Ceceda II

Buenos tardes todos!
Alex and I built 2 fences since we came to Ceceda! (and much more)

Things have been great with Anjo and her dogs! Friday we went to an animal rights demonstration in Gijon.

There was a ton of people there with their dogs, homemade signs and some of the dogs wearing signs that said "they abandoned me." The idea was to show that laws needed to be stricter and that there needed to be better punishment against animal abusers.

In the car driving to Gijon. Renee and Tikah coordinated their outfit all morning.

Alex being dragged down the street. Negre and Noah had never been to the city, so the hundreds of other dogs and people made them to excited to control!

Ceceda I

This week has been crazy. Exactly 1 week ago we left Donkey Paradise ( :( ), and went to help Anjo at her house. The job description
includes helping take care of 10 dogs... most of which are foster dogs and live with Anjo temporarily between going from Animales de Oriente, to their adopted homes.

Anjo's house is really nice. It's in the country side of the town Ceceda, (Nava), Spain. It's higher on a hill, so you can see houses and mountains on almost all sides of you. Having a washing machine and high speed internet feels like luxury :P

Our work has been a little of everything. Most of our time has been divided among Donkey-Proofing a meadow, so that Anjo can take care of a few donkeys in addition to the 10 dogs, and "socializing" with the dogs. Renee, the official-dog-petter has been hard at work. (Pictured is Jazzy - an adorable whipit that is one of the friendliest dogs.)

A Letter for Donkey Paradise

Here is the letter we wrote after our stay at Donkey Paradise! All the volunteers write about their stays, and it goes on the website:

Hello, we are Renee and Alex - two adventurers from the USA. Our Europe adventure started in Asturias, where we stayed at El Paraíso del Burro for a month (February to Mid-March). We left Boston where there was at least 50cm of snow on the ground, so when we got to Spain it felt like summer! It rained often, however the dry days were absolutely gorgeous.

The area is incredibly beautiful . Lots of green grass, rolling hills, and all sorts of plants that were just starting to bud (but plenty of nettles be careful!). Being able to see snow covered mountain tops over breakfast is a wonderful thing.

The Donkeys are definitely spoiled. Many have had rough lives at the hands of humans, and it gives you a warm feeling that your work is doing something good for less fortunate animals. It sure is Donkey Paradise(and cat paradise, and dog paradise).

Donkeys are adorable creatures. Renee fell in love with Lynney - the sweetest and most peaceful donkey ever. I had a soft spot for Sammy because he's a goofy fellow: rather small in comparison to others, and socially awkward.

Renee and I did a lot of misc work around paradise. Besides feeding the donkeys, and taking care of their stables, Renee did a great job cleaning /organizing and I helped fix the various aging construction around the property.

Then there are the best animals ever. Jolly the dog is the friendliest fluff ball ever. Lady is shy but sweet, and Arvo is a loyal, and confident dog who is the size of a grizzly-bear. There is also a cat, who's name I forget, who wants nothing more then your eternal love. She enjoys being pet so much that she will repeatedly fall off your lap when she forgets about gravity. Renee spent a significant amount of time petting her, and plotting ways to sneak her into our backpacks.

Marleen: thank you very much for having us. We really enjoyed our stay, had some great experiences, a learned more about Donkeys then I ever thought I would know. Keep on taking good care of the Donkeys for us!

Pictures from Paradise II

Here are a few more pictures:

Here I am w/ the worlds most adorable cat. He liked to sleep in the Hay, which made him always in the way.

Renee in her stable. (the one she fed - we let her sleep inside once she was house trained. Her stable was the girl stable, which had plenty of trouble makers. Pictured is Lynney - the sweetest donkey, and Renee who is trying to move Agnes - the fat donkey whom we call "The Hoover" - away from Lynney's food.

Her I am in stable 3. Stable 3 has all the trouble-making boys.

Sammy - my favorite donkey. He's the smallest, and most awkward of all the donkeys. He's normally good, just a bit pushy, but Jonas is a bad influence on him and they stir up trouble.

Rayo - the leader of the pack. He's the only male that doesn't harass the females in stable 2. This is him poking his head out of the side door - on the side of the house.

La Cabana. The endless project of repairs. It will be a very nice place to stay once the walls stop trying to fall off.

Jonas. Getting through the fence.... again. Most of the donkeys respect the fences. Jonas respects nothing.

Renee and I leaving Donkey Paradise. It was a good month!

Coming up Next: Anjo's Dogs in Ceceda!

