Volunteers are essential at Maravilhas. We are thankful for all their help and support. During the past few months we had help from different countries: Pedro from Portugal, Eric from Estonia and Jaap from Holland. Joanne from Ireland will be helping us over the coming months. The following is a review of her experiences at Maravilhas to date.
“I arrived at Monte Maravilhas on 27 March of this year, a little unsure of what to expect. I was still wearing my heavy black raincoat from Ireland when I arrived at Funcheira station, although the sun was blazing at the time. I was greeted at the station by Deva, a friend of Prem’s and we began our journey to Monte Maravilhas. This was my first time in Portugal. I was immediately struck by the beauty of the area, in particular by the various types of trees. I had never before seen orange trees bearing fruit, or Cork trees after the peeling of their trunks had taken place and a number placed on them, or fig trees beginning to blossom.
Upon arrival at Monte Maravilhas, Prem, Tara the dog and Pudi the cat were all present to say hello. I was firstly shown to my new temporary accommodation at Casa Mula. We chatted for some time and I was then given a tour of Monte Maravilhas. I was given a day and a half to relax, explore and find my way around in the locality. It was very pleasant to have received such a warm welcome into the Monte Maravilhas family.
Since my arrival in Monte Maravilhas, I have helped with the cleaning of the houses, the preparation of meals, gardening and walking Tara the dog, which is more of a pastime I must admit! I have had a lot of time to relax and chat with both neighbours and guests here at Monte Maravilhas. Indeed I have made some really good friends here too in such a short space of time. I cannot compliment John enough for the fantastic vegetarian meals he has made us over the past few weeks.
On 10 April last, I celebrated my birthday here in style. I had ‘happy birthday’ sung to me in both Portuguese and Dutch. We went to Villa Nova de Milfontes beach during the daytime, which was one of my best presents for the day and we all had birthday cake later on that evening. It was a special birthday to remember!
It was always my intention to make use of my career break from work in order to experience different ways of life and I believe that thanks to Prem I have successfully achieved this here in Portugal. In Ireland I work in a busy office environment in a city centre location, where I work in front of a computer every day and the sun is a rare spectacle in the sky. Here in Portugal I help out in a relaxed environment in a rural setting, where the daily duties are more of a physical varied nature and the sun shines on a regular basis. It has been a pleasure helping out at Monte Maravilhas to date.
I consider however, that it really is the people here who have made the experience so pleasant so far, notwithstanding the beauty and tranquillity of Monte Maravilhas. Prem has been an excellent host. I really appreciated the time and effort invested in making my birthday so special this year and I look forward to the times ahead at Monte Maravilhas!”
Joanne
So this is it for now as regards all the goings on at Maravilhas. It leaves us to wish everybody a very pleasant spring until the next newsletter!
