Bahia Blanca

Hello all.

Currently in Bahia Blanca, which is about 600km south of Buenos Aires. I'm heading to B.A. on an overnight train Thursday evening. So I have a few days to kill, and I figured I'd blog a bit.

I worked on a permaculture project north of here (a tiny town called Villa La Gruta, I had to hitchhike getting there and leaving because there weren't daily buses) for five days. I worked alongside two other WWOOFers, a couple-- Sarah, from New Zealand, and Silva, from France. We starting building a shelter for future volunteers, first building the frame and then filling it with a mixture of dirt, leaves, sawdust and water. The head of the project was a man named Tierra who lived there with his wife Bety and two daughters. Tierra was really friendly and had a lot of enthusiasm, but he spoke terrible English with such confidence that it was bothersome after a few days. I wished he would just have spoken Spanish with me, it would have been atleast the same level of understanding on both sides.

I had planned on staying for ten days, but I hadn't realize it would be sub-zero temperatures at night, and my sleeping bag was inadequate. Wearing layers of clothing along with my hat, scarf, and gloves, I was just warm enough to sleep. I woke up to frost coating my tent, giving the impression I had slept in a refridgerator. Sarah and Silva left after a few days, and without their company (they were really friendly, just starting five months of traveling), it was not worth it to stay on the farm. I caught a ride to a bus station, and then a bus to here, Bahia Blanca.

Pictures from Los Barriales

Ok. Pictures. First things first. Coroico!

  

And here some others from Los Barriales:

Where I live.

Where I sleep.

Where I poop.

Working. We were removing dead/dry bushes until we came upon a massive bee's nest. We then had to stop because apparently they're super aggressive.

Honeycomb. So good.

Fellow WWOOFers Paco and Marjouille making bread.

La huerta (vegetable garden)

 This is all for now. The internet is so slow it takes a good 5 minutes to upload each picture. When I have more time I will upload some from Valparaiso and hiking in Cochamo and living in Puerto Varas (David, one of the Germans I backpacked with, took some great pictures). I don't have time now because it is nearly 11 pm and I have to walk 3km back to the farm.

By the way, my intinerary for the rest of the trip is set! I leave here Sunday, arrive on a farm in Bahia Blanca (5 hours south of Buenos Aires) on Tuesday, spend a little less than two weeks there, and then spend my final weekend in B.A. with a friend of a friend. Then a flight to Lima, and then HOME HOME HOME.

Mendoza

Hello all.

First off, an apology. You guys really did express an interest in following my blog, and I didn't mean to ignore that. It was just hard to stop and reflect on things.

I will try to do some catching up now. I can't post pictures though, I realized I forgot the connecting cable just after walking the 3 kilometers to the computer cafe. Good news though: I got my camera fixed, so I will upload pictures soon.
 
I am now on a permaculture project outside Mendoza, in a small town called Los Barriales. It is WWOOFing as I had hoped it would be. The two owners are Sil and Hugo, a young couple from Argentina. They bought the abandoned land a year and a half ago, and for the first six months lived out of a tent as they rebuilt the house using mud and brick (about half the foundation was remaining). It is really impressive. There is no electricity, but there are solar-powered ceiling lamps and a gas stove, though most of the cooking is done with the wood-fueled oven. There is a cold outdoor shower, which isnt so bad once you acclimate to it.

Sil and Hugo are expanding the vegetable garden outside, which means collecting organic material from around the property so it can decompose. They also harvest honey, and the other day I went with them to the beehives. We wore the full protective overalls and headnet, and I held the smoker (a can producing smoke to calm the bees) while Sil and Hugo extracted the honeycomb. Honeycomb is the greatest thing.

There are two French WWOOFers, Paco and Marjouille, and I share a room with them. They don't speak any English, but speak Spanish fairly well (better than me) so we've been communicating easily. I've been doing some projects with them, mainly working in the vegetable garden removing dead material and planting seeds. We've also been cutting down bamboo with saws and machetes (so it can be used for the fense of a chicken coop), and various other things like harvesting olives and baking bread.

The five of us always eat together. Breakfast is usually granadas or membrillos (two fruits which I had never tried before but are fantastic), with bread and marmalade. We have maté around noon, and then a large lunch around 4. Dinner is more of a snack, fruit and peanuts usually.


We are joined by five animals, three dogs (Gorda, Chicita, and Mangin), a full grown cat (Miska), and a kitten (Coroico.) Gorda and Chicita are best friends, Miska hates Coroico, Coroico loves everyone, and Mangin got Chicita pregnant. The puppies are due in a month.

