WWOOF Chile/Argentina

Dec 6-Jan 10

christinebaker — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 12:33:00 GMT

Once again, a month between posts flies by. Last time I checked in was a week after I moved to Reko. I had a great 4 weeks there! The ranch is 140 hectares, so there was much exploring to be done with the ranch, as well as outside the property. All kinds of hiking opportunities and mountain refuges are located nearby. I went to El Bolsón again my 2^nd weekend at Reko, because I was looking to buy a reasonably priced sleeping bag and heard of a little uno9ficial street market where people sell used items and items brought over from Chile (very common to cross the border for purchasing things like electronics, camping gear, or whatever else that is way overpriced here in Argentina). This was the weekend 3 volunteers, the older French guy, Michele, and the younger French couple Pauline and Gregorio, left the ranch (although the couple intended to return after the holidays). So I took the bus into town with them and then proceeded to the market, where I failed to find a sleeping bag. But it was fine because Pauline offered to let me use hers while she and Greg were away. If a specific event or fair isn´t happening, there is really no other reason to go to town (El Bolsón) other than to run errands/buy fruit not provided by the ranch(/spend money, which I´m trying my best not to do so much). So I was easily ready to head home to the ranch before 6pm, which is when the last bus that way leaves. Well, I ended up missing the bus due to my lack of vigilance. The weekend prior, the first time I took the bus to and from El Bolsón, as well as this morning, the placard on the bus said Encanto Blanco, which is the last bus stop on the route. So about 5 minutes before 6pm a bus arrives to the El Bolsón stop with a placard for Warton (the 2^nd to last stop on the same route). It sits there, and I found it curious that there would be both a bus to Warton and a bus to Encanto Blanco, and I thought about inquiring with the bus driver, but failed to. And after that bus left at 6pm, no bus for Encanto Blanco came, haha. I ended up stranding myself, so to speak, in El Bolsón. My options getting to the ranch were hitch hike or take a taxi. Although hitch hiking is super common here and apparently safe, I just didn’t feel comfortable doing it because it´s such an unknown practice to me. Thus, I ended up ¨wasting¨ 20$US on a taxi. However, since I now didn’t have to stick to a bus schedule, I took advantage of my now free time and decided to ¨not waste¨ 15$US on a couple beers before calling the taxi and heading back.

That Sunday was very relaxing. It was rainy, so I slept in and spent the rest of the morning reading. Another ranch dweller, who is originally from Spain, named Layin, arrived that day. He perpetually avoids winters by working summers as a tour guide in Scandinavia, and then coming to Argentina in the summer to live on the ranch. He is also building a house there. Later that afternoon I chatted it up with Hernán and he showed me some trails around the property along with the little house he is building. It is lower on the construction priorities, because 2 other houses that are also being built are for the two brothers, and they are much further along and need to be completed up to a certain point before they head off with their families to the coast for the summer. They both design clothing, and every summer they leave the ranch (in the care of Hernán and Layin) to sell clothing during the tourist season.

My work varied quite a bit this week, with jobs in the garden, with cutting, painting, or staining wood, and other minor construction activities. We prepped materials to finish the roof of one house the following week. I was also asked to make the group lunch for the first time, which was a challenge, but a fun and welcome one. For the most part, cooking doesn’t feel like work to me. Normally they don’t ask volunteers to make the group lunch, but since time was winding down before the families left, there time was best spent on the construction and taking care of other final business matters, so the best way I could be of help was by making lunch for everyone. Every time I cooked I was feeding an average of 12 people. The first lunch I made was pretty elaborate, croquettes of lentils and rice with a curry gravy, sautéed cabbage and a salad. I learned to simplify meals a little more as I was continually asked to cook.

I did not go to El Bolsón this weekend, and instead did some great hikes. On Saturday I walked to Warton (7km) because I wanted oranges and lemons (what I would normally purchase in town). Warton isn’t a town, but there is a tiny market, a rustic little bed and breakfast with camping, a café, and the bus stop. It is also the location of the head of the main hiking trail that takes you to the Río Azul, where the trail breaks up into other routes leading to various hiking destinations and mountain refuges in the area. I hiked the 2km further to Río Azul and spent a couple hours to bask in its beauty and read. The trail actually leads to the confluence of the Río Azul and the Encanto Blanco river. The waters were crystalline blue and icy cold from the snowy mountain sources. So that was a lovely little hike. The next day I went on a longer hike to climb Perito Moreno, which hosts a small glacier at the top. The hike starts at the little Perito Moreno Ski Center, which has a few ski slopes and is located at the end of the road that Reko is on, 4 km away. I´m not sure how long the hike to the top was, but from Reko it took me al ittle over 4 hours. Then it took me a little over 3 hours to get back. I took the obvious trail down (meant for 4x4 vehicles), but to climb up the mountain I found some smaller, and not well cleared, hiking trails. Although some parts were difficult to navigate, my persistence was rewarded by finding a sweet little waterfall, and later an area which looked like it hadn’t been utilized for a long time, but had tree stumps placed clearly for sitting, and an old sign demonstrating the area of Argentina occupied by the precious Patagonian forest in comparison to the rest of the country. The hike to the top of Perito Moreno is a bit deceiving; from the ranch you can see the ski slopes and what appears to be the top of the mountain, but once you reach the top of the slopes, the rest of the mountain and final hill to the top is revealed. From the stop of the slopes it took me another hour to reach the true summit, and boy was the view gorgeous! After staring at those slopes for nearly 3 weeks wondering what the other side was like, I finally sated my curiosity. It was immensely rewarding. There was a vast green valley on the other side faaar down below, and you could see the snowcapped Andes a little further in the distance. The wind at the top was wicked and I could barely hold my phone steady enough to take pictures. There was still a fair amount of snowy patches along the mountain side, and it felt sort of magical crossing through snow while I was wearing shorts and a tshirt! On the way down I stopped to eat a little snow just for the novelty of it. I felt so rejuvenated after that hike!

