The First Day

We are in the international work camp in Garraf, Barcelona. We’re here to clean up the area right at the entrance of the cave of Can Sadurni, where there is an archaeological excavation, to make space for future prehistoric park open to public. People from all over the world have come to help with this project: Spain, Italy, Russia, Turkey, Poland, Taiwan, Germany, Finland, France, Serbia, USA, Greece, Czech Republic, Canada, and Denmark.

We were supposed to meet at half past 3 in the afternoon yesterday in front of the church of Begues, but although most people showed up, some of us were stuck in the airport. In the end, all participants of the work camp met at dinner and because nobody knew anybody, the organizers prepared an ice-breaking game to get to know each other better. Afterwards we went to sleep in the gym of the school of San Cristòfol, where we’re staying at.

Today, we woke up at 7 o’clock and we had a little (and I repeat, little) breakfast and then we went to the caves. Manel, the head archaeologist, showed us a presentation of the work camp and the discoveries they have made over the last 35 years in the caves. Then we had the REAL breakfast and we separated into groups to work more efficiently. The groups are named after ancient cultures: Iberians, Greeks, Romans and Egyptians. Every group had its own task: Greeks, Romans and Iberians were all centred on cleaning the entrance to the cave, and the Egyptians had to move to another area to clean the vegetation around the lime oven from the 18^th century.

After four long hours of back-breaking work, we decided to stop for the day and some of us went to refresh ourselves to the swimming pool, where we felt like swimming in the sea because of the salty water. At about 2 o’clock we had lunch in the restaurant Casino de Begues, where we eat all our lunches and dinners. In the next hour and half of free time some of the volunteers went to swimming pool again, some stayed doing chores on the gym and some had a siesta.

Now the groups are doing lab work: some are cleaning, classifying and numbering objects found on the excavation, and we’re writing this blog entry.

Hola! from Alex, Ileana, Theresa, Bára.