Christian Perez's Travel Journal

(Mis)Adventures in the Sounds, Thu Jul 13, 2006

I drove two hours over bumpy one lane gravel roads, with hardly a tree to stop my car from flying over the edge into the sea if I missed the next turn. Big puffy clouds floated along amidst sparkling waters and land rising quickly to hundreds of meters. Sounds too good to be true, I know.

And it was. The people there weren't the nicest I've met. The HelpX website says you should work about 4 hours a day in exchange for room and board. I also expect to get something else out of my stay, something unique. I can work my butt off somewhere else and get paid; I want something special here.

All I did was dig up earth for 6 hours for a silly rock wall. I didn't even get a "thank you" or a "good job", just a dinner at which me and my friend worker were ignored the whole time. I was treated like a guest, but rather an itinerit worker of little consequence. I was supposed to stay until Sunday but I left on Thursday morning...and I forgot my $200 boots. I want to drive my car off a cliff.

I also got sick from working in the wind and cold and I've spent the last week getting better. Now that I've healed up enough, I'm taking off for a week in the wilderness to clear my soul, as Emerson would have done. Ben will be here next week. Gotta get ready for nonstop travel again. It'll be hard now that I feel like I live here and not just passing through.