The first three days of the following week we spent finishing the roof of Gerardo and Paula´s house, which was a very interesting experience! They used volcanic sand to insulate the roof, so they had to construct a pully to hoist up buckets of sand, and I helped out by laying the sand down and leveling it out in the wooden recesses. I also helped prepare a mix of the sand with water and clay for insulated the peaked areas of the roof where sand wouldn’t stay on its own. I was covered in clay by the end of that day. After finishing the roof, various other last minute adjustments were made before the family left after Christmas that weekend. We worked on xmas day, but not a full day. The holiday celebration at the ranch was a lot of fun. The common practice is to get together with family and friends on xmas eve (la noche Buena) and have an asado (Argentinian bbq), and then toast at midnight. They had a big fire, and various friends and neighbors dropped in, and there was a ton of delicious food, wine, and homemade beer being passed around. That Saturday it was a little sad saying goodbye to the families. It felt like I was just beginning to develop a solid comfort level with them beyond the owner:volunteer work relationship. I definitely plan to include a visit to their ranch the next time I return to Argentina to see how all their projects have progressed. After bidding them farewells, I embarked on a hike to the Encanto Blanco refuge. The trail begins from a privately owned ranch located just beyond the Encanto Blanco bus stop, and when you enter the property a bunch of dogs start barking and the owner comes out of his house. It felt a little odd letting myself onto the property, but I just casually (and politely) asked the owner if I could pass through to get to the trail, and he said of course. After the 45 minute walk from Reko to the bus stop, it took another 4 hours to hike to the refuge, and about halfway along the hike the trail meets up with the Encanto Blanco river and follows it the rest of the way to the refuge. The river was breathtaking, both in its beauty and its frigid temperature. The water was crystal clear, and it was a hot sunny day, so every time I passed by a deep spot in the river I experienced extreme urges to jump in! That made me decide that I must find a river and/or lake to swim in before I leave the El Bolsón region. I arrived to the refuge a little after 4pm, and spent the rest of the afternoon sipping mate with the 2 refuge managers (called Refugeros) and various other campers/hikers there. I also got some solid reading time in alongside the river before the sun went down. The refuge consisted of a rustic wood cabin, of which the bottom floor was divided into a kitchen and dining/relaxing area, and the upstairs was a loft for sleeping if you weren’t camping outside. There was also another building for housing firewood with a loft as well for laying down sleep bags. I dined with the refugeros and other solo hikers that evening (there were a couple families at the refuge as well, but doing their own thing). That night there was a nice bonfire by the river, and I hung out until the moon finally arrived over the mountains (which wasn’t until after 1am) before heading to sleep. The refuge is located in a valley surrounded by tall mountains, and it was wild to observe, well after nightfall, how the mountains on the western side were slowly illuminated as the moon began to crest over the mountains on the opposite side of the valley. I slept in the next morning, and then went on two short hikes to nearby lookout points and a small waterfall. Then I chilled at the refuge until about 2pm, when I decided to head back to Reko.

Work the following week was pretty relaxed with the families gone and fewer people around. We spent all Monday cleaning up the main construction site and organizing the wood workshop. I made lunch nearly every day, and I also painted a ton of siding (occupied 3 of my work days). I also continued working in the garden. We worked a short day on New Years Eve, and that evening was laid back and most enjoyable. We were down to being only 3 volunteers after the French volunteers left. Hernán and Layin both had parties to go to, so us three were left at the ranch to make the most of our last evening of 2015. We bought some ranch beers and made a bunch of food, and we thought it was going to be a pretty chill night, but the French couple actually ended up returning that evening to the ranch, to our surprise and delight. They brought more food, and two bottles of whiskey! We were thrilled, because 5 is a party compared to 3. We made a big fire and sat around it drinking and chatting and passing around a guitar until 5am. I was also glad they returned so that I could say a proper goodbye to them before I left Reko. Don’t think I mentioned it prior, but with the departure of the families and decline in work activities, I needed to find another place to volunteer for the month of January.

So, here I am writing you after a week spent at the last place I´ll work before coming back to the states, a small ranch outside of el Hoyo, 12km south of El Bolsón. It´s a mind bender reflecting on how quickly 8 months has passed me by. I have done so much since arriving to Chile on May 7 that it is difficult to fully comprehend at this point.

The ranch I´m at now has no name, it´s much smaller than Reko (4 hectares), and is owned by a friend of the Reko family, an Argentine Italian named Juan. He´s a super nice and relaxed guy, with lots of projects happening on his beautiful property, which is in a valley with a nearby wetlands area, and is surrounded by mountains. He has a big garden and lots of fruit trees, along with a forest of cypress, pine and other native trees. There was a big fire here in 2012, and its evidence is still clear. Juan´s house burnt down, along with some other structures, so work here has included helping with new construction, helping him move into his new house and organize it (he officially moved back in only a month ago), and tend to the garden and fruit trees. There is one other volunteer here, Guillermo, a 20 year old from France. He is laid back and speaks good Spanish. My other ¨job¨ here has been doing most (but not all) the cooking, which I´m totally down for! I make breakfast every morning, either oatmeal with various fruits from around the property (cherries, apples, or plums thus far) or that are otherwise at hand, or chapatti with jams and fruit salad, and once I made eggs and toast. He also keeps plenty of fresh veggies around, so I´ve had lots to work with when I´ve made lunch or dinner. My first week here flew by (recurring theme on my trip…). Last night Juan took Guille and me to the little town of El Hoyo to check out their Fine Fruits Festival, happening all this weekend, and marking the first of a series of local festivals, one happening every weekend in nearby towns. Next weekend is the Artisans Festival in Epuyén, then the Hops Festival in El Bolsón, the Forest Festival in Lago Puelo, and I can´t remember where the last festival takes place, but it´s the Asado Festival. Each festival is meant to highlight the town´s most prominent attraction. El Hoyo, or rather the surrounding area, is the capital of ¨frutas finas¨ (cherries, grapes, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, etc). There were lots of vendors selling preserves, a big stage with live music, and all kinds of food stands and attractions for kids. It was cute, but basically reminded me of a small county fair in the states. I think we are going to have dinner with a neighbor and close friend of Juan´s this evening.

Needless to say, I am beyond satisfied with my new home and its beautiful surroundings, and I´m looking forward to what my last month here has in store for me!

Nov 27-Dec 5 - New farm!

christinebaker — Sun, 6 Dec 2015 01:16:00 GMT

Helloooo everyone. Hope you had lovely Thanksgivings if you are reading this from the states, and hope your December has begun well otherwise! To pick up where I last left off, I had a great Friday in Bariloche. First, I hiked Campanario Hill, which only took about 30 minutes, but it was super steep, so I took a nice break at the top, captured lots of pictures, and had some lunch. The view was fantastic; not sure yet if these computers i´m using at this cyber café in El Bolson will allow me to upload pics, but if not i´ll eventually get them shared! After climbing back down the hill, I walked half a km farther down the road to rent a bike, and from there went on a 35km bike ride around a peninsula outside of Bariloche town, called el Circuito Chico. Also got lots of amazing pictures… And boy was I spent after that ride. I hadn’t ridden a bike in 6 months! I miss riding a bike terribly, as does my body, hah. I just took it easy that evening. The next morning I went for a walk around town and, since Bariloche is famous for its chocolate shops, I purchased some chocolate for my new hosts before catching the bus down to El Bolson. I was really tired, and thought I could get a nap in on the bus ride, but the scenery was so beautiful that I didn’t dare shut my eyes. After a 2.5 hr ride, we were in El Bolson. It´s a quaint town, larger than Capilla del Monte, but not by much. It is surrounded by huge awesome mountains, which are still snow-capped. There is a big artisan market on Saturdays, so after I dropped my stuff off at the hostel I was staying at that night, I rushed to the market because it was going to end in 2 hours. Unfortunately, I was hot and sweaty after walking from the bus station to the hostel, and I stupidly went to the market without long sleeves or sunscreen, and ended up burning my shoulders pretty badly, after only 2 hours in the sun. It is super strong down here, especially because at this time of year the big hole in the Southern Hemisphere´s ozone layer is right over Patagonia. And I didn’t realize how bad it was until after I arrived to the farm/ranch im currently wwoofing at, so I didn’t have an opportunity to buy any burn cream all week. But i´ve been using almond oil and aloe vera, and it´s been ok, but I finally bought some legit burn cream this morning at a pharmacy before coming to this cyber café, and the burn already feels much better.