So all is well in Los Barriales, I really like it here. None of the work is mundane, because it's usually beautiful outside (though cold at night) and there is no set schedule. I realize I have a whole gap to fill in, between Olmue and here, and I will do that tomorrow when I can upload pictures (so long as the internet cafe is open).

I´ll be home in less than a month! I miss you all.
 

Olmué, Chile

Sorry it´s been so long. I'm back in Santiago, at Nick's house, having spent a month in  Olmué. I originally planned to spend the last week of March in Los Maitenes, a town a few hours to the south, but the host emailed me saying there wasnt enough room, so I ended up staying in Olmué for the whole month. 

Because I have so much catching up to do, I'll break it up into a few posts. This one will cover Olmué.

I left Santiago on a bus to Valparaiso (on the coast), that passed Olmué on the way. After a couple hours of traveling, I asked the bus driver how close to Olmué we were, and he told
me I had missed the town, it was now a few kilometres behind us. I got off and waited on the side of a desolate road for a bus heading the opposite direction. I feared I would have to wait for hours, but one arrived after about 10 minutes.

I made it to Olmué's central plaza, where Mario´s pizzeria was located. Carlos, the chef, greeted me, and gave me lunch. I spent the day helping him in the kitchen, and eventually met Gloria, Mario's wife, and Paloma, Mario's daughter. The pizzeria closed at 11pm, and Carlos drove me to the farm, a 15 minute drive through winding roads that climbed up into the hills surrounding Olmué. Carlos drove so fast through these turns that I felt nauseous when we arrived at the farm. I met Mario, who showed me to my bed. I talked briefly to Mario about my responsibilities at the farm, and then fell asleep.

Roughin' it.

In the morning I explored the farm, meeting the animals and taking pictures.

Sasha

Piti and Poti. Mario told me he can't tell them apart, so they don't have individual names, they are just collectively Piti and Poti.

Negra. Probably my least favorite. She was HUGE, and I think she was senile with old age. She had a habit of backing her ass up into a bush, and then barking at NOTHING for ten minutes straight.

Sara, my favorite. Definitely the smartest of all the dogs.

The kitten named Pink Floyd. The most un-independent cat of all time. Meowed for attention constantly. Woke me up by walking on my face.

The horses, Breva and Tomate. I gave them hay and water daily, they showed their gratitude by backing away when I tried to give them a friendly pat. 

My amount of work at the farm revolved around whether there was a project to be done. For the first week, I helped Mario build a chicken coop. 

 

When that was finished, there was a lull in the amount of work, and I spent my time taking care of the animals, and helping in the pizzeria. I also worked with Molesto, watering the crops. He was a neighbor who Mario pays to help at the farm three days a week. He spoke rapid, slurred Spanish, and I rarely could understand him. We communicated through hand gestures and a few mutually understood words.

After two weeks, a WWOOFer from France arrived, Vincente. He had studied carpentry, and was the ultimate handyman. He was incredibly productive, capable of fixing anything. I helped him build a greenhouse for Mario, which involved constructing a wooden framework and covering it in plastic. Vincente and I got along fairly well, but my misunderstanding his Spanish definitely got on his nerves, understandably. 

Vincente. This is in the back of a truck, when we hitchhiked into Olmué

 After another week or so, a girl from Germany arrived, Astrid, who spoke English fluently. With the three of us there, there seemed to be a surplus of labor at the farm, with not enough projects assigned to us. We kept the animals fed and painted the terrace.  Vincente managed to install a water pump before he left, so the farm finally had water pressure for a shower, though there was no hot water (after a few freezing showers I didn't mind it so much). We cooked meals with the limited options in the kitchen- rice, pasta, bread, with onions, tomatoes, and potatoes grown at the farm. 

Vincente left, and during my last week at the farm, a couple arrived, Eoin and Hannah, from Ireland and England, respectively. They had been backpacking throughout South America, from Colombia all the way down to southern Patagonia, and were spending the last few weeks of their trip in Olmue. They were incredibly friendly and excellent cooks- stereotypically, Eoin made a delicious dish with potatoes. Before I left, we exchanged books. I gave them One Hundred Years of Solitude, which I had finished, in exchange for The Lacuna. They also gave me the The Lonely Planet guide to backpacking on a budget in South America, which they no longer needed. On one of my last nights at the farm, the power went out, and Eoin, Hannah, Astrid, and I played cards by candlelight. 

Four weeks in Olmué went by fast. I didn't practice my Spanish as much as I would have liked, as I spoke English with my fellow WWOOFers. On Saturday I said goodbye to Mario and caught a bus to Limache, a few towns over, where there is a train to Viña del Mar.

