Bad Day? Dogs + Nature Will Fix Everything
Despite what my Instagram stories might reveal, I had been feeling down the past few days.
After almost 7 weeks away from my friends and community I started too long for meetups with friends and familiar comforts like my weekly ukulele class, riding my bike, and grocery shopping whenever I wanted to. Not to mention the temperatures in Portugal started to rise like crazy leaving me feeling out of sorts.
It wouldn’t be such a bad thing if I had four walls and a ceiling where I could hide from the sun during the hottest part of the day and/or reliable transportation to and from the beach. But I happened to be volunteering on a farm and was expected to work from around 10 in the morning until 3 or so in the afternoon. Afterward, I had to do my “real” job of helping Conscious Business Owners share their gifts with the world. It was a lot.
But again, it wouldn’t have been so bad if I had had four walls and a roof to protect me and reliable internet to count on.
But that was not the case. Instead, I had an old wooden table, uneven ground, an army of ants hell-bent on eating me alive no matter where I sat, a hard wooden patio chair from Ikea, unstable internet, and a floppy umbrella. That was my “office” for the past few weeks. Charming at first, and extremely frustrating thereafter.
At night I retreated to my tent around 8p because that’s when the bugs came out. I’d usually read or organize my suitcase for the umpteenth time before turning the lights out. If I was lucky enough to catch a wifi signal I’d look up a ukulele song on Ukutabs.com and quietly strum along, cognizant of the fact that sound seemed to travel very well in the valley, much better than the wifi seemed to. There is no reason why anyone should have to hear me screeching out Fast Car by Tracy Chapman.
This particular experience started to make me rethink this whole Workaway thing. When I joined the site which matches volunteers with various projects, my intention was to learn as much as I could about building a homestead, owning land, and tending a garden, all the while saving money by not having to pay for accommodation, but I suppose you have to be very careful about who link up with. Some people, it seems, just want to avoid paying cleaning ladies and farm hands. They don’t care so much about whether or not it’s a mutually beneficial exchange. Which is what happened in my case.
Because of that, I had been feeling down. So yesterday I decided to quit my gig a few days early. On my long hot walk down a dusty dirt road into town, I began thinking about when I feel the most happy. Two things came to mind: when I am moving and when I am around animals. That’s when I remembered a woman I’d met recently told me that there was an animal shelter in the neighboring city that welcomed dog walkers.
You wouldn’t believe how excited I was to find the details of the shelter! And so I took a 10-euro Uber ride to Aljezur the following morning.
As soon as I arrived I expected a debriefing of the animals but the woman simply asked if I had any experience. I told her I had recently been volunteering at ARA and yes had plenty of experience with dogs. She came back with an older meaty dog named Ruca and sent me on my way. I asked her which way to go and she said: “It doesn’t matter, whichever way you feel”.
I took off with my new furry friend and he seemed to be having a hard time getting up the hill <insert Kate Bush joke here>. Halfway up he began dry heaving. I guess he wasn’t a fan of the rising temperatures either.
When we returned, the volunteer asked if I wanted another dog to walk. “Sure” I replied emphatically, I was just getting started.
I made the mistake of mentioning the slower pace of the first dog and they brought me one who was the complete opposite, a 1.5-year-old named Urso with a LOT of energy and zero clue about how to walk on a leash. “Take him through the city so he can learn how to behave,” the volunteer instructed me. “Sure?” I asked. It didn’t seem like a good idea. She smiled mischievously. And off we went.
We did in fact go through the city of Aljezur, a medieval town with narrow sidewalks and castle remnants at its peak. My furry friend struggled as did I, he seemed anxious at all the sights and sounds. But we managed and eventually found our way back. By this time I was exhausted but I couldn’t resist when they asked if I wanted to take another dog on a walk. This time, they gave me a sweetie named Jofre who was perfect on the leash and had enough energy to go up the hill but not enough to pull me up the hill.
At the end of my third walk, the volunteers thanked me fervently telling me that there weren’t so many volunteers there that day and it helped out a lot. My heart felt warm and I was no longer feeling down. It was a win all around.
So…if you are ever near Aljezur, Portugal and you love dogs and hiking, I HIGHLY recommend checking out AEZA. They ask for walkers on Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday but check their website for any updates. The surrounding areas of the shelter are beautiful and you’ll be doing a BIG service to all the cuties awaiting their forever homes.