So yeah, new farm! It is super rustic and rural, 25km outside of el Bolson, 20km of which is dirt and gravel road. I had to walk 4km this morning to the nearest bus stop, and from there it was about 35min ride to town. The bus only runs 3 days a week, only 3 times per day. So in reality, Saturdays are the only feasible day I can go to town. Next weekend I do not plan to go to town, so I can go on a 2 day hike instead. But back to the farm, which is named Reko. It´s actually what´s called in Spanish a ´´Chacra´´, which is more like a ranch than a farm. There are two houses on the property, and 3 more are being built. The ranch was started by 2 brothers, Gerardo and Gabriel, and from there more people have joined in on their efforts to turn it into a self-sustaining permaculture ranch. It is a big place, and the two complete houses are where the two brothers live, one of which has a wife and three young boys. These houses are at the main entrance, at the bottom of a hill, and the volunteers quarters/wood workshop, and two other houses are at the top of the hill, and it is a healthy 5+ minute walk between destinations. Great workout if you have to make the trek a few times a day, which I have done because Ive been put to work in the garden at the bottom of the hill, whereas the rest of the volunteers are helping with construction at the top of the hill. But i´m super happy working in the garden because its where im most comfortable, and its giving me an opportunity to know Paula, Gerardo´s wife. She is very appreciative of my help in the garden because everyone else is occupied with the construction efforts. The construction happening there is super cool, for the most part all natural building materials (except for nails, screws, etc).

It´s only been a week, but everyone at the ranch has been great. There are 5 other volunteers along with me, a couple from France, plus another older gentleman from France, a guy from the Czech Republic, and a guy from the Pampas region of Argentina. There is also another Argentinian who came to volunteer at the ranch 3 years ago and never ended up leaving. One of the houses being built is his. So the volunteers quarters is super rustic, but we make it work. Its actually quite a beautiful thing the way we all share cleaning and cooking duties, and there are 7 of us sharing one small bathroom (along with the hot water). Today, as long as its not outrageously expensive, I plan to buy a sleeping bag so I can start sleeping outside, and I can use it on weekend hiking trips.

Overall, im loving being part of this small community at Reko. I´ve never lived in a place so rural, with only one opportunity every weekend to ´go to town´. I like it. After 2 months of this, i´ll either be mondo ready to return to civilization, or more ready than ever to ditch city life… haha. Vamos a ver! xoxoxo

End of October thru Nov 26

christinebaker — Thu, 26 Nov 2015 18:58:00 GMT

Happy Thanksgiving! Get read for an epic post. My last couple weeks at the farm were chilly and rainy. I ended up getting a cold the last week/end I was there. I also slept funny on my neck, and it was terribly sore and stiff the last sunday and monday I was there, like severely so! It was kind of crazy. But Lucy´s parents happened to be visiting that weekend, and they hooked me up with some good anti inflammatory drugs. It was really nice to meet them; really warm and kind; almost bubbly (although that could have been part of their vacation mentality, you know? haha). I had dinner with them and Lucy a couple nights, and I went on an afternoon excursion with them to a nearby town called San Marcos Sierras. Near the town Lucy took us to an abandoned commune-like place called the Pozo de Luz. She explained that it was some argentinian´s idea to create a community centered on spiritual and mental health, and he created this place as a gathering point for a bunch of scientists and other alternatively minded thinkers, and apparently he claimed to have discovered a cure for cancer. I havent read much about the situation, but Lucy said the government put this guy in jail and shut down the Pozo de Luz because he didnt want to share this supposed cure with the government. His fear was that the government would patent and privatize the cure for mondo profit, whereas he wanted it to be accessible for all. Anyway, we snuck in (it was surrounded by barbed wire) and took a look around. I definitely got a mystic vibe from that place; it felt abandonded, but not empty. It was huge, all sorts of buildings with rooms underground, but lots of wide open space too. It´s too bad I could nt really represent the place well in pictures. But after exploring that place we went to town and checked out their little artisan market, then had a picnic at the river that runs through the town. Later we went to Las Tomas in Capilla, which is at the base of Uriturco, and its basically a little river with a bunch of picnic spots and camping space.

I also made a new friend the last couple weeks in Capilla. One of the outdoor educators from the final ministry camp ended up staying at the farm as a volunteer because she liked Capilla so much and wanted to stay a bit longer before heading back to her home in Buenos Aires. Her name was Malena, and she is 25. She actually grew up in Madrid, Spain because her dad was on sebatical and moved the family there when she was a baby. Then they moved back to BA when she was 13 or 14. She was a super cool gal and we got along really well. The farm was so full of campers and educational groups that last weekend I was there that Malena actually had to move into my room with me. So it was kinda fun having a roommate for my last few days. The day I left Capilla, I unexpectedly ended up having a lovely little group send me off at the bus station. I also became good friends with this gay couple (Pablo and Sergio) who started working at the farm about a month prior (they are artisans by trade, and were hosting workshops at the farm and helping cater for groups who didnt come with their own cooks), and they gave me a ride to the bus station. And at the last minute Lucy (who unexpectedly didnt have classes that day) and Malena (who didnt really have much to work on because it was raining and it was the first day in probably 14 straight days with no campers) hopped in the car with us. Then once we were at the station another good friend I made the last few weeks I was there, Juan Pablo, also met us there. They all waited with me, 15 minutes or so, until my bus got there. It was so sweet, and made me feel pretty special. I will miss them all very much.

That night I stayed in a hostel in Córdoba, then flew out the next morning to Santiago to meet my dad for 10 days of vacation! So as sad as i was to leave my new friends, I was very excited to get some vacay time in and see my dad! We had a great time. Rented a car and drove up the coast a little way. We started in Viña del Mar, at a hotel near Reñaca beach, and stayed a couple nights there. We spent an afternoon in Valparaiso, and I took dad to the Pablo Neruda house-museum that Max took me to before. We ate at a swanky cliffside restaurant where we got to watch the sunset as we dined. And I had an incredible caldillo de congrio; the first spicy version I´ve encountered. Caldillo de congrio is a fish soup, basically, and its sooooo good. And apparently it was Pablo Neruda´s favorite dish. On Saturday we took our time driving up the coast so I could show Dad all the beautiful little beach towns not too far north of Viña: Cón Cón, Maintencillo, La Laguna, Cachagua, Zapallar, and then we spent the night in Papudo. Along the way we stopped at a restaurant off the highway for some typical chilean food, delish baked empanadas and tomato onion avocado salad. That night we ate at another fancy oceanside seafood restaurant in Zapallar, and I decided to induldge in 2 glasses of wine, so I made dad drive us back to our accomodations just to be on the safe side. I´ve seen checkpoints in Chile, so had no desire to risk it.

From there we drove up to La Serena for 3 nights of beachside uber relaxation. We stayed in an apartment/condo which had a balcony overlooking the giant pool, and not far beyond it the beach. We continued eating amazing seafood, and got a fantastic seafood pizza one night at a mediterranean style restaurant. One afternoon we took a couple hour drive north just to check out more coast line. The original intention was to go to this little pueblo called Los Choros, and from there take a 20 minute ferry to an island which is a nature reserve, where we could have seen penguins, seals, and dolphins, but since it wasnt quite yet tourist season, ferry only ran a few days a week, and of course not on the day we drove up there. But it was still a pleasure to experience more of Chile´s breathtaking topography.

We left wednesday and spent the night in a beautiful little boutique hotel in Zapallar and made sure to visit the beach there, then the next day went back to Santiago. We had lunch that Thursday with a friend I met through Max, dined at the hotel that night, then Friday (dad´s last day) we ate at the Santiago central market (amazing seafood, again). Dad´s flight didnt leave til 10pm that evening, so it was great to be able spend the entire day together and not feel rushed to get him to the airport. I stayed that Friday night in the hotel because my flight back to Córdoba didnt leave til Saturday morning.

When i got back to Córdoba, i stayed at the same hostel i stayed at the night before I left for Chile. It´s a great place, the owner is super cool. He´s an american who came to argentina after college, met an argentinian girl and ended up marrying her and staying here. Most the staff are volunteers getting free room and board. They are from switzerland, germany, UK, colombia, and buenos aires. I took a nap that afternoon because I was tired from traveling and saying goodbye to dad, then that evening did a little grocery shopping and just ate dinner in the hostel. I made friends with a trio staying at the hostel, a guy and a chick from germany and another gal from england. Bars and nightclubs closed early that night because by law they have to close early when the next day is an election (and the next day was Argentinas presidencial election). So instead of going out, the four of us drank at the hostel and played cards all night. We were teaching each other the few games we knew, and it was a lot of fun. Although practically everything was closed sunday day for elections, everything was hopping that night after the pols closed. there was a huge artisan and flea market not too far from the hostel, so i spent all evening walking up and down streets and slowly looking through all the stalls of beautiful artwork, handmade clothing, jewelry, food, and other stuff. That monday my friend Juan Pablo came to Cordoba for a few days to visit some of his various friends and family there, so we got to hang out again! He arrived late afternoon, so we walked around for a long while, made a delicious dinner that night, then went bar hopping that night. eventually his friend whose apartment he was staying at met up with us when he got off work. it was pretty hard to get up the next morning, but luckily my flight to Bariloche wasnt until 3pm! hah.

Aaaaand now iḿ in Bariloche! I got here Tuesday night, so this is my second full day here. I was originally going to stay through Friday, but it was cloudy these past two days, and of course the sun is supposed to come out tomorrow, so ive decided to stay instead through saturday so i can get some sunny hiking in tomorrow and take some (hopefully) spectacular photos of the incredible landscape. Bariloche lines a giant lake which has various other finger lakes attached to it. All of that is surrounded by giant snow capped mountains. Actually, flying here was wild; as we were getting close to Bariloche we flew over a type of terrain i had never encountered before, and iḿ not really sure what to call it. They were low rolling hills, but some were severely peaked, and there were little rivers between some of the hills. There were miles of these hills. I wish i could have taken a picture because iḿ doing a terrible job describing what i saw, hah. But then right before the airport the hills flattened out and and it was beautiful grassland dotted with cows and sheep, and there were various streams running through the fields with lots of birds. The scenery was just gorgeous and full of life. So yesterday I took it pretty easy. I took advantage of having the room to myself that morning after breakfast because the three other girls sharing the room with me were out and about, and i got an epic practice sesh in with the mandolin. I had been missing it! Then I spent all afternoon, probably almost 5 hours, just walking throughout the town and getting to know its streets. Then today I went on a 4 hour hike to a nearby hill that i didnt need to take a bus to. There is a big asado here tonight at the hostel, so iḿ going to through a bunch of veggies on the grill! Then tomorrow ill take a city bus to a farther away hill that will give me a 360 view of the town and lakes and mountains. With sun, i should get some amazing pics out of the journey. Then Saturday I head to Bolsón! Iĺl stay that night in town so i can get to know it a bit and check out their saturday artisan market, then Sunday ill head to the farm! So next post will be from there! Pictures soon to come!

Photos: Sept 27-Oct 20: Farm y Capilla

christinebaker — Fri, 30 Oct 2015 08:51:00 GMT

Sept 27 - Oct 25

christinebaker — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 05:52:00 GMT

So every time I sit down to write another journal entry, not only is it my time to reflect on what I´ve been up to, but it also brings to light how quickly this trip is passing by. As I write this, I´m having to forcefully grasp that it´s been nearly a month since my last entry, as well as come to terms with the fact that this is the first of only three remaining weekends here. But, then it´s vacation time! (what I try to remind myself of if I begin feeling sad about my departure.) I feel really in touch with what Juan and Sandra are trying to accomplish with their farm, and I´ve gotten quite close to them. And Lucy and I have become fast friends! She´s like the little sister I never had. So New Zealand might be my next big adventure! Haha, a bit soon tho to be thinking about my next trip…

Anyway, I´d have to say one of the big events after my last journal entry was the lunar eclipse! It was beauuuutiful here. I had a perfect spot on the farm to watch it, and there was a cool couple from Buenos Aires camping there who I got to watch it with. They made empanadas on the grill that night and invited me to dine with them. It was a lot of fun. I was amazed by the night sky´s transition from being super brightly lit by the big full moon to getting darker and darker, which brought out a ton of stars that you couldnt see while the moon was shining. I saw some incredibly brilliant and long shooting stars during the eclipse, and I stayed up too late for having to work the next morning. Don´t think I went to bed until 2ish am, after the eclipse had completely ended. Another note from that night, the boyfriend in the couple was wearing a Red Sox jersey that night, and I was like ´whaaaaat?!? you like baseball???´. So it was also awesome to have the opportunity to talk baseball with an Argentinian. Very rare to meet someone here who knows anything about baseball. I didnt understand how exactly he got exposed to the sport, but he said he´s been following it since he was a kid, and he plays with a bunch of Cubans and Dominicans in Buenos Aires. And speaking of baseball, I actually got to watch the NLDS here! As sad as the ending was, it was still such a pleasure to see my boys play after being visually baseball-deprived for months. (i´ve had a few chances to listen to games on my phone via internet). Juan and Sandra let me watch every game on their TV, and they took a genuine interest in watching a couple with me, but as much as I tried to explain what was going on, they still said they couldn´t understand the sport. I suppose so though, because even people from the U.S. who arent baseball fans have a hard time following the game.