Santiago, Chile

Before my trip I emailed a cousin living in Colombia, asking for tips to stay safe in South America. He warned that buses traveling overnight occasionally are stopped by armed gangs, who board the bus and rob passengers. He said it´s more common in Colombia and Brazil, and that it was very unlikely to happen in Peru. I guess I was just unlucky.

Halfway to Tacna from Lima, around midnight, our bus came to an abrupt stop. I looked out the front window (I was on the second floor of the bus, in the second row), and in the headlights were masked men with guns. They had laid out large rocks across the road, it was impossible to pass. They boarded and I heard a lot of shouting below as they directed the bus off the road. A man came up to the second floor, told us to put our hands on our heads. He was yelling orders, and it was a really stressful time to not understand rapid Spanish (I could understand him saying something like ´´No tengo matar nada´´, meaing ´´I don´t have to kill anyone´´). He came to each passenger and demanded money, and tore through the bags of those who didn´t offer anything. I immediately handed over the $140 dollars in my backpack. They left after about fifteen minutes, and the police arrived shortly after. It was probably the most surreal thing that has ever happened to me.

We drove to a police station and waited there for about two hours while the passengers reported the money they lost. Waiting outside with everyone (pictured below), I made friends with people who spoke some English and tolerated my truly awful Spanish speaking.

We just got robbed!

We arrived in Tacna four hours behind schedule, and took a taxi with Cali (the girl on the right) across the border to Arica, Chile. The bus ride wasn´t all bad though. The bus went through Peruvian mountains, and there were some spectacular views of the valleys:




This picture really doesn´t do it any justice.

I decided I was not up for the 30 hour ride to Santiago, and would fly instead (twice as expensive but worth it). The next flight wasn´t until the next day, so I spent the night in a hostel that Cali recommended. I had heard Chilean people were extremely friendly, and this was confirmed when I asked a man on the street where a good place to eat was. Rather than give me directions, he walked with me several blocks to a restaurant, talking with me even though I could understand maybe half of what he said (the Chilean dialect is really fast).

After staying up drinking with fellow travelers (really diverse, a guy from Chile, two girls from Norway, a girl from Germany, a girl from South Dakota, and a guy from Canada), I woke up this morning hungover, took a taxi to the Arica airport, caught a flight to Santiago, then a taxi to Nick´s house, where I am now. Nick was the college roommate of my mom´s cousin, and has been incredibly welcoming. I just had dinner with him, his wife, and 5 of their 9 children.

I am taking an 8am bus to Olmué tomorrow, my host Mario is meeting me at the town pizzeria at noon. I will blog again as soon as I can.

Lima, Peru

I´m going to have to keep this short, im using the computer at the hostel and I don´t want to tie it up for too long.

Flight to Lima was great, I sat next to a few students about my age going backpacking. We exchanged emails, and may meet up in Buenos Aires in May.

When I got to the Lima airport, a man named Eduardo was waiting for me with a sign that read STEPHEN CARI. His car was tiny and it stalled several times on the way to the hostel. Eduardo seemed used to this though, and fixed it so quickly it was hardly noticable as we drove.

I just took a shower and now I´m about to try a pisco sour. It´s a popular Peruvian drink.

Leaving for Santiago at 2pm tomorrow!

February 26th, 2:40 AM

This is my first official entry, the one before this didn't count.

I am sitting in the common room of 634, and I have to wake up in about two hours for the airport. It's okay though, I'll have plenty of time to sleep during the 60ish hours of traveling I have ahead of me:

• Flight leaves Boston at 8am Saturday, arrives in Lima, Peru at 8pm (12 hours)

• Spend Saturday night at a hostel

• Bus leaves Lima at 2pm Sunday, arrives Tacna at 9am Monday (19 hours)

• Taxi across border

• Bus leaves Arica, Chile at 10:30am, arrives Santiago 2:20pm Tuesday (30 HOURS)

• Spend Tuesday night at a cousin's friend's house in Santiago

• Bus leaves Santiago at 10am Wednesday, arrives Olmué (site of my first farm) around noon.

I have two alarms set because I'm paranoid about not waking up and missing my flight. The next flight to Lima isn't for a week, so it would really screw up this itinerary.

I have 6 PBJ's made, a big bag of snap peas, and a bigger bag of granola. I have my regular sized North Face backpack for food, books, and general carry-on. I have a large backpacking pack for everything else- clothes, sleeping bag, tent:

This is in the hostel in Lima.

Okay, sleeping now.