And Finally the Olives...

   I would like to begin this blog first by saying, for those of you who know me - you know I hate olives.  And I would like to lay to rest any of your suspicions that I may have taken a liking to them.  I haven't.  Olive oil on the other hand.. I have begun a certain love affair with....

   A little over a week ago, I started working at Dedetepe Ekolojik Çiftliği, an eco-farm and camp producing mainly olive oil.  The farm is located in a small coastal town called Küçükkuyu on the north shore of the Edremit Gulf of the Aegean Sea, and is known mainly for its olive production.  And it was immediately evident because if I were to take a 5 minute stroll in any direction I would see more olive trees than I've ever seen in the entirety of my life.  They are everywhere!  And all with so much character, they are very old trees - aka a photographer's dream.


   I arrived after, I can proudly say, my first successful go at hitch-hiking, to a rainy, empty farm, which in all honesty - looked pitiful.  I do understand it's the middle of the winter season, it's freezing cold, and it's very normal for a farm to not be in it's prime right now, but I couldn't help my disappointment.  The farm I had previously worked at in Kandıra had completely spoiled me and now I had high expectations which had not been met, leaving me with a sad looking last couple weeks of my trip.  I tried my hardest to make the best of it, while in the back of my mind, I began to plan my exit strategy.

   Little did I know, the rain, making a secret of the beauty found in these mountains, just wanted to make sure I was willing to tough it out before being handed the good stuff.

   After a couple of rainy days and ice cold nights, with no electricity and no running water (the water pump was broken), my conscious still hadn't allowed me to pack up and leave - and I can say now, that I can't be more grateful of that.  The sun finally made an appearance, giving us so much more than just electricity.  It brought the farm to life, and along with it - myself and the other volunteers.  The sun and beautiful weather had great timing also, as the olive harvesting needed to start immediately.  So finally, I was put to work!

   Each morning, we wake up, make breakfast, and begin up the mountain.  It's so nice to start your day with a decently intense hike out of the valley and up the mountainside, especially when the view at the top looks the way it does here (see below).  Upon arriving at the land which we would pick olives, the group of local workers are already hard at work (and each getting paid about 35 Lira/day.. you don't even want to know how much that is in American dollars).  It's opportunities like this when I especially love my work as a volunteer because I get the chance to join these people in what they do every day.  I get to experience a bit of what their life is really like, therefore gaining a better insight into their culture and lifestyle.

View from the top of the mountain

   For the olive harvesting, the women pick olives from the ground that have already fallen from the trees while the men use machines and sticks to shake the olives from the trees onto tarps, which are then collected separately.  The olives being picked from the ground are used to make the olive oil and the olives from the trees are prepared and sold as olives.  On my first day I was handed a basket and pointed in the direction of the women sprawled out in all directions, picking olives faster from the ground faster than anything I've ever seen.  If you think there's no talent involved is picking olives from the ground, you are very wrong.

   I joined them, slightly hesitant, but my nervousness was quickly absolved as the women greeted me with giant smiles and lots of Turkish that I didn't understand.  We were able to exchange names and discuss where I was from and after that, I was part of the crew.  My mornings and days spent with these women have been some of the most enjoyable of all my days here in Turkey.  Although the women mainly just do lots of gossiping, none of which I can understand, their lively energy and good spirit spread to me easily, without the necessity of a common language.

   At 12 we stop for lunch - high atop the mountain we have a beautiful view of the valley and river below leading out to the sea.  It's an amazing spot where you can truly enjoy your surroundings.  Lunch normally consists of bread, eggs, apples, cheese, olives, lentil soup, or some combination of the before mentioned.

   Normally a quick nap in the sun will follow lunch, and promptly at 1PM we resume our olive picking.  Once your fingers become more practiced, they can tell the difference between an olive, a rock, and other various objects alive or otherwise that you may find buried in land - thus increasing your productivity.  I like to assimilate olive picking to a really intense, never-ending Easter egg hunt.  (... I guess I'm finding all my eggs a little early this year)  But while picking, I really enjoy taking the time to watch the ground come to life - as during the course of our normal day, we ignore the small-scale, but incredibly intricate, world of creatures found below our feet.  The afternoon normally consisted of observing the ground and lots of daydreaming - of the journey I'm currently on and of future journeys to come.  This reflection time has been really nice, especially paired with the meditative action of olive picking.  After the afternoon wraps up, we return to the farm to begin to prepare dinner.

On my last day of olive picking, we were even invited to join their
lunch circle - which is very special! We had been accepted!