Another sweet activity I accomplished was climbing Uriturco! I picked a perfect day to do it too. It was sort of cool and mostly cloudy all morning, so I didnt overheat and didnt have the sun in my face as i was climbing the mountain, but then the sun came out after I started my descent, so it was nice having it at my back. There were all kinds of branches sticking out in the path, so I wouldnt have wanted to wear a hat to protect my face from the sun, and I hate wearing sunscreen, so timing my climb with the sun was pretty darn perfect. I started climbing at 8:30am, got lost a couple times because the path isnt super well-indicated, but still made it to the peak by about 10:45, then took a little longer to work my way back down the mountain because, 1. there was a scenic spot off the path that I checked out on my way down, 2. the descent was waaaayy harder on my knees, which were killing me by the time I made it to the base of the mountain around 1:15pm. But that was perfect timing to take a long rest and eat my lunch before walking the 2km back to the farm. I took a ton of pictures, but they don´t give the views I was attempting to capture any real justice.

That weekend the environmental educators from the ministry of education arrived, and that monday commenced the 20 day camp, which ended yesterday! Every 3 days a new group of roughly 100 kids plus various teachers arrived and camped for 2 nights. The farm transitioned from once a peaceful calm quiet oasis to being crazy busy always people running around with music or noise of some sort. I had to move my stuff out of the kitchen and transition to using the other smaller kitchen in the Casablanca (i think ive explained, Juan and Sandra have their home upstairs, and downstairs there is a kitchen, big open conference/multipurpose room and then an office and bathrooms. But at one point, I didnt have that kitchen to cook in either because a separate physical education camp stayed at Casablanca for 4 nights and used that kitchen for their meals. But that week I was getting invited pretty consistently to eat with Juan and Sandra or with the ministry educators. There have also been other groups of students coming here for day long excursions. Juan and Sandra have a number of workshops and guided educational tours directed at various age groups and with themes such as recycling/residuals/energy conservation, and general introductions to their animal and vegetable operations/organic farming/alternative non-consumerism lifestyles. They´ve had me assist them with various groups, and it´s been a great way to see what they are trying to demonstrate here. I think it is so awesome they want to share this beautiful place with as many people as they can. The ministry educators are all super cool people too, around my age. I´ve enjoyed getting to know them, and it´ll make me sad to see them leave, although it will be nice to have a bit more personal space again. Last Wednesday was their last night off before they all move on from here, so Juan and Sandra hosted a dinner for them. It was a fun night and I stayed up too late hanging out with all of them after Juan and Sandra and Lucy went to bed. But, it was worth it because i´ve definitely developed relationships with them, sharing space and encountering them as they lead their workshops while i´m working in the garden. They would include me in their introductory tours explaining to the kids who I was and why I was working there. It was pretty funny because with every group, by the third morning they were there (the day they left) they were no longer so timid and so groups would come up and talk to me as I was chopping up garden residuals to feed to the baby peacocks and baby geese, or while I was working in the garden.

Some other fun things happening around here have been the new additions to the animal farm: baby peacocks and baby geese and baby rabbits all being born within the past few weeks! Jeez they grow soooo fast! Also, a baby lamb was born last weekend, but its momma is a young sheep, and this is its first lamb and it wants nothing to do with it. So that´s been a bit heartbreaking to witness. They´ve been bottle-feeding the lamb, but it doesnt like the bottle, and it is so skinny from not getting the proper nourishment it needs. Lucy got back last week from her amazing trip (she went with her parents to the Galapagos, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia for three weeks). She actually grew up on a sheep farm and one of her roles there was raising the ´orphan´ lambs. So she´s been helping with this one. Also, to baby turkeys just hatched in the incubator, so I´m going to have more baby birds to feed. They have me pick a bunch of weeds, as well as old lettuce or leaves from already-harvested broccoli or cauliflower and chop it all up really fine to feed to the babies. I give the stems to the goats, and they love me for it, haha.

Well, pictures will be soon to come, as I have to go to the internet cafe tomorrow to upload them. And I´ll be sure get one last post in before I leave for vacation in Chile with Dad! Hasta entonces!!

Photos: Uriturco!

christinebaker — Sun, 25 Oct 2015 06:55:00 GMT

Photos: Sept 8-15: farm + dam/paraíso

christinebaker — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 07:09:00 GMT

Photos: Ride to Argentina + Mendoza, excursion (Aug 23-28)

christinebaker — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 06:51:00 GMT

Sept 15-27

christinebaker — Sun, 27 Sep 2015 17:25:00 GMT

Have I really been here three weeks?? It is hard to believe. It´s also hard to believe that next Monday will mark 5 months in Chile/Argentina. Which means the second half of my trip has already begun!

Time flies when you stay busy. I went on a picnic with a new friend named Facundo the day after my last post. I met him at the farm, and he works at a nearby hostel. We went to the dam, which is called el Zapato, just to check out the beautiful view where you can see the lake on one side, and the two giant hills on the other (again, can´t wait to share pictures...), then went down below the dam to a place they call Paraiso, which is super green and lush compared to the rest of the arid region (because of the nearby water source), thus aptly named ´paradise´. We had a lovely little picnic and basked in the sun all afternoon. The hostel he works at is cool and laid back; I´ve been going there on the rare occasion that I get bored and hang out with Facu and the other staff, chat on the terrace (great Spanish practice for me) and drink yerba mate.

That Friday La Granja hosted their first 2 educational field trips/tours (first of many to come, being an educational demonstration farm) and we were very busy that morning before the groups came making sure the farm appeared aesthetically pleasing and safe for kids. But then I got to end work early because they invited me to go on the tours with the kids so I could see how they´re done and learn more about the farm in the process. Very fun! The kids dominated the dining hall for lunch, as well as the professors in the other dining area, so Sandra and Juan had me eat lunch upstairs in their home. They had to entertain the profs, so their rotary daughter, Lucy, had lunch with me. We ended up chatting all afternoon. She´s super cool and sweet, and much more mature than your typical 19 y/o. We ended up spending most that weekend together. Juan and Sandra had dinner obligations that evening, so Lucy and I dined together. Then Juan and Sandra also had to go out of town Sat afternoon-Sun eve, so she and I hung out. She has gotten to know the little league rugby team here, and they had a little tournament Saturday eve, so I went to that with her. Rugby is a crazy game; my first time seeing it played. There were four teams, and they all asked to take pictures with Lucy (who also has blue eyes and long blonde hair) and me. It was kinda goofy (and again, can´t wait to share the pictures). Then we made dinner that night - a spicy stir fry - she hadnt had any spicy asian cuisine since arriving here last January, so she was thrilled about it. And all the veggies we used were from the garden - broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, asparagus, green onion. We went dancing that night, then lounged around Sunday. After I finished work Monday we went to the nearby park because there was a first-day-of-spring celebration. The reason we were hangin so tuff is because not only did we happen to get along really well together, but she was also leaving that Monday night for a 3.5 week vacation with her parents. Sounds like they were going to have an epic South American journey, so I´m looking forward to seeing all her pictures when she returns.

