As every part of our society has its subculture, so does tourism. Every year hundreds of people travel to Greece in the hope of working for their holiday: agrotourists. They make little or no use of the abundant facilities available to the average package deal holiday-maker choosing, instead, to immerse themselves into local life. On Crete, where agriculture provides the incomes of a majority of people, work can be found relatively easily; there is always something being planted or harvested. Perhaps the best known crop is grapes, with a two-week harvest period starting in the middle of Travellers arriving in Herakleion by ferry at dawn may not feel up to a day’s work in the fields, but at six o’clock in the morning they are ideally placed to proceed to any one of the pick-up points, recognized by the farming community as labor exchanges. The harvesting day starts early and seven o’clock is the latest any hopeful laborers are expected to be at one of the appointed places: either Hania Gate or the Rethynon bus station.
Once there, the agrotourist has to take pot-luck with the hundred or so other hopefuls. On any particular day during the grape harvest the group will consist not only of agrotourists, but of Poles, Yugoslavs, Turks, Albanians as well as Greeks. The recruiting of hands turns the scene into a veritable market place, the main question being how much, or little, people will work for. If your neighbor offers to work at a lower price, he will take your place. About half of the total group will eventually find employment on any given day, so the agrotourist must be prepared to sell himself extortionately cheaply, if his desire or need to work is great. Foreigners, generally ask for less money than natives, the result being that harvesting, at least grapes, is a predominantly ‘tourist’ occupation. Cheapness is not the only factor in this result, farmers will ruthlessly select foreigners over their fellow countrymen because of the lack of rapport that will prevail. A Greek is liable to put down his tools when he believes enough work has been done and may also demand food; a foreigner, on the other hand, will make no such demands and will work until told to stop.
In Hania laborers congregate in Kosta’s on the harbor front. The work in the area is mainly picking oranges but more often than not the number of workers far outweighs the amount of work available.
To be sure of finding some kind of employment agrotourists are best advised to avoid both these urban centers, as they attract too many people and only service a fraction of the total area where extra hands are required. The most reliable method of procuring work is to go directly to a village and ask if there is any work available locally, point of contact being the ever-present kafeneion. This method broadens the horizons of the agrotourist immeasurably. Just two weeks of grape harvesting expand into months of tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, watermelons, olives and numerous other fruits and vegetables. Even if the actual harvesting does not coincide with the pre-booked holiday, farmers are planting, pruning and upkeeping all year round, and, although most of this work is shouldered by their children there are always some gaps to be filled.
Once hired, the laborer must work and there should be no doubt, it is hard. Cretan farmers do not give away money for nothing. The typical agrotourist begins at six or seven o’clock in the morning and works until the same hour, or even later, in the evening, with a break during the hottest hours of the day – 12 or one till four. If one is in luck, the farmer’s wife will provide all the workers with a hearty noon meal, the agrotourist will be given somewhere to lay his sleeping bag, and renumeration of six or 7000 drachmas a day. However, none of this is obligatory, although the meal is usual, and the majority of irregular laborers are provided transportation back to where they started.
Generally, wage levels are low, forced down by the freemarket style of recruitment, and can be as little as 3000 drachmas for eight hours of back-breaking work. The accepted average for a whole day, though, is 5000 drachmas.
But if the crop is poor, or the farmer does not think he will be able to sell his produce, he does not employ hired help, preferring to rely on family and friends. For the past two years crops have been poor due to lack of rain and this year Greek grapes did not sell well and, as a result, seasonal work opportunities dwindled.
Occasionally, the agrotourist can find himself, or more commonly herself, in a nightmare situation. In the fields, as in nearly all spheres of Greek life, women are considered to be second-class. Instances of non-payment and harassment are much more frequent for women. As trouble may come from employers as well as fellow-workers, it is advisable for women to work in pairs or groups. Even in this case heavy reprimands can be incurred simply for talking while working. So beware! Unfortunately, the worker has no right of reply under such circumstances as, officially, he is not supposed to be working in the first place.
Despite the drawbacks, agrotourists continue to pour into Crete, hoping to find something of the true Cretan spirit to take home with them. To work alongside local people for two weeks is to learn more about them and their land than 20 years of regular package touring could divulge. It is this reason, rather than the meagre amount of money to be made, that drives agrotourists to strive to be one of the “lucky” ones. Agrotourists come to Crete to discover Crete, not a prepacked model of their homeland. In this sense, a subculture can rise above what is popularly considered a “normal” one, proving that the classic traveller who seeks breadth and understanding can still be found.
