hola de Austurias

Hola from Asturias.
Waking up at 7:30 and being outside a short 15 minutes later to be greeted by happy dogs and hungry donkeys, while overlooking the beautiful mountains of Austurias …there are worse things to wake up to. While some days I stay around the farm and feed the donkeys together with the other volunteers I prefer walking with the dogs in the morning: to make our way up the hill and find out if the nice view from the nearby lookout is again as beautiful as it was the day before. It often is…although due to the mist it is not always possible to see the mountains of the Picos in the distance. But the low mist that hangs between the mountains nearby or the heavy mist some mornings has got some magic to it as well and I love it every time again. Last week the sun peeked through the mist and bathed us in a perfect golden light and put the yellow/black striped, wasp looking spiders in their cobwebs to be the center piece of that morning: stunning.
When returning home from the walk the volunteers who walked the dogs will help the volunteers who stayed behind (and fed the donkeys and horses) to get the donkeys into the field. Some days this goes smooth and quick, other days the donkeys don’t seem to be in a hurry to leave the stable at all and keep on eating. But usually they will be out by around 9:00…great because by that time I am kind of starving for a good breakfast. And a good breakfast it is. We are served fresh porridge made by Marleen filled with healthy ingredients as apple, peach, ginger and cinnamon. On the table Marleen will place small containers with various great ingredients such as walnuts, almonds, raisins, sunflower pips, pumpkin seeds, shredded coconut and muesli to add to our porridge. ..needless to say that it is a welcoming warm breakfast. After this great breakfast it is time to clean the stables. If you’re lucky you can clean and tidy the stables without any donkeys in it, but if you’re less fortunate a few curious and always for food searching donkeys will have entered the stables again and will make it impossible to really work well. For example they don’t lift up there feet and drag the fresh straw that you just placed on the floor through the whole stable or they start eating the clean stable from the stable floor…but okay…it’s their paradise and so we let them. Buckets are rinsed and filled with clean water, floors are swept and for a short minute the stables and the surroundings do look neat and clean.
Coffee time is carrot cutting time and so, while we enjoy our coffee and tea, we will be cutting carrots for the donkeys their dinner. When the coffee time is over, it’s time for cooking or other chores. The chores vary from pulling weeds in the vegetable garden, picking some apples, brushing donkeys, walking the dogs or what-ever tasks there are, needs to be done or want to be found. The last two weeks I have cooked most of the times. Here in Spain the lunch is the biggest meal and since I like cooking and other volunteers didn’t feel so confident to do so I prepared lunch. Luckily new volunteers came and they like cooking, so I can work a bit in and around the garden, with I like as well.
The days fly by and even though I have got enough free time in the afternoon ( siesta time) I hardly take time to sit down and write an blog or walk to Ariondas to send an email. Guess days are just quickly filled with other stuff. In siesta time I walk around a bit, pay a visit to the youngest addition Rocco ( more about a view donkeys next time), talk with the other volunteers here or do whatever. And before I know it is time to get the donkeys inside, feed them again and walk the dogs.

Okay, I have to close the blog now. Today it’s Sunday and I will go to a town nearby today where I will be able to use internet for a while and so can put the blog online. Lovely greetings from Austurias and I will try to write a bit more about the lovely donkeys next time .