Farm-wise, last weeks work consisted of watering every day because it has been pretty windy making thing especially dry, also lots of weeding, transplanted a number of rows of tomatoes, zucchinis, and summer cabbage, and seeded more beds of arugula. We´ve also been doing various other tidying up and beautifying of the farm for the upcoming educational camps, the first of which will be 20 days and starts Oct 4. So no more peaceful tranquil farm after then because there will be lots of kids camping in tents on the premises, and the professors will be staying in the dorms. I will still have the 3 room 1 bathroom building to myself during this camp, but afterward during other camps I will prob have to start sharing the building/bath (but I´ll still have my own room). This first camp is run by the Argentina Ministry of Education, and Sandra and Juan told me it is really well done, and if I have any interest in farm education it should be a good learning opportunity for me. I´m sure I will really enjoy all the farm activity, but I am definitely going to do my best to fully appreciate my last week of the farm to (basically) myself. At least a few nights a week there are a few people camping who I share the kitchen with, but that has been fun because they have all been neat people and further opportunities to practice my spanish as we converse while we are cooking or dining at the same time. They have all been pretty fascinated with my work-stay exchange.

The other notable occurance last week was when Juan and Sandra took me to Córdoba with them to celebrate their younger son´s bday and see their older son compete in a battle of the bands at his university. It felt nice that they wanted to include me, and it was cool to get a sneak peak of Córdoba. I´ll spend a few days there after I return from vacationing on the Chilean coast with Dad. It was the first time I met their sons, who were both super nice. I had to get a gift for the bday boy because it would´nt feel right attending his bday dinner empty handed, but I had no clue what he was like. I ended up getting him a little drosera carnivorous plant at this shop`I frequently walk by in Capilla, and he ended up loving it!

Well, I still havent checked out the cyber cafe in town where I´m hoping I can upload my pictures, so I will try to remember to do that this week. Otherwise I´m not sure how else I´ll be able to share them with you all!

Aug 24 - Sept 14

christinebaker — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 09:17:00 GMT

The bus ride to Mendoza was smooth and comfortable, although it was 8.5 hours. Part of what made the ride so neat was that I was already quite familiar with the majority of the route, given it was the same route Max takes to Portillo. Then I happened to also be familiar with the first half of the leg through Argentina because Max and I had already been to Uspallata. And finally, luckily, since I had previously crossed into Argentina successfully, the border customs person I had to deal with still gave me a slightly confused look when I handed her both my new and old passport, but stamped my passport with the 90 day visa without any issues. Can´t remember, but I must have previously mentioned that US citizens have to pay an entry fee to get into Argentina, which lasts 10 years. Well the evidence that I paid is recorded in my old passport, and not in my new passport, so it is a little confusing, I´m guessing because when you get a new passport, you are issued a new passport number too. Which to me is super stupid... But anyway, the Andes were a stunning backdrop druing the rest of the route past Uspallata. Eventually you´ll get to see the pictures! We passed a gorgeous lake, which I later found of is called Potrerillo, a popular weekend destination for Mendocinos (it´s only about an hour from the city). I navigated the Mendoza bus terminal fine and got a taxi to Rosa´s, my new host. Her house was lovely, and she was a wonderful hostess. I definitely felt at home, as I had my own room and bathroom, and had full reign of her kitchen. She also had an adorable 17 year old kitty named Cleopatra, with who I immediately bonded.

My spanish classes went well; I had two lady professors who I really enjoyed chatting with. I didnt do many real touristy things, although I did go on a guided tour the first Friday in Mendoza, to two wineries (the second of which was organic!), an olive oil factory, and an artisanal preserves and liquours shop of a family that has been using their same recipes for 3 generations. It was a very informative and beautiful excursion, and before we left each location we received marvelous tastings. Each winery offered 4 solid tastings; the olive oil factory let us try 5 different varieties of their olive oils (flavored, unfiltered, etc) with bread, and they also make various dried foods and other olive products we got to try as well; and the artisanal shop let us try nearly 20 different kinds of sweet and savory preserves and spreads, as well as our choice of 3 of their 20 or so different kinds of liquors. I tried a walnut coffee rum, chocolate mint liquour, and absynth! I´ve tried absynth in Europe a few times and it was always pretty horrible, even with with sugar-preparation, but this absynth was incredible, not too licorishy, I could taste so much more. It definitely lit my belly up. =) The second Monday I was in Mendoza, I met up with a friend I made in Portillo, it was totally cool to see a familiar face. He´s an Aussie who was visiting various ski buddies of his throughout South America and happened to be passing through Mendoza while I was there. So I dined with him and some other of his travel buddies that night. Then the last Sunday I was in Mendoza it was Brasil´s independence day, so there was a big all day celebration in a park very close to my host´s house. I met a fellow student and some professors and other staff from my language school there, and stayed for the entire event. There were lots of traditional foods, live traditional music, traditional dance performances, and then a dance party for the last hour and a half - I danced my booty off! Got home about 8:30 that evening, with enough time to finish packing before it got too late. Rosa was kind enough to take me to the bus terminal Monday morning. My time in Mendoza flew by, and I did not take as many pictures as I would have liked, nor could I find postcards! Guess I´ll just have to go back again!

The bus ride to Capilla del Monte was long and uneventful. We headed north out of Mendoza, so I got to gaze at the Andes for a nice while before we turned east, at which point they were at our backs. The topography was mostly desert and flat from then until about an hour outside Capilla, when it started getting hilly again. I arrived to Capilla about 6:30pm and went straight to a little cafew adjacent to the bus station for a swiss chard empanada (yum!) because I was starving. Right after I ordered, a guy sitting at the next table over asked if I spoke english; turns out he was from Chicago, but married an argentinian and they´ve lived in Capilla six years now. He told me they are about to open a vegetarian restaurant, so I hope they have something particular or special to make their restaurant stand out because there are actually all kinds of veg restaurants here, and even a couple exclusively vegan! I´ve eaten at a couple, but they all have enticing menus. There are also lots of natural food/product/medicine shops in town. The culture here is unlike any other place I´ve yet to visit in Chile and Argentina. They say Capilla has a special, particular energy, and a lot of mystic, naturalist (perhaps hippy) types gravitate here because of it. Capilla is also known for the giant hills that surround it, one of which called Uritorco, is famous for its high number of UFO sitings. It is a popular hiking destination, which I plan to see for myself in a coming weekend.

So the farm I´m now calling home is just great. It´s a demonstration farm with lots of different animals (hens and roosters, turkeys, ducks, geese, pheasants, cornish hens, emus, and two pavos reales - the english word escapes me at the moment - as well as sheep, goats, rabbits, llamas, turtles, and worms - for compost), and a big vegetable garden and small orchard. They host a bunch of different kinds of groups, young and old, in the spring and summer months, so they also have a big camping area, as well as various dorms and a big outdoor kitchen/dining area (i say outdoor, but it has walls and a roof). I have a dorm and bathroom all to myself, and I use the outdoor kitchen when I dont dine with the owners. They are a nice middle-aged couple who moved here 10 years ago from Buenos Aires, wanting to escape crazy city life. Along with running this farm, they are also teachers at one of the local schools, but Juan Carlos is an architect and Sandra is a biochemist. They have two sons studying in Córdoba, and a daughter in New Zealand living with a family through a Rotary Club exchange program. They are in turn hosting the New Zealand family´s daughter. And I guess this is the fourth year they have hosted an exchange student through Rotary.

