Volunteering in the Catalan Pyrenees

Have you ever volunteered? Do you prefer doing so abroad? Or better yet, at a local community?

I have volunteered and, usually, I would prefer to travel abroad, but this time I changed plans and I loved it!

Local community. Sustainability. Nature. International volunteers. Hard work. Refuge. Happiness. These are just a few words which definitely by now best describe my ten-day adventure in Llagunes.

Usually, I am in search of new volunteering/cool project opportunities around (even if I already have a job and even more so if the job is just seasonal and something that doesn’t feed my soul), and of course this one was no exception.

The Sending Organization that helped me on my first volunteering abroad this time had two open positions for camp coordinators. Let’s be honest; I didn’t apply only because it sounded pretty interesting and because it was in the mountains, but also because I could use it as the best excuse to just quit my job. Well, I’m not telling you to quit your job and go volunteer just like that, but this is my way of dealing with my not-yet-known existential purpose of life.

We scheduled an interview to talk a bit about my experience as camp coordinator as well as to get some more details on the project itself, what kind of work the participants and I would need to do and some other important information to know before making any further steps.

Here’s my honest overview of the interview: I thought that, afterwards, they would have to talk and consider whether I was the best candidate for the position. To my surprise, I already left the interview with a list of participants and the best wishes for the upcoming camp! Pyrenees, here I come!

I had a phone call with the local project coordinator (Marc) and we spoke about many things involving the camp, such as ideas for the kind of work and weekly schedule, and almost, without even noticing, I had already quit my job, packed my bag, bought my bus ticket and was on my way to my new home.

I spent two days on my own in Llagunes speaking with Marc and getting to know the whole project a bit better, as well as the idea behind it, the history that comes behind all the work, and of course the hard work already done by former volunteers on cleaning paths, cutting bushes and working on dry-stone wall.

At that point, I started having doubts and wondered if I was at the right place and in the right project. None of the previous volunteering work had ever been comparable to this one, but I’m being totally honest when I say that I chose the best camp possible and couldn’t be any happier about my time there.

The Pyrenees and Llagunes, Marc and his family, Gemma (another local coordinator), the rest of the inhabitants, the nine volunteers and their stories, the hard work done in the field, having lunch and dinner together, the cooking and cleaning teams, the paths that we walked... Nothing would have been the same if I hadn’t took the chance to volunteer at a local community.

Nowadays, I’m still in touch with Marc and I’m really interested in the project’s development; it looks like there’s a great amount of work and it seems good things are about to come in the near future.

If you would like to get some more insight on the project or maybe even volunteer yourself, head over to refugivalldesiarb.com.