Badges (3)
Profile information
Our status
At home
Description
Sonia's originally from Aruba, but has lived in Holland for 16 years. She's also lived in Bolivia for almost 2 years and in Portugal. In 2004 we traveled around the world and spent 8 months in New Zealand crisscrossing both islands. We volunteered in a hostel for a month on the North island, and Wwoofed for a week on the South island. We've also wwoofed in Portugal and done other volunteer projects through the Dutch branch of SCI in Italy and in Vermont (Solarfest) (through Volunteers for Peace). Sonia's always loved traveling and had the urge to get off the small island where she grew up. We've been (back) in Aruba for 3,5 years now and run a guesthouse in Sonia's childhood home by the sea. We try to get off the island at least 2 months a year and hope to eventually spend longer periods of time abroad.
Sonia is interested in permaculture and sustainability, languages, food, the outdoors, music and travel and Steffen enjoys his work as a freelance graphic designer and is interested in typography, books , photography, nature, food, cooking and travel.
We like to combine our travels with some help/work exchange in order to learn new things (esp. about farming/homesteading), meet new people and experience new places in a different way than mere tourists.
Interests
NatureCampingSailing / BoatingOutdoor activitiesFarmingGardeningSustainabilityAnimalsPetsLanguagesCooking & foodSelf development
Skills and knowledge we'd like to share or learn
We're interested in:
DIY and building projects
Life at a Farmstay
Eco Projects
Animal Care
Language practice
Some knowledge of:
Gardening
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Helping around the house
Hospitality/Tourism
More details about your skills
We can cook, paint, clean, weed, (trans)plant seedlings, take care of pets, do graphic design (Steffen) or translation (Sonia)
Languages spoken
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
Spanish: Fluent
Dutch: Fluent
Portuguese: Fluent
French: Intermediate
Age
44 & 48
Nationality
Dutch
What else ...
We run a guesthouse in Aruba (in Sonia's childhood home by the sea). For the passed 3,5 years we've been trying to grow some veggies in the backyard and have been battling against the elements: intense sun (heat), no rain, strong wind, no or poor soil (coral rock ground) and lots of pests. We long for some home-grown healthy food instead of the imported and inferior quality foods we get here (in Aruba) which come with lots of packaging which in turn ends up on the landfill. We also look forward to some nature and greenery, away from the desert and thorny shrubs.
Some more information
Smoker
Driver's licence
Allergies
noSpecial dietary requirements
no
Feedback
Both have helped me with enthusiasm and autonomy.
Thanks to you two !
We had very interesting exchanges.
However, we were limited in our discussions by fatigue and communication difficulties in our respective languages.
We hope that this experience will be useful to him in his future projects. We wish him a good trip.
Sonia est une personne très… read more
I helped out with some work in the yard, like weeding, watering, planting and pruning, cleaning up the rooms for new airb&b guests, and also clearing out… read more
Friends
Feedback
Both have helped me with enthusiasm and autonomy.
Thanks to you two !
We had very interesting exchanges.
However, we were limited in our discussions by fatigue and communication difficulties in our respective languages.
We hope that this experience will be useful to him in his future projects. We wish him a good trip.
Sonia est une personne très… read more
I helped out with some work in the yard, like weeding, watering, planting and pruning, cleaning up the rooms for new airb&b guests, and also clearing out… read more