mís compañeros

As of the time of this typing, five other WWOOFers and assorted other staff have wended there ways here to the Hacienda. These are their stories.


Giles and Anna come from New Zealand. These dynamic Kiwis have been living on the road quite literally for the last two and a half years. To support their habit, they’ve tricked out a diesel van they bought on the cheap from a friend’s company and have quite a lovely set-up inside. There’s a bed and plenty of cleverly laid-out shelf space for their various bits and pieces. They’ve been working primarily in one of the olive groves here for the past five weeks, although they’ve also spent time WWOOFing through Ireland, the UK, France, and other parts of Spain. I’ve pretty much adopted them as my mentors through my first WWOOFing experience, asking them all kinds of questions about what to expect from work, how to find my way around, and just what they’ve been chasing after these days. They’ll be gone from the Hacienda by the time this is posted, making their way back to England by way of France, and then either returning to New Zealand or Southern Spain to settle in for a time. It’s their hope to build a place for themselves using sustainable building techniques and powered by off-the-grid renewable sources. Amazing fact of the day: Anna was a Rider of Rohan! She and her horse were extras in the LOTR film, The Two Towers!


Carl is from Slovakia and has been working short-term jobs around the world for some time now. In the last year, he spent time working in Florida with his brother, and then WWOOFing in Hawaii! Since returning to Europe, he’s been on his way around Spain, escaping the Central European winter. I certainly don’t blame him. It seems he’s been in the mood to wander from here to there just to see what’s around, picking up skills and memories along the way. Karl was one of the first WWOOFers I met here at the Hacienda and his easy-going attitude helped me feel at home right away.

Kris currently lives near Brussels in Belgium. I think he’s looking for a change a little like I was, although he’s started his search with more of a safety net. He’s still employed and is taking two weeks off to try his hand at farming and then to visit some friends in Madrid. After studying economics in university and then landing a job with a firm, Kris is wondering what other kinds of lifestyles are out there and is on the way to check some out. We both question the need for the “responsible nine to five” existence that seems to surround us, but neither of us is quite sure how to escape yet. Hopefully this time away will give him some perspective and help him to find the path he needs to take to fulfillment. By the time this is posted he, too, will be gone, but I think he should give notice at his job and come back! Who’s to say?


Brendan is a young Irish man, just arriving from other WWOOF experiences in Portugal and Northern Spain. He’s now 101 days on the road, setting out from near Dublin with a small group of friends. As his road grew longer, his list of companions grew shorter, each heading in other directions to other opportunities. Brendan comes from a university education in engineering, but isn’t interested in that kind of work right now. He’s searching for work he finds worthwhile and meaningful to his environmentally conscious lifestyle. So far, his travels have been extensive, stretching across much of the northern part of the continent.


Daniela began her work at the Hacienda as a volunteer. Her primary responsibilities have been with the horses, but after she became an employee at the Hacienda, she’s also taken other duties including grounds work and kitchen duties. Daniela is Swiss and speaks Romanisch (among several other languages; she learned English in 10 weeks as an au pair in Boston!), an old and very colloquial language, common in only a small region of Switzerland. She’s only 20 and will soon be leaving the Hacienda to begin a practicum in architecture so she can begin to study it in university. She and her small dog, Lucy, bring a lot of cheer and energy to the Hacienda and I’ll be sad to see her go in December. Perhaps we’ll leave at the same time so I won’t have to be so sad….

In addition to these, my peers, there are several other folk living and working here, with as many nationalities. We have a couple of riding instructors from Germany, a very kind and industrious Belgian groundskeeper, a Frenchman with a wide array of skills (languages, machine repair, farming, oven-building and baking to name a few!), a German housekeeper with a huge heart and great sense of humor, and the family of owners who manage the place hailing from Egypt, Switzerland and Germany. There are also a handful of Spaniards who live nearby that manage the daily tasks of house- and grounds keeping in order to keep this place in tip-top shape. Our guests also come from all over, spending their days relaxing, riding, and sharing their meals family-style with all of us in the Hacienda.

In ways not too different from my old home at the Farm, these are the people with whom I share my time, my experiences. We work together, play together, break bread together. We rise with the sun, toil beneath its rays, and then play in the evening cool, all on the grounds of the Hacienda. This is maybe too claustrophobic an experience for most people, but I’ve found this to be the most worthwhile way for me to spend my time in a place. I come to know my environment, develop relationships, and learn how to build community wherever I am.