SUMMER, down here

I’m back in Viña. Hopefully that means the entries will be more constant again. This one will be monster sized. Sans photos, I still don't have my camera cord!

I last left off at WWOOFing! Lana and I head about five hours south of here to a small city called Linares, which we had time to roam around for a couple of hours. Lana tried her first Mote con Huesillo—a typical Chilean drink: a kind of grain called mote that fills the cup about ½ way, a cooked peach and topped with peach juice. So good! She also had her first Cazuela: a serving of either chicken or meat, half a corn-on-the-cob, half a potato and some other veggies all served together in a broth.

We took a bus about 30 minutes outside of the city to a road that dropped us off in front of our first farm. Before getting on the bus we saw a very blonde very un-Chilean looking lady loading some things, and when we got to talking realized she also worked for the farm we were headed to! She was a WWOOFer originally as well, but decided to stay! And bought land and is building a farm. I believe her idea is to open a place for overweight people to come and learn about a healthy lifestyle. She helped us find our way to the farm. Two of the farm’s kids were there to welcome us, Chandra the 13 year old girl and Indra, the 11 year old boy. Plus their incredible dog. He was perfect in every way ☺.

The first impressions of the farm were fantastic. It’s a beautiful place—the farm and the house—and they are so well maintained. I think we were kind of surprised. Large wood crafted bird cages with colorful birds, gardens of cacti, flowers and trees, a beautiful wood house decorated with interesting pieces, a pen of rabbits…it reminded me of how a country retreat might look. Turns out the farm is part of a chain of farms that accepts visitors, so topnotch upkeep comes with.

First impressions of the family were a bit different. They welcomed us with tea, and within the first ten minutes of conversation we found out that our hosts were great critics of the world outside their farm. It was a heavy load of discussion about the future of the earth and what our role should be. A lot of what they said was compelling, but a lot of it was so negative and so detached from reality that it made having a real conversation difficult. Like: the devil created cities and technology. And when I suggested the importance of computers for spreading education, she responded, “to learn about what?” And with that I had to accept our different world views. She, for example, receives messages from beings on other planets in the middle of the night, and wakes up to write them down and use them as life guides for her and her family! Lana and I didn’t end up liking her attitude aside from all that, but that’s not to say it wasn’t interesting being there! At that first farm, because I never said much about wanting to work outside, I got very good at washing dishes. Did a couple hours worth every day!

When we got to the second farm we found we had a very different set up. The man of the farm is British, which was good for Lana since she could talk some English and really get to know him. He’s with a Chilean woman. It was a more typical farm experience there: wake up at 7:30, feed the animals, milk the cow, pick raspberries. Breakfast at about 8:30. With milk we just took from the cow! SO GOOD. Work until around 1 or 2. Eat lunch. Nap or rest until about 4 or 5, to avoid all the heat. More work until around 7 30, and then watering lots of plants for about an hour and half. Dinner and tea. It was therapeutic in how structured it was.

Work consisted of a lot of cleaning up weeds, which I liked a lot! Working around plants like that teaches you quickly about what its like to have a garden—I found I was really interested and can imagine I’d like to have my own one day. I remember particularly thinking how organic farming is so interesting because it all just kind of easily makes sense. It wasn’t something complicated to understand. Not knowing anything about gardening or farming, I liked how logical it was to care for the soil, keep it watered well, make compost, protect the soil from drying out…I guess when you’re working with non organic farms and bigger farms you have more complicated things to learn about, what with machinery. Pesticides. All that. It felt so good to be eating everything right from the farm. Our meals always consisted of potatoes, swiss chard and leaks. Sometimes with beets, carrots. Always fresh lettuce. So many raspberries! Something else I took away from the WWOOFing was that I have SO much to learn about cooking. And a desire to!! I really just, can’t cook. I want to be able to say, “oh hey, let me make you my famous pot pie!” Or something like that. ☺

We also had trouble with the lady of the second farm. She was kind of crazed about little details that could be hard to keep up with. And once she was frustrated it seemed to just escalate. I was speaking Spanish with the one Chilean farmer that works there full time. It’s amazing to see what you can find to talk about with someone that comes from so different a background. I can’t say particular conversations have stuck with me, but we always had things to say! Thank god he was around to milk the cow. That was so hard.

Finally, Lana and I made it to Buenos Aires. I loved it. It reminded me so much of New York! Interesting neighborhoods so lots of great walking, great shopping!!, some good museums, a café culture I was missing in Chile, and DELICIOUS meat. By the end of my stay in Argentina, and now back in Chile, the thought of meat kind of makes me nauseous. I think I had enough to last me a good while.

After about 9 days Lana head off to Bariloche to meet with others and I headed to Rosario, Argentina. The second largest city, next to Buenos Aires. And from Rosario another 2 hour bus ride out to a small town called San Jose de la Esquina. That’s where Adriana is from! I got to stay with her family for about 4 days. It was so fantastic. They were so welcoming and showered me with great conversation, meat meat meat, wine and a view at the small town life in Argentina. Mostly, I was so amazed by having made it to the small town that Adriana is from and get to know her family. Her mother, her brother, all her nephews. It was so…incredible! I really felt like I was with a family I hadn’t met before, maybe the closest thing to a South American family I’ve got! I hope one day Adriana makes it back there. People seemed really happy. I really do hope one day I go back.

And THEN I met mom and dad! First mom, in Santiago at the airport. And we went to our hotel and waited for dad’s arrival the next day. The three of us had a great time. It was so refreshing for me. Not only having the responsibility of traveling about alone lifted, but being with “home” again for a bit. We spent a couple days in Santiago and then went out to a retreat like area of the Andes near Santiago. That was so nice. We zipped, went on a small hike, went to a big winery, drank lots of wine and at well! We lived in this romantic little cabin and chatted outside on our stone picnic table before dinner every night. Lots of great memories. We finished up here in Viña. They stayed at a great hotel right on the coast, looking out over the ocean and the classic Viña/Valparaíso vista. It was great to show them where I lived, and get to introduce them to Dennise, my good Chilean friend here I’m living with right now. Dad and I had a day and half to spend together, and I took him for some more delicious typical seafood dishes and to a live folkloric music bar. Sadly, one of the speakers was a bit crackly. You’ll find that in Valparaíso, things can be a bit run down. But it was the spirit of it that mattered.

And then they left! And now I await the next hurdle of all this! One more semester. Classes start the 15th of March. I’m still picking out what I want to take, but I’m looking forward to getting involved in more dance and extra curricula, something I wish I did more of last semester. Phew! Done!