Post lunch nap

   For those of you wondering, for the olives in this region - it is typical that for 100 kilograms of olives (which is about 220 pounds) they produce from 16-22 liters of olive oil (about 4-5.8 gallons).  Of course this all depends on the variety of olive, and harvest conditions including time of harvest, climate conditions, and cultivation area.  The only real reason why olive oil can be beneficial to your health is because it contains polyphenols (which are also in most all plant foods and assist in the prevention of degenerative diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases and cancers, because of their high levels of antioxidants).  But in order to get that health benefit, you must buy high quality, first press, fresh oil - which is where most of us go wrong in the States.

   But back to Dedetepe, it's very impressive to me that the whole farm is off the grid.  Relying completely on solar and wind power for electricity, although at the moment the wind turbine is broken so right now it's just solar!  This means that on those rainy days, we can typically count on not having any electricity at all.  Combining that with a broken water pump, and we're really getting back to the basics.  You can only go so many days without showering.. and with no running water, our only option was the beautifully clear, fresh, icy cold water of the river running behind the farm (pictured to the left).  After putting it off for more days than any of you would care to know, I finally gave in and decided to give bathing in the river a try.  It turned out to be quite liberating, leaving me feeling better than I've ever felt after a normal shower of any kind in my recent memory.  Of course it was the kind of situation where you go in and your breath is instantly taken by the intense, icy chill of the water, but there's something renewing about it...

   Here are just a few pictures around the farm...

Traditional Turkish hamam (shower, toilet, get clean space, etc.)

Wood fired stove and oven where all the cooking happens

Internet 'room'

Dinner preparations happening in the kitchen at dusk

 Here all of the vegetables, milk, flour, etc. is bought from or traded with neighboring organic farms.  We make our own yogurt, butter, bread, soap, and get our eggs from the chickens and there is no sugar to be used in anything.  It's all vegetarian and every meal consists of lots of fresh pressed olive oil - which is now, my idea of perfection.

Stephania making yogurt, butter and cheese.

   Food was lots of fun on the farm.  I really learned quite a lot about preparing food from the most basic ingredients - something I don't do so much back at home.  Instead of sugar, something called 'pecmas' is used as a sweetener.  It's similar to molasses, has a thick, liquid consistency and is made from grapes.  You really learn how to get creative here - each day someone would experiment with a different style of cake or way to prepare vegetables.  On one of my last days I finally made a cake myself!  I had been observing and learning from everyone else's techniques and finally wanted to try one myself.  It had chopped up figs inside and caramelized (kind of) apples on top.  Combine that with some of Carston's secret-stash espresso and that makes for a pretty special occasion.

   Oh, and did I mention they are also growing pistachio trees?  Quite the treat for me, because where I come from, pistachios aren't cheap - here, they are in endless (and free) supply.

   Only 5 other people are living on the farm right now, mainly because it is the winter season.  They are all here through a year-long program called the European Voluntary Service, which is similar to the Peace Corps in the States.  In the summer months, this place is thriving with energy and life, as it acts as an eco-lodge for a school just up the mountain which provides seminars on becoming more ecologically friendly.  Here people come to learn about sustainable living, practicing yoga, making soap, and so much more.  The owners are great people and are associated with a program called TaTuTa (Turkey's equivalent to WWOOF) which brings in volunteers from Europe and all over the world.  It's a great program and after my experience here during the winter and how much I've learned, I'd really like to come back here in the summer months - although I've said that throughout my whole trip here in Turkey!

Elif, Rabaa, Stephania, Carston & Alessandro
(the European Voluntary Service volunteers)

   My time on the farm is quickly coming to an end, as I will be heading back to the city for about a week before my return back to the States in mid March.  It doesn't feel real that my trip is so close to it's end, I've had such an incredible time and learned more than I ever could've hoped for.  Turkey is a truly magical place, especially once you wonder further out from that crowded, busy city of Istanbul - and I've hardly even seen the half of it!  I know this will be a country I will, and cannot wait, to return to.

“One’s destination is never a place,

but a new way of seeing things.” 

– Henry Miller

Izmir, Greece and Pergamon!

Izmir Clock Tower, Konak Square

   My time in Ismir turned out to be a wonderful, and most thanks should go, surprisingly enough, to Couch Surfing.  While staying at a host's house, I met another couch surfer whose name is Derya and it turns out we were planning to travel the same way so we decided to team up.  After a couch surfing nightmare (so to speak - it wasn't terrible, just not good) we found ourselves with the most incredible people.  They were a couple from Karşıyaka (a Province in Izmir), whose names are Murat and Çağri.  A photographer and a school counselor, both having a beautifully positive outlook on life and really great spirit.

