Nicole Nejad's Page

Hi Nicole,

I lived in Denver the last three years, I'm on Wwoof Mexico too, uhhhh, that's all I've got. This site is like a poor man's Facebook!

Anyhoo, just trying to get some feedback on Wwoofing in general. I'm about to start on my first farm soon (it's in Michoacan), and was hoping to get some advice. So, if you have a minute, send me some pointers. Otherwise, happy new year, and happy wwoofing!

-Jason

So I searched for stuff about my farm (Rancho Agua Zarca), blogs or whatever, but found nada. Fortunately the host has been very communicative in answering my questions. She also sent me a welcome guide that they give to new wwoofers- apparently the farm is at 8,000 feet. (Yikes!) The host also agreed to give my e-mail address to the current wwoofers, so hopefully I'll get some advice and an idea of what to expect before I get there.

If you want it, here's my two cents on wwoofing so far:

- I noticed that the farm descriptions on this site are way more up to date than the host list I got (i.e. my farm's minimum stay is 10 days in the host list, but a month on this website), not to mention more descriptive. So far I've only checked out my farm's info, but I'm going to assume others may follow similar list/website discrepancies.

- E-mail as many farms as possible. No harm done if you get multiple offers and turn one or two down, right? I e-mailed six hosts, which I didn't think was a lot, and got one positive response within two or three days, along with two responses indicating that they did not have any openings until late April! Then, quite a bit after the first three responses, I got another that I think was positive, but it instructed me to contact another person about it. Depending on how the first experience goes, I might pursue this other one afterward, but we'll have to see.

- Don't just use a single stock message for all your hosts. Try to make it as personal as you feel necessary so they have an idea of what you're like. I probably treated it a little too seriously because I felt like my messages sounded like cover letters! Basically I just gave a brief background of my life, interests, farming experience (none!), and why I'm interested in wwoofing.

- If you do get a host, try to ask as many questions as possible. The more you know about the farm and its hosts (minimum stay, hours, duties,time off, etc.), the more prepared you'll be.

That's about all I've got so far, but I have a few questions for you if you have a minute:

- I will likely be doing some traveling around the country after wwoofing. What is Puebla like? Xalapa sounds cool, have you been there? Any other places you'd recommend?

- Do you speak Spanish? If not, have you gotten by all right so far?

- Any problems so far? My mom is pretty worried about me getting kidnapped and whatnot (I'm an only child, so you can't really blame her). I've done a fair amount of solo traveling, and I imagine I'll use the same precautions in Mexico as I would anywhere else, but it does suck that Mexico is notorious for that kind of crime...

- Any other tips/advice about Mexico?

OK, gotta run, good luck w/your search.

Jason