spanglar spain

i recently came across five emails i sent out circa 2004 describing my two months spent in Spain (with an X...who became an X after the trip. good times.).  i am going to post them on this site, a little late, so i am sure not to lose them...and you may find them enjoyable.  that and i have failed to post on other trips i have recently taken, although what happens on the island should stay on the island.  AFY!!!  (if you don't know, don't ask.)

email #1, sent to 49 unlucky individuals on 1 october 2004, and yes, i used to type with capital letters:

" Hola,

Wish I could write individual emails, but that would be really expensive. Lesson #1: NEVER take for granted your home internet connection. Lesson #2: Never take for granted electricity, especially electricity in the bathroom. After spending 3 days in Madrid (nice, but seriously, another international city), X and I headed to Cadiz, a sweet little beach town in southern Spain. We stayed in a youth hostel (a personal lesson for me there...I´m getting too old to do that) and were told to throw our sleeping bags on the terrace for the night, i.e. the roof. Then we headed for Tarifa, on the VERY southern tip of Spain, the windsurf capital of the world. We joined up with our first WWOOF hosts, a couple of Brit hippies who have a pot patch that is bigger than my grandparents´ home...and I think they smoke that much in a day. Of course, it´s legal in Spain. They live on a farm like it´s 200 years ago. All light is candlelight, no electricity, no toilet paper in the toilets, etc. X, Marian (our Aussie co-WWOOFer, and I slept in caravans out front), all decorated in crazy Moroccan flavors...but then, Morocco is only 35min across the strait from Tarifa, so not so exotic in those parts. Additionally, these Brits would bring groceries home from Gibraltar? They have a big fat rooster (X was in heaven, lots of pictures), too many chickens to count, 4 cats, 3 dogs, 2 horses, a donkey...I think that´s it? We got to build a rock wall, clear farm land of weeds (ha, Carolyn, ironic eh?!), paint the guest house (they rent it out...sorta a b&b thing), feed the chickens, bundle sticks for kindling, etc. Seriously, we were working on a farm. I´ve never eaten so much. I learned lots, especially how to shower in cold water. Their water is warmed by the sun, and I had to finish work before the sun went down or BRRRRRRRR! I usually failed because we were all taking advantage of the siesta. YES, the siesta still exists. All the shops close 2-6pm or so. It is very inconvenient, at least until you get used to it.

Oh yes, communications. X and I are getting pretty good at Spanish. Nobody here speaks English.

Not sure what else to say, so much has happened, and my time on the computer is running out so I gotta jet.

We leave the farm in 2 days and head for Morocco...Africa! Well, not really Africa-Africa, but it´s the same continent and it should be just as frantic.  

Will write more soon.

gg"