There is much to do on the farm, definitely no shortage of work for me to do. But I´m only obligated to work 5 hours/day, Mon-Sat. I start at 8am feeding and watering all the birds (except the emus) and the rabbits, which takes me almost 1.5 hrs. Then I head to the veggie patch, where I water, weed, transplant, harvest, all the typical necessary day to day garden needs. But soon I will help them build 5 raised beds in areas where water tends to pool up in the summers when their natural springs are most active. They were thrilled to hear I already have much experience building solid raised beds (with CCUA). I really like the farm manager, Hugo, who is super kind and patient with me. Overall, I think Capilla del Monte is an enchanting little town, and I believe I´m going to have a wonderful time getting to know it and its residents better! Can´t wait to share my pictures with you and upcoming local adventures! xoxo

Aug 18-24

christinebaker — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 07:58:00 GMT

Howdy. I´ve done a fair amount of traveling since I last wrote. Unfortunately, at this point the computer I have access to isn´t functioning perfectly with the system this website uses to upload pictures, so those will have to wait.

The day after my last post, instead of heading to Portillo, we stayed one more day in Vina del Mar and Max took me on a long afternoon walking tour of Valparaiso. It is a super hilly city, with lots of hidden and not so hidden staircases, and a series of hillside elevators throughout the neighborhoods. Before we ascended any hills we got a delicous empanada from Cinzano (I think I´ve already mentioned this bar in a previous post, one of the oldest bars in Valpo). The empanada definitely rivaled Doña Tina´s. After lunch we took a stroll around the pier. It wasnt real touristy; mostly just a functioning industrial pier. Then we slowly meandered through various other famous/and or favorite sites of his, like a super old church, the oldest bar in Valpo (Liberty Bar - pronounced liBERty), among other places. It is incredible how many original buildings and mansions are still standing after all the earthquakes this city has endured. It´s quite impressive, actually, because there are a ton of houses propped up against or (apparently) teetering over hillsides. Overall, Valpo is a very picturesque city. All its hills and colorful houses give a fantastic depth to the cityscape, and it´s location at the end of the bay provides gorgeous views of the bay to the north from a number of the hills. You can see the Andes as well... We spent all afternoon walking, but made it back to Max´s just in time to catch the sunset. I took two pictures equal to two scenes from pictures of the bay during the storm almost two weeks prior with waves crashing up against the coast as a means to compare how calm the bay normally is. You´ll eventually see them... Then we left the following morning for Portillo and stayed through Friday. The snow wasnt nearly as nice as it was the week before, so I only skiied once. I wasn´t feeling confident enough with my beginner skills to manage the rougher conditions. Basically, I wussed out. But I still enjoyed the spectacular scenery Portillo provides of the Andes (as well as the amazing dining!). That Saturday we were back in Viña and Max took the opportunity to show me a bit more of Valparaiso. We drove down a street that passes through all the neighborhoods, and we also went to the Neruda House museum, one of three of Neruda´s houses in Chile, all of which are now museums. We had a lovely final dinner that evening; I had packed that morning so I could relax the rest of the day. Given my early departure and the fact that Max is not a morning person, the next morning I barely got to my bus on time, but I made it nonetheless!

Photos: Aug 18-20 (valparaiso and portillo)

christinebaker — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 07:32:00 GMT

End of July - Aug 16

christinebaker — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 02:51:00 GMT

Greetings family and friends!

Well, I’ve learned a lot of things since arriving to Chile, but probably the most important lesson I’ve learned for maintaining a sane mind, is be ready to just go with the flow. And if you can, have a plan B. This especially applies to those trying to make attempts to cross the Andes in the winter. I’m heading to Mendoza next Sunday, so everyone keep your fingers crossed that the pass will be open!

So, it has been exactly three weeks since we left Max’s Curanipe house, but it feels like soo much longer! Fitting in all kinds of mini adventures and seeing all new places for me is what’s creating this sensation. It just seems like it’s been a lot longer than three weeks. Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures on the drive up to Vina del Mar from Curanipe, but it was gorgeous although cloudy the entire way. We took the coastal road all the way up to Pichilemu, then it was inner highway to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar. We passed some precious little coastal pueblos after Constitution (the farthest north I had been before this drive was Constitution). These pueblos were hit hard by the 2010 tsunami because they all sit literally between the beach and a massive hill, so the wave just smashed everything against this hill. On the other hand though, the hill gave the people an immediate close place to seek higher ground.

After passing all these little towns the next section of the drive was an impressive 23ish km stretch of massive sand dunes between the ocean and the road. Then we went a little inland and passed by Lo Valdivia, which is the ruta de sal, where sea salt is harvested using an ancient method where tons of shallow square pools are made every year by creating little dirt/clay walls, then tides come in and flood these pools, then in the summer the water can’t escape when the tide recedes, but rather it evaporates and all the salt left behind is harvested. (please look up pictures!) I guess there are only a handfull of locations in the world where this method is still practiced. Max picked up various bags of salt for friends, and it is ridiculously, sadly cheap.

We got dinner that night in Pichilemu, which is a fairly famous surf town in Chile, but not Max’s favorite spot. And it has become too touristy for his liking, although one of his favorite seafood restaurants in Chile is located there. It was a Monday night and the restaurant was deserted, which was great because the owners weren’t busy and we basically got to hang out with them and have a nice leisurely dinner/rest before tackling the final leg of the drive. It was amazing to arrive to Valparaiso/Vina del Mar at night, because the cities’ lights on the hills and in the port/bay look so magical! It was quite breathtaking once we crested the final hill of the highway to commence our decent into the cities and have the bay all lit up in front of us.

Max had various things to take care of in the next couple days before we went to Santiago to meet up with his friend Randy, but he also fit time in to continue being Chile tour guide extraordinaire, and he drove me all over Vina del Mar and Valparaiso. Then we spent two nights in Santiago with a friend of his before heading up to Portillo with Randy. And I will mention now that the 3 week adventure I spoke of in the previous journal entry did not happen after all, for various reasons. Firstly, Randy was having some health issues, and decided it would be for the better to cut his vacation short. Also, the Andes/Chilean central coast got hit with a mondo storm which brought lots of (awesome) snow to the border, making crossing impossible. Part of our plan was to go to Mendoza, convenient for me because I was needing to renew my 90-day visa (done by crossing the border), but since this wasn’t going to happen after all and we new this big snow storm was coming, Max was amazing and gracious enough to drive me across the border during our only 24 hour window of decent weather between Monday and Tuesday. Monday night we stayed in this lovely little Argentinian town called Uspallata. The drive across the Andes was spectacular!

