Thai Massage Farm

People eating in the backyard
see all photos »

Our last farm was in Agios Nikolaos, on Evia, which, as far as we can tell, is not actually an island, but rather a large piece of land connected to mainland Greece by a narrow isthmus.  Thus, we're at a loss to explain why it is considered the second largest island in Greece (after Crete, before Lesvos).  Regardless, we were very excited, since the mountains there were supposed to be some of the most beautiful in Greece.  Disappointingly, though, our farm was in a location so flat it could have been in the Midwest.  The "farm" was actually a house with a large garden attached.  Although the surrounding location left a little to be desired (at least it was our first with a mini market within walking distance!), the house itself was beautiful and brightly colored, with a very green backyard, complete with tropical foliage, and huge palm trees!  The "farm" is really a school of Thai Massage, and we were lucky enough to join them while they had about 15 students taking a beginners' course with them.  Thai massage is a special type of CLOTHED massage that is less about rubbing the muscles and more about stretching them.  Basically you, the reciever, goes completely limp while the masseuse (or masseur) contorts your body into various "blockage-removing" positions.  My favorite is the one where they put your butt on the masseuse's knees and hoist the lower half of your body into the air!  Another funny one was where they massaged your bum by using their toes to separate your cheek from your leg.  I felt so much closer to my masseuse afterwards!  We had a very special bond.

Jessie in a hammock with a kitty
see all photos »

Because of the class, our jobs were not in the garden at all, but rather, we acted as housekeepers and sous-chefs.  We spent most of the morning chopping vegetables for the lunch, as well as cleaning the four bathrooms.  Other than that, we were obligated to set up and clean up every meal for 20 people.  Whew! Even though the work wasn't that difficult physically, there was a lot of it - about 7 hours a day, compared to four at some farms.  Some of the upsides to this were that we got access to a car (with a manual transmission, so we were driven by another WWOOFer, who was with us for half a week), and we got to join in yoga classes in the morning.  Also, once they had an uneven number of people for the massage class, so we both got free massages!  We even got to use the steam bath once.  It was way too hot for Jen, but Jessie likes steam baths.  The yoga class was at 7am, before any work was done, and when the temperature was still below 90 degrees.  We had the option of waking up at 6 for chanting and meditation.  Jen did this once, but Jessie opted out.  Basically, you just sit still for an hour and are supposed to count, and every time you have a thought, you have to start recounting.  Jen didn't get past two.  But she swears she can count higher than that when she's not trying to meditate.  As for the yoga classes, both of us have tried yoga, but not in a formal class setting.  It is a lot more difficult than it looks!  Jessie only made it through one class, because she couldn't handle being told to "open herself like a lotus flower".  Jen only missed one class, after sleeping in and getting tons of questions as to why she missed class, which made it clear she was supposed to be there!  It was very hard, and she says she is so much less flexible than she was as a kid.  But after a week of daily yoga, Jen began to like stretching in the morning, and now she has baby muscles!

The backyard
see all photos »

Because of all the people at the farm for the course, the atmosphere was pretty lively.  Most of them were Greek, but there was someone from France, from England, and from Israel (but currently resides in Holland).  Almost everyone spoke English, so we had a lot of opportunity to converse with them.  Our hosts, Kerys and Takis, were incredibly nice.  Takis was teaching the course, so we did most of our work with Kerys in the kitchen.  Takis is Greek, and Kerys is English, and they just had an adorable little baby named Gaia, who is 5 months old. They live in the house, and run the school directly out of it.  They're both incredible people who have traveled all over the world, and are probably no older than 35.  Even though we had to work more than at any other farm, and had very little free time, they said that we were the best WWOOFers they had ever had.  We even got presents at the end of our stay! They were lovely t-shirts that say "Thai Massage" on them, with a picture of someone getting a Thai massage.  Kerys told us that it was a copy of the oldest carving from a temple in Thailand, which is how modern people learned of Thai massage.

Takis
see all photos »

The yard was also swarming with baby kittens, and a very cute dog named Friko (sp?).  During our break time in the afternoon, we spent most of our time swinging in hammocks, petting and cuddling with these soft little babies, and reading under the palm trees.  Jen is sad because she borrowed "The Mists of Avalon", but didn't have a chance to finish it before we left the farm, and it is a really good book!  When Vania, the other WWOOFer was around, we would drive to the beach in the afternoon, and swim and chill out until it was time to go back to set up for dinner.

Jen with a kitty
see all photos »

On our last night, it was Takis' birthday!  So we celebrated by having the second half of the day off.  The class had the afternoon off too, so we all got in cars and drove across the island to a beautiful beach with amazing, clear water.  We swam and read until it was time to drive back for a special outing at a fish taverna.  Because it was so expensive, Takis and Kerys paid for one of us so that we could join them, which was very sweet of them.  The food was good too, and we got to try sea urchins, which are not as bad as Jessie's dad told her they were.  We finished the night off at a bar that a student owned.  A waiter stumbled and dumped a cup full of some cocktail all over Jen, which kind of put a damper on the evening.  (Get it?  It's a pun! <---Jessie)

Friko with a kitty
see all photos »

This farm turned out to be a lot cooler and down to earth than we expected (We expecting a bunch of scary touchy feely hippies - and they are, but it's not as bad as we thought).  It would have been nice to have it earlier in the trip, when we were still fresh, and not so eager to get home and have a real shower.   But as the last farm, it was still a great place to spend a week, and we learned a lot about massage, yoga, and different lifepaths than the average American takes.