Beneficio

We were lazy. And there were four of us (Johannes, Sam, Ori and myself). So we caught a bus. From Valencia to Orgiva. From there we walked up to Beneficio. Friggin hot walk too! Or Jo and I walked, Sam and Ori hitched up. Actually, Jo and I walked up and past it before we realised what we had done. Then we walked back down and met the others.

I entered down a dusty trail. A driveway with sparse vegetation on the sides heading towards a house? But just when it seemed I was to ring the door bell, the path swerved off up to the right around a crumbling cliff side. Up and over a slight rise and I found my eyes settling on a carpark full of decrepit cars and campers and rubbish surrounded on each side by trees. Was this what a hippy camp was like? I had expected nature and colours and laughter (o:

We wandered on (Sam, Ori, Jo and myself) and soon we had passed the carpark, passed an aptly named Shit Pit 1 and had entered a forest of gums. Up we travelled, through and out of the forest and on into an open grass field. Further we pushed still. We had heard of a big communal kitchen somewhere and it was here we hoped to meet some others and learn a little before finding a spot to build our home.

Further on we came across a big house. Was this the kitchen? We went to say hey and found it was someones house, haha. Edgar's. But he has been there for years and was able to answer a few questions.

Still summer in Spain, we walked up to the local watering hole and jumped right in (o: Ahhhh! So good! Quick soak and then back to the gums to find a place to nest for the night. An open spot near the big lodge served us well and with Ori's tent up, the rest of us settled around to pass a cold but soundly slept night nonetheless.

Before we settled down we did head to the big lodge for dinner. This is a place everyone meets at night. We arrived thinking "cooking? Is this the communal kitchen?" We sat down and observed for a bit first to see how the cooking was done. Only no one was cooking? Figuring something was amiss, we decided on muesli for us and soon headed off to bed as most people were quiet and ill disposed to talk (not that we tried much, if at all, ourselves).