So we decided to leave Portillo Thursday morning to pass the storm in Vina del Mar. Randy left Wednesday night to go back to Santiago before his flight left the following Monday. We were hoping to pass some time with him that weekend in the Casablanca Valley (major Chilean wine country near here), but the rain never really stopped from Thursday through Monday. There was a break in the rain Saturday morning, so we took a short walk to where we could check out the coast, and the waves were huge and gnarly. I think basically a near-hurricane passed through the coast; central Chile received an immense amount of rain in a short period of time, with heavy winds, and lots of coastal restaurants/shops/etc suffered wind and wave damage. The weather dominated the news for about three days; lots of washed out cars and roads, mudslides, flooding, but also kind of inspirational in that one story was about a river bed that was filling with water for the first time in years. So Max and I stayed cooped up in his house during the storm watching movies and cooking. Which guaranteed we were well rested for the following week in Portillo! Haha.

We left Monday afternoon and took the coastal drive up to Papudo (again gracious Max trying to give me every possible opportunity to see more of beautiful Chile), and stayed with a friend of his in Cachagua that night. Tuesday morning we then drove back up to Portillo! I had a ski lesson Wednesday morning and we skied through Friday afternoon. The snow was amazing there, and the weather got better every day; on Friday there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the mountains shown brilliantly in the sunlight. The lady I had my lesson with is a living legend in Portillo, named Heidi. She has been an instructor there since the 60’s, and she also instructs yoga every evening in the gym. We left late Friday night so that we could attend a party for a good family friend of Max’s. Yesterday Max drove us to Santiago (actually, a barrio outside of Santiago called Lo Barnechea), where we had lunch at la Hosteria Dona Tina, one of the most famous restaurants in Chile. Dona Agustina is the owner, and her story is just incredible (worth your time to look up). I read her book while staying at Max’s beach house in Curanipe, so to finally go to her restaurant and not only taste her incredible food, but actually meet her too was an experience I’ll never forget. We took “the long way” back to Vina by taking the Cuesta de Duerma (I think that is the correct name), which was the old route from Santiago to the Valparaiso Port before the major highways were built. A good friend of Max’s has a goat farm in Olmue, which is a pueblo located along this Cuesta/route, so we stopped there fast to pick up some artisan goat cheese and dulce de leche (however, in Chile it is called manjar) - but, this is special dulce de leche/manjar because it is made from goat milk instead of cow milk. Today we are relaxing before heading back up to Portillo again tomorrow morning. It is nice to not be sitting in a car for hours at a time… We will spend a couple nights again in Portillo, come back here and spend my last couple days here in Vina before I head to Mendoza on Sunday. So hard to believe my time in Chile is coming to a close! (for now)

Not sure if I mentioned it, but I am taking a two week language immersion course in Mendoza before heading to a farm in Cordoba for a couple months. Next time you hear from me, it will be from the other side of the Andes!!

Photos: Aug 11-16

christinebaker — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 02:34:00 GMT

Photos: End of July - Aug 8

christinebaker — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 01:54:00 GMT

July 1-23

christinebaker — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 02:14:00 GMT

This is an entry just to send out a 'hello!'. July has been pretty calm and relaxed here. Winter finally arrived, as it's been much colder, with lots of wind and rain. So not much has been going on worthy of journal updating. We've been holding down the fort during the storms, watching lots of Seinfield and movies, and I've been cooking a bunch. Life has been good! I was starting to accumulate a few random photos on the phone, so thought it was time to upload them along with a little journal entry.

The Loberia is a protected placed just off the beach in Cobquecura, about 30 minutes south of Max's. The rocks really arent super far from the beach, but you do need binoculars to see the lobos de mar (chilean sea lions) well. But there were at least a thousand of them on all these rocks. We go to Cobquecura from time to time when Max needs something from a store bigger than what Curanipe/Pelluhue have to offer.

Other pictures are just from random little adventures. The waterfalls are about a 15/20 mintue drive from Max's (although distance-wise they arent too far; its just that you take a small curvy road to get there), near a pueblito called Quilicura. They were beautiful to see; we hadnt visited them sooner because autumn/winter have passed with little rain up til recently, so the waterfalls have been dry. And the aromo trees are everywhere. To see them all in bloom along the side of the road is quite striking!

On Saturday we leave Max's house in Curanipe; he will not return until sometime in the spring, so we have been busy all week tending to his to-do list of things to take care of that are necessary for leaving the house empty for a couple months. We will be going back to his home in Vina del Mar (Vina with a tilda over the 'n'), where he has very things to take care of beore his buddy Randy, from LA, is coming to visit for three weeks. They are going skiing in Portillo for a week, then going to Mendoza for a few days of wine-tasting, and then going south to Corralco to ski for another week. Aaaand, I've been invited to tag along. =) So I will deinitely be accumulating more awesome pictures and stories to share. I'm not sure what my computer access will be iike in the next few weeks, so figured I'd get this update in while I could. When we get back from this trip, I will then be heading to Argentina! Hard to believe my first block of time in Chile is almost up!

Photos: July 1-14

christinebaker — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 01:54:00 GMT

June 15 - July 1

christinebaker — Thu, 2 Jul 2015 06:35:00 GMT

It is kind of ridiculous how quickly the days fly by here. Two weeks ago Wednesday we drove north to a big town called Constitucion to spend a few nights somewhere Max could find decent waves. The drive is maybe 80km, but the roads are small and curvy, so it was almost a 2 hr drive. And it was mostly along the beautiful countryside coastline. We passed through Chanco, and once we were north of there it was new territory for me. I mentioned previously that Chanco is famous for its cheese; Max explained as we were driving through a couple valleys with a bunch of grazing cattle a bit north of Chanco that the reason Chanco cheese is so special is because the directionality of these valleys allows a south marine wind to blow through them, making the pastures salty. So the salty grass that the cows eat is supposedly what gives Chanco cheese its individual flavor. I thought that was interesting. The whole route was scenic, even though as we got closer to Constitucion we passed more industrial forests, many acres of which were cut down. Barren ground and stumps is just not attractive landscape.
Once we were about 30-40 minutes outside Constitucion we stopped at this little gem of a restaurant called Nicolachas (not remembering exactly how it was spelled). The lady running it now is the daughter of the owner who built the restaurant and all its beautiful unique slate rock table tops and drift wood bases and chairs, and her mother was the original cook. She was super nice and Max talked her ear off. She makes the best baked empanadas ive had thus far in Chile. They even surpass the fried empanadas I had in Concepcion (and its hard to beat fried food). She also makes great pan amasado, and tortillas de rescoldo (cant remember if ive mentioned them yet, but they are large fluffy wheat “tortillas” (more like rounds of bread) cooked in embers/ashes. There were other wonderful-sounding dishes, but we only stopped for something quick and light to eat. Constitucion was a pretty town, still in the midst of rebuilding five years after the earthquake/tsunami devestation, and is one of only a couple other towns/cities in Chile that border both the