. I miss the Paella Sundays already😪 The tasks where clearly communicated and I had enough time every day to do things on my own as well. Susana was very accommodating and helpful, if I wanted to do something in Valencia or somewhere else for the day she asked other family members to help out with Noelia as well. Noelia is a very sweet and fun girl, we laughed together and it was a pleasure to help and accompany her. Puerto de Sagunto is a nice city, you have everything you need in walking distance and I went to the beach and parks a lot of times to relax and watch the sunset. All in all you will have a great time there and can experience a loving and fun family and help them out in exchange😊

We had the perfect experience with Kirsten, she is a lovely woman ! We have learn a lot from her and we had a really great time. We were suppose to stay 2 weeks but end up staying 1month and a half because it was so great ! We are looking forward to see kirsten again for new projects ! Thank you very much again

Fuki was amazing, just what we needed. He was versatile, adaptable, enthusiastic and motivated. He was a pleasure to host, extremely polite, thoughtful and kind. He quickly became a part of our family which was delightful. Fuki was like a sponge and learned both English and French languages whilst with us as well as many diy skills, he helped us lay 2 driveways, did lots of painting and generally helped with projects we were working on. He got us up and motivated every day! We can’t wait to visit him in Japan later this year.

This was Emmas first workaway and she did not come with Mike but came with her sister Olivia. They were a couple of independent young women who were self reliant and great communicators. It was really delightful to have their joyful , enthusiatic and playful energy on site. They could not have been more perfect! They were both willing to learn new skills and were really good workers, knuckling down and doing the garden jobs given to them, taking pride in their approach and cleaning up after the garden jobs.They also cleaned the house on a rainy day, and were generally helpful and willing to step up outside of work away expectations. I would not hesistate in recommending either of them for future workaways and would happily have them return again for further work away stints here at any time. ps. I marked their skill base purely as a 4/5 because I was unable to test their abilities definitively!

Life around the farm with Emma was so very fun. She brought joy, laughter, and an infinite amount of energy. Always willing, always up for a challenge, always happy to help in any way possible. I am so thankful we crossed paths; would not have had it any other way. We already miss her. (Now who's going to drill holes and crush the eggshells?!) In all seriousness - - she probably doesn't realize just how much she's helped us. She feels like part of the family now and is always welcome here at Barros.

Takuya is a very pleasant and polite guest who approaches tasks with great diligence and interest. Thank you so much for your help, your creative ideas, and your calm demeanor. I would be delighted to welcome you back as a guest and friend.

My wife Melissa and I originally intended to stay 2 weeks at the Farm, but we ended up staying nearly 2 months, from January-March because we became so involved in several areas of the farm and connected so well with Mayoor, Mukunth, and the rest of the staff. I think it is important for future workawayers to understand that coming here will not be a vacation. It's a real, working farm with a working business (cocoa processing and chocolate-making). This means that there are many tasks and a lot of work to be done constantly, and you will be asked to participate. The work can include any or all of the following: - manual labor (building, digging, moving earth, moving construction material) - construction and property maintenance (fixing plumbing, making paths, painting... whatever needs to be done) - management of social media accounts - taking care of animals (washing them, emptying the manure tank, checking for fleas and ticks, etc) - general gardening/landscape/orchard/irrigation work - processing of cocoa pods/beans during the cocoa season (March-June) which includes breaking pods, moving heavy amounts of beans around for fermentation/drying - cooking and cleaning when the normal staff are on their off days The living situation is also basic (but always improving). You will be sleeping in dorms with other volunteers and sometimes other staff. Bucket showers, simple washroom setup, with a pump that needs to be intermittently turned on to fill the water tanks. Hot water was always available (not that you'd want it during the summer....). Communal kitchen with potable water and a common area. The entire farm is constantly being developed, too, so there could be construction going on during the day, etc. Food was vegetarian and fairly typical of South India (lots of rice in different forms + some sort of curry). Because the number of volunteers and staff fluctuates a good amount, some days we'd have more food than necessary and sometimes we'd have less and have to do a little cooking ourselves (or Mukunth would take over the cooking). We'd usually have plenty of eggs for those that wanted that protein. The farm is located right on a bus stop on a busy road, so getting to Mangalore or to the beach was fairly easy and cheap. It takes about 1 hour or so and a couple bus transfers depending on the day to get to one of the many beaches and maybe 30-45minutes to get to Mangalore center. The busy Kateel temple, where there are constantly folk dances nearly every night, is a 15 minute walk down the road if you're into that. During the summer it can get very hot and very humid. Took us a couple weeks to truly get used to it. With all that said, we stayed because the experience was incredibly rewarding, the relationships we developed were genuine, and the work we did felt meaningful. What Mayoor is doing on this farm goes beyond just running a cocoa and chocolate business; he is emphasizing equitable employment (much of the staff are women from the village), sourcing cocoa pods from many farms he has cultivated relationships with over many years, focusing on biodiversity and climate change-aware farming methods, and prioritizing human welfare alongside business profitability. The daily work is mostly coordinated by Mukunth, the volunteer coordinator. Mukunth does a fantastic job of structuring the work and navigating volunteers' skills. We really appreciated the way that Mukunth was so open to feedback and his desire to continue improving. He was always available for anything we needed and values communication, which the farm benefits hugely from. In our down time, we had many great conversations on a wide variety of topics with him. We are grateful to have developed such a good relationship with Mukunth and now consider him a good friend. We hope to see him in our area :) to do some fishing in alpine lakes, take some walks in the forest, and do some hiking in the mountains. Thank you Mukunth for being a good human being. Mayoor became a good friend with whom we spent a lot of time talking about business strategy, politics, religion, traveling, relationships, climate change, science, cocoa and coffee (Mayoor roasts some really good coffee). We also spent plenty of time just hanging out and talking about less serious topics. We were fortunate to visit several different farms with him, as well as take a several-day trip him to Bangalore and Chikmagalur as he met with farmers and coffee plantation owners. Melissa was happy to initiate a collaboration with a local coffee shop in Mangalore city where we organized a first-of-its-kind chocolate + coffee tasting event at TLC Art Cafe expertly-guided by another volunteer who is a trained chocolate taster (thank you Cathleen!). Hopefully many more of these events will happen in the future as Mayoor's cacao beans and chocolate become more in demand (and his chocolate truly is amazing!). Kevin and fellow volunteer Marcus redid much of the drip irrigation system for the new trees that were recently planted but missing water. Hopefully the watering of the orchard becomes a simpler task with the improved system and the instructions + schematic that we developed. Future volunteers with irrigation or agricultural experience can hopefully improve upon it further and help nurture these trees to maturity. Kevin also did some business development by registering the business with Restor.eco, doing photography for the Farm plus a number of the different farms that work with Mayoor, and building profiles on Restor.eco for each of them. This work will hopefully continue as the network of sustainable and organic cocoa growers vetted by Mayoor grows. Melissa spent her time taking care of the animals (milking Babu and delivering the milk to Mayoor's uncle's house further down the property, washing+feeding the puppies Shunti, Mallige and Sambige, the cats Pilli and Pella, and the adult dogs Robin, Pulli and Munchi), gardening, cleaning the dorms and the bathrooms, and organizing the chocolate tasting event at TLC Art Cafe. The staff at the farm becomes quite large during the cocoa season, but they are all kind and helpful. Thank you so much to Ramya and the other ladies who kept us fed and to Shwetha and Deepa who brought us chocolate to taste whenever they'd make a new batch. Melissa and I are truly grateful for the 2 months we spent and we hope to come back to see the puppies and kitten all grown up, the cocoa business scaling, the network of farmers growing, and the orchard at the farm thriving. Thank you so much to Mayoor, Mukunth, and the ladies that keep the place running. We are humbled by your generosity, kindness, and friendship and thankful for having made lasting connections with you.

I am happy to get volunteers like Jona, it really helps me, thank you for all this time while you were in the jungle, I, Romi, representing my team, say thank you very much.

It is an amazing authentic place, surrounded by nature and wilderness. Romi and the guys are very helpful, kind and a lot of fun to hangout with. It helps if you learn a bit of Indonesian. The work depended a lot on the week and day, but it was mostly maintaining the land and building with basics. A lot of fun! Food was good and you can sleep in a tent or bungalow. Lots of wild animals to see everyday and the river is great for a swim. Anyone is welcome here and it feels like a family.

They are very lovely people. Even though my English is so bad, They were always very kind to me. And every food they make was really tasty and they provided me very comfortable staying. They also took me some beautiful places and treated me to great food as well. I really recommend you for your great experience. Thank you for everything to me xxxx

This arm is a beautiful project focused on community and education. it is a farm but it acts as more of a community centre where the locals can learn English and volunteers can get grounded and create meaningful connections and beautiful memories. I was lucky enough to spend 17 days here and it was one of the highlights of my travels.

Emile and Stephanie are a sweet hard working couple, who took on the various projects with vigour and good organisation. Emile is very handy on the tools and did a great job of the hedging and Steph sanded and repaired the metal gazebo. They also enjoyed cooking and made some lovely dishes.

Lena and Quentin came with specific skills of carpentry and completely restored 10 outdoor wooden chairs that were quite rotten in places; they literally rebuilt them, sanded and painted them back to their former glory. They also cooked some amazing French and African dishes. Super lovely and kind people and highly recommend them to other hosts.

I had such an incredible experience here, i met many other volunteers, teachers and children who i will remember dearly for the rest of my life. i was very lucky to celebrate holi while i stayed here for 2 weeks which was such a fun experience spreading colors and getting colored too. i have electrical experience and can fix anything just about but we got lucky cause the water treatment system went down but i was able to work with experts to make the changes to keep the water flowing. i did a bit of construction work and i was able to also teach the student some math. i learned a bit of nepalese here too. i am truly grateful i stopped here along on my travels and many thanks for hosting me!

I stayed with Jane and Tom for about a month, and I’m truly grateful for the time I spent with them. They are the most wonderful couple I’ve ever met (apart from my own parents, haha!). Jane is usually calm and gentle, and her smile always made me happy. Tom has a great sense of humor, but he is also a very thoughtful person. My speaking and listening skills weren’t good, but they were always patient with me. They spoke slowly when needed and kindly encouraged me to ask questions as many times as I wanted. They also cooked delicious and healthy meals every day and we enjoyed watching movies together. My work mainly involved gardening and cleaning. Living with them gave me a chance to reflect on relationships and ways of living and working. I truly appreciate everything they have done for me. Thank you so much.

I had an amazing time with William his family and the other work awayers. They were extremely kind, generous people and are more than willing to help with anything that comes up. Their schedule was very flexible, which worked great for me. I loved its open forest and being able to go off and be alone for long periods of time and I often found myself listening to music for hours on end. I’m extremely lucky to have connected with them and would love to come back if again if possible.