Murat, Derya, Çağri, and I

   We spent two days visiting Çağri's school which was a really neat experience.  The school was a combination of elementary school and middle school, so the younger kids were in class during the morning and the older in the afternoon.  There was very little structure, in or out of the classroom, but the teachers were all very social and happy, and the kids seemed to be too.  We went from classroom to classroom, introducing ourselves and observing, while intermittently having Turkish tea or coffee with the faculty.  We even spent some quality time with the principle and vice principle, both of whom were very kind and welcoming.  My favorite class was the art class, we always ended up there, joining the kids and drawing for ourselves.

   I'm so glad I met Derya and we decided to travel together!  We went and visited a Salvador Dali exhibit at the Ahmed Adnan Saygun Art Center, which was amazing.  46 of Dali's original works were being shown, and it turns out to be a pretty big step for the city of Izmir, as well as for Turkey as a whole, in terms of art education.  We also finally made it to Greece for the weekend!  Not only did we make it there, but we managed to get stranded there - which was quite the experience.  It took a lot of convincing but I was finally able to talk my way into a travel partner for this Greek excursion.  The Island of Chios is just 8 km by ferry from the small town of Çeşme (about 1.5 hours from Izmir) so there was no way I was going to not go, being that I was already so close.

   We met a wonderful girl, Kiki, who was our unoffical tour guide of the weekend and quickly became a new friend.  She introduced us to all of her friends and showed us around the main town of Chios, which was very small and quaint - a lovely port town.  Then drove us out to 3 different medieval villages - Mesta,  Pyrgi, and Olympi - where we spent the day exploring.  The villages were beautiful, with high stone walls they were built as mazes in order to prevent the pirate raiding parties from reaching easily the most important buildings located in the center of the village.  That night we went out with Kiki's friends, experiencing the nightlife of Greece - which for me, would definitely take some getting used to.  Let's just put it this way - I had to head to sleep around 2 in the morning, I was exhausted, and that was when everything was just getting started.

   The next day we explored the Chios castle and enjoyed coffee at a beautiful cafe overlooking the shore.  There we said goodbye to our new friends and left to catch our ferry back to Turkey.  Upon arriving at the port, we slowly, reluctantly realized we had missed our ferry by about 5 minutes.  There are moments in life, where things seem to move in slow motion, as you retrace your steps and try to understand how you ended up in the situation you have.. - this was one of those moments.  Now, we probably could've just barely caught the ferry had I not insisted on finding some tzatziki sauce and pita bread before leaving the island... but I had to!  I was in Greece! (And let me just say - it was worth it!) Regardless, what I'm trying to say is that throughout my travels I have experienced a good number of bad situations ranging from unfortunate to devastating.... and in my humble opinion, being stranded on a Greek island doesn't even deserve to be rated on that scale.  We got our money situation figured out, bought new ferry tickets and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon and night with more friends, food and drink - with much thanks to Kiki, it was lovely.

   When we finally arrived back in Turkey, it was a beautiful day so we decided to spend it in Çeşme.  We did a lot of reading, writing, relaxing and eating, simply enjoying the day.  And eventually once the sun started making it's way down, we found a bus to take us back to Izmir, putting an end to the wonderful 'holiday-like' weekend (and some extra days..) spent in the sunshine.

   Upon returning to Izmir, we spent a couple more days with Murat and Çağri, and it was finally time to continue on our way.  Derya and I were now going in different directions, but at least with the hopes of meeting back up again in Istanbul in a few weeks!  While she headed south, I was heading north to Bergama for the day to explore ruins and then to continue on to Küçükkuyu to finally work on the olive farm that I was meant to from the very beginning.

   Bergama was an unimpressive town with the most impressive ruins I've ever seen.  Here the ruins of Pergamon, as well as the Asclepeion Archeological Site, are located.  The owner of the hostel I was staying at drove me to see the Red Basilica and then to the lift which would take me to the Acropolis (where the ruins of Pergamon are located, high atop a mountain overlooking the city of Bergama).

   This was the first time I've ever explore ruins completely on my own.  Add that to it being in the dead middle of the off-season for tourism, I basically had the place to myself.  It was breathtaking.  And to be completely honest, a bit creepy - wondering around the ruins of an ancient city alone.  There's something about places like that, which used to encompass so much life at one point in history - it's almost as if all of it still resides there in energy.  It's very interesting to observe when you have the whole day to spend alone in an ancient ruined city.

   After taking the lift back down to Bergama, I went to the other side of town to explore the Asclepeion.  In Ancient Greece and Rome, this is what they called a Healing Temple.  It was built away from the hustle and noise of the city, in a valley near a healing natural water source, where people who were injured or ill could go and be treated.

   All of this was incredible but after a quick day of site-seeing, I found myself on yet another bus the following morning.  This time it was headed north to Küçükkuyu, a small coastal town on the Aegean Sea known for growing olives.  Not sure what to expect but very excited to begin a new chapter of my journey here in Turkey!