Pictures from Paradise I

Here are a few pictures we never wrote about:

On a really clear day you can see past the mountains that El Paraiso is in. Way in the distance (this is zoomed in) you can see the snow covered peaks of Los Picos de Europa. When you're sweating in the heat, snow is very fascinating to see.

Here is Monika - she was a Workawayer that left slightly before we did. This wasn't her fist time at Donkey Paradise, and definitely wasn't the last. She grew up in Barcelona, and taught us a lot about Spanish culture. Monika was really great with all the donkeys and it was sad to see her leave.

Pictured is Thomas making fun of Arvo. Thomas is half Irish, half French, and fully hilarious. Mocking Arvo's seriousness made us laugh.

Here is the tool Vendor at the Cangas de Onis market. He sold used tools as well as a ton of broken stuff.

Here is the town of Cangas de Onis. All of the towns here are old, and really well maintained. Most have a very historic feel to them.

This was the few out of the living room window in the morning. Fog meant it was going to be a good day.

It was a joke that nothing ever got fixed the correct way at Donkey Paradise.

Carnival

3/12 - Arriondas - We heard about a "carnival" in Arriondas while we were having tea with Sam and Joanna. They told us how people would dress up like it was Halloween and walk around in the streets. We went without dressing up- We weren't sure what to expect. Marleen dropped us off in the middle of the city at night. There was a lot of cheering and glass breaking. Most people were in costumes walking around, but we weren't sure where everyone was going or coming from. Most people seemed to be going to the discotecha (dance place), where they were having a costume competition but we think we were to late. The best part was actually the walk home (~1hr), where we walked up the mountain and looked down onto Arriondas before crossing over and back to Donkey Paradise.

Donkey Paradise V

Today was an especially crazy day:

Alex injured his hand somehow a few days ago and ignored it and now it is very stiff and he has to rest it, Thomas injured 3 of his fingers badly when a log rolled off a dolly and onto his hand.

Straw and alfalfa was delivered

We had a visitor from Cangas who helped to brush the donkeys and might volunteer in the future.

The welder came to fix the stove in the cabana

A TV reporter came to interview Marleen about Pablo, a mule who she took from "a gypsy who rode him drunk." Pablo has been in the news several times. (Arobes is now AKA El Pablo Del Burro-The town of the donkeys)

Peter and Lynn come every Monday to brush the donkeys and volunteer with side jobs.

Alex and I were in charge of lunch for 6 people and picked a recipe that was missing essential items that we couldn't find: black pepper, coconut milk, ravioli, cheddar cheese, corn bread mix, green onions. There was a lot of improvising, and cursing (Thomas advises us that cursing makes things come out better) it came out pretty good!

I had my first experience driving in another country. Alex, Morro (the little Spanial) and I drove for about a half hour into Nava Spain to see the vet and get Morro his shots. I drove a gigantic, stickshift, deisel fuel VW van- I didn't recognize a single dial, traffic light, traffic sign- Except the stop sign which is exactly the same as it is at home. It was very difficult to drive and navigate, but we made it.

We met the vet at her car in a gas station where she gave vaccinations to 8 puppies before Morro. Then we went to have coffee with Anjo who works with Animales de Oriente where we will be staying as of the 17th until the end of March.

It was a very long and good day and I think tomorrow will be as well. Marleen and I are installing a new fence because both the boys are injured.

-Renee

Donkey Paradise IV

Hey everyone!

We are now just 4- Myself, Alex, Marleen, and Thomas. Since Monika left we have had to take on more work in the stables. Marleen takes care of all the donkeys in stable 1, I take care of all the donkeys in stable 2, and Alex takes care of all the donkeys in stable 3.

I know all of my donkeys very well. I know their names, which feeding troph is theirs, likes and dislikes, characteristics etc. My favorite donkey, Linney is in my stable which is all girls except one well behaved boy. Altogether I take care of 5 donkeys daily.

Alex has all boys in his stable. There are a couple who are trouble- Jonas who is THE WORST behaved donkey and Sammy who is the smallest donkey. Alex also takes care of 5 donkeys in all.

Marleen takes care of all the donkeys in stable one- There are many. The donkeys in stable one are well behaved and most of them are very old and have special needs. For example, a few of the donkeys have bad teeth and need their alfalfa grated before they are able to chew it. Other donkeys have dislocated shoulders from carrying loads that were too heavy. Some of them need special herbs or vitamins because they are sick or malnourished.

-Renee

The House

Here's the House at El Paraíso del Burro that we've been staying in. The main House has 3 floors. The top has a workaway room, and the internet connection. The 2nd floor is the Kitchen, and the living room where we hang out every night. It also has a big window that over-looks part of the field where the donkeys stand around and do exiting things such as do nothing. The bottom floor has the bathroom, the entry room where the boots are kept (there are probly at least 15 pairs of wellies that Workawayers have left), and the room where Renee and I stay. It's a very nice room, but can get cold at night. Fortunately we have a gas heater, which is our favorite thing in the morning. Attached to the Main house is 2 stalls for Donkeys... and 1 more behind the house for a total of 3. I'll go more into that later.

Living here is a funny mix of classy civilized life, and farm life. It's a very nice house, with a great view. Every night we have wine with our wonderful dinner, yet when the toilet clogs you go outside and find a stick :P (Pictured: me on the top floor e-mailing Oma!)

The Animals II

Here's Jolly - the best dog ever. Jolly with Marleen when she moved from Holland to Spain to start Donkey Paradise. She is the softest most love-able dog ever (Sorry Pirate/Skipper). Her absolute favorite thing is to have her belly rubbed. If she sees you coming, she'll immediately roll on her back. Renee is a sucker for this, and doesn't stand a chance resisting. (Also, Jolly has a few extra pounds and sometimes gets stuck upside down if she rolls over on bumpy ground)

On the other hand is Morro - who is the dumbest dog I have ever met. When Donkey Paradise adopted him from Animales de Oriente, he had such mangled fur that they just shaved it all off. So now, despite being 5 years old, he looks like a puppy. We don't know his history, but he's really stubborn, refuses to listen, doesn't stop barking, extremely temperamental, and we need to keep him separated from Arvo at all times or else he attacks Arvo. This seals the deal on his intelligence, because Arvo is a Sheep Dog at least 5x Morro's weight. His breed was created to be tall, very large, and have a thick layer of fat around their neck so that they had the ability to *defend sheep against wolves*. That's a picture of Morro using the couch to wipe his ass. He does that a lot.

I like Arvo. He's probly my favorite dog - very calm, tall, noble, and has a protective nature. He's also refrained from eating Morro, both time's Morro attacked.

I think Donkeys have a good sense of Humour. This guy was being bad, and trying to reach over the wall, and sneak in some Alfalpha before dinner. He also tried to eat the cat.

The Animals

Donkeys are Adorable, Stubborn creatures. They get fed in the morning, and the night where they eat Hay, Oats, Carrots, and Alfalfa. When it's not raining, we let them out to graze. They have a lot of land to roam about, but always seems to escape through weak parts in the fence. Though Donkeys can run surprisingly fast, they prefer to take their time doing anything. Which makes it all that more surprising when you're working on the other side of the property and a Donkey's head pokes you from behind wanting attention. A few donkeys such as Jonas are trouble, trying to eat anything they can and refusing to move when they are in the way. On the other hand, there are plenty of Donkeys that only want your love. Once you pet Lenny, Renee's favorite, she will follow you around until you manage to escape.

There are also a few cats and dogs. Here's our favorite cat: a little bit of a trouble maker, but very cuddle-able. He can always be found on top of the Hay for the Donkeys.

Here is one of the two Mules. In addition to 18 Donkeys, El Paraíso del Burro also has 2 horses and 2 mules. The horses never come into the stables - they wander around the meadow all day and keep their distance from the Donkeys. They think they are superior to Donkeys. I think we put them in the comical winter-jackets just to make them look goofy. Then there are the 2 mules. There is Pablo, who startles easy, but really likes human affection. Pablo is always sticking his head over the gate looking for pets and hay. The Mule wearing the jacket is funny. He's 1/2 Horse, and 1/2 Donkey, but he thinks he's a horse. He can always be found following the 2 horses around, even though they don't acknowledge him. When he goes to the Donkeys to say hello, they also ignore him because they consider him a horse due to the fact that he never goes in the stables.

The Weather

When it's not raining, Asturias weather is great. In one afternoon it can be raining, and then hot and sunny, and then back to rain. From what I'd been told, Spain is mostly known for being hot and dry, but Asturias is unique in how much it can rain, and how humid the air is. The house and surrounding land is always soaking wet.

Donkey Paradise is in a valley behind a hill, on the side of a larger mountain range. A lot of moisture passes through the area, so it is always very muddy. Donkeys don't like the mud very much, and try and hide in their stables when it's raining. In the mud they sink in very easy. Since their feet are small, and they weigh a lot, they sink into the mud very easily. It's humorous to watch the Donkeys will discover elaborate ways to get around mud.

I'm really glad I carried wellies through London. Makes all the funny looks I got worth it.