Sunseed

The main purpose of our trip to Europe was so that Nathan could find a job for his work term in Spain. After spending time working in development in Ecuador, we thought that it would be nice to see the other side of the world but still practice our Spanish. After having such a horrible experience in Ecuador, we decided to just show up in Spain and see what we could figure out. In the middle of our cruise, I was reading the Lonely Planet guidebook for Spain and was reading about green travel experiences. In this section was about 2 sentences about Sunseed Desert Technology where you could volunteer. As soon as we could, we checked out the website, liked what we saw, and Nathan sent them a resume. We heard from them right away and the news was positive, Nathan could work there and I could join him. This was definitely not what we were expecting. We brought clothes for every situation, mostly assuming that we would be working in fancy offices or professional situations in Madrid. Sunseed is a world away from professional Madrid.

We were quite nervous heading to Sunseed because, like I said, we were still wincing from our horrendous time in Ecuador. We also had read a blog online that didn’t review Sunseed very positively, but as we had learned in Ecuador, you cannot judge a project but what is on a website. We took a bus from Madrid to Almeria, and then the next morning a bus from Almeria to Sorbas – our fingers crossed the entire journey. The bus dropped us off on the side of the road in Sorbas, a small village in the very south of Spain. Nathan went to call a cab to take us to Sunseed (which is in Los Molinos del Rio Aguas, about 7km away) and on route to the phone, he came across a van with the Sunseed logo on the side. He talked to the people driving the van, who were in town for a shopping trip, and the picked up us and our things and took us to the project.

The desert around Sunseed is absolutely beautiful, and as we drove towards the project, we had amazing views all over the valley. Some western movies that took place in Arizona were filmed in this area because it looks so much like the southwest of the USA. We arrived at the project and were greeted warmly by everyone there. We settled into our room, changed into cooler clothes, and tried to adjust to the heat.

The project focuses on permaculture and sustainability. This means that we respect the environment, ourselves, and each other. The project is entirely solar powered, which works really well in the intense sunlight of the desert. We use composting toilets and collect urine to be used in the garden and compost piles. The food is always vegetarian, and usually vegan and consists of locally grown and organic produce as much as possible. We take turns cooking and cleaning up, which is really nice when it’s not your turn.

Nathan is working on a project for University where he is researching the heating and cooling of traditional buildings. He wanders around the project about 3 times a day taking temperatures in various places to see how the buildings keep cool or heat up. It has been insanely hot so far, usually between 35-40 degrees and the buildings are usually about 10 degrees cooler than that which is a welcome relief. Still, we spend most of the afternoon in our rooms having a siesta, or, when it is really hot, just staring at the roof. In the morning, we wake up, eat breakfast, and head off to do a task that is chosen the day before. Usually we do things like working in the garden, maintenance, cleaning, cooking, or any other random task that needs to be done. After lunch, I have the afternoon free while Nathan works on his project. We have had lots of time to read and research and really enjoy our trip (and perhaps recover from the first 4 months).

Most days we take a quick walk down to the tiny river where there is a pool. The water is absolutely freezing, but necessary after dirty, hot, and sweaty work around the project. The pool is almost a magical place where you can see turtles, dragonflies, and huge bees fluttering around the water. We have also taken many hikes around the valley. One time we decided to go off the trail and ended up finding a secluded pool that we had to climb down the rocks to get to. This was really cool until we tried to climb out, which was much harder. Then we had to walk back through the crazy desert plants that ALL have spikes and are out to get you. When we made it home, we were covered in scratches and blood.

Another hike took us to another pool, but we were taken by other people on the project who knew where they were going. On the way, we stopped in a village that had been forcefully evacuated by Franco. It was really interesting seeing ruins from more recent history, as the ancient history of Mexico, South America, Greece and Rome were all so familiar. The pool was much bigger than the others we had visited and you could swim around a bit. I love swimming, so I couldn’t resist a second swim in the pool, and when I went, I was joined by a turtle. He swam right up to me and was checking me out, even touching me. It was really amazing. But, when I got out, we were looking in the water and out from under the rocks came an eel! I had no idea that eels could live in fresh water or in this part of Spain, but we were sure it was one. When we got home we researched it and found out that they are quite rare but do live in the rivers that go out to the Mediterranean – and there was nothing to worry about because he was a vegetarian eel!

We have also had a lot of good times with the people at Sunseed. We have spent many nights discussing politics, sex, religion, and the Queen of England over a box of Spanish wine. We have also had lovely trips to the beach, and even to an all night reggae party where we slept on the beach. We have watched lots of great films, had seminars, and impromptu music sessions. Most of the other people on the project are from England, so we have learned so much about English culture as well. It’s funny how many times we have no idea what they are talking about. First, it took us a long time to get past the accent and understand what they are saying, but there are also a million different British words that we don’t use in Canada. There are also things like food that we haven’t experienced before, but now know we will be looking for at the import store at home. We never expected to come to Spain and learn more about England!!

We still have a few weeks left at Sunseed, but have really enjoyed our time there. It has been such a peaceful and positive experience where we were able to think a lot about our lives, our futures, and who we want to be as people. We have read more than ever before in our lives and studied many things we have always wanted to study. We are really excited to head home and put new things into practice that we have learned at Sunseed – both practically and ideologically.