WWOOF: Keeping Life Simple & Making Me Sweat

We left Baguio and made it to Acop/Tuplay (never was able to clarify what to call the town). Peter met us getting off the Jeepney. I was a little concerned at first because the plan I'd made through email didn't have us meeting a man at all. We were supposed to meet a woman after getting off of the Jeepney. I decided to suppress this slight fear and followed Peter. We stayed in the farm's owners' home for about fifteen minutes because they told us to sit and rest. We didn't feel like we needed to rest. We did sit long enough to make pleasantries. I think everyone in the room just wanted to get to know us a bit. They seem genuinely interested to learn about our lives.

We set off from the house with Peter and Victor, whom was already at the home. We hiked for three kilometers down a mostly steep hill in a monstrous down pour. A few slips and we made it to a river, went about half a kilometer uphill, and we had made it! We were shown our place to stay, but were given the option of a tent. I explored around the new place we'd be staying for almost a week. When I'd had enough of the hut, I left with Meg in tow and our belongings behind us. Mama Olive asked why we didn't put on dry clothes...we found out that at this farm you don't work in the rain...tell that to my mom in the Seattle area! :D A short walk and I was back at the hut. Meg and I changed clothes...waited...hung out...waited...rain stopped. Talked with Peter some, received food for the week from Mama Olive, and settled in for the night.

During the first few days when it wasn't raining, we spent most of our working time trying to find things to do. We came at a time when there wasn't anything to harvest or plant. Peter was so passive about things that even when asking for work he didn't always give us something to do. We ended up giving him ideas for what we could do, such as weeding. Weeding killed my back. I tried to stay away from bending over for a few days. I spent most of my time moving rocks from the old river bed (washed out from a storm) up the half kilometer hill for one of the homes there were restoring. Meg tried her hand at rock picking & hauling, painting the same home we were moving rocks for, and a few other things. She seemed to settle mostly on weeding. I enjoyed hauling the rocks up the hill while listening to audio books :) When not working, we either explored the area with Peter or by ourselves, ate food, waited for rain to stop, or slept. I was still getting over my cold.

Making food for ourselves was one of the treats at ENCA Farm. No electricity wasn't much of a problem with all of my electronics fully charged before arrival and hard work put me asleep quickly. The stove in our hut was propane, which made cooking fast and easy. I spent most of my evenings catching up on my blog by candle light or in the dark. Meg and I got into some audiobooks since they take much less battery than games or movies (books on tape for those older peeps). The Forever War by Joe Haldeman became a treat for the two of us.

By the time we had to leave I wasn't thrilled about it. I did want to charge things up but I enjoyed the simple life with fresh organic foods. Reluctantly, I packed my things up. We set off with the sun high in the sky. Once across the river, rain and more rain poured on us. I finished the audiobook The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman, while on the hike up. I had started it a few days prior to give Meg time for catching up on the Forever War since I had gotten a little ahead of her.

We arrived on schedule to the farm owners' home soaked again but in high spirits. We changed clothes and ate some food they whipped up for us. Caught a Jeepney to Bontoc as the jump off point for the start of our journey to Banuae and the rice terraces.

Some more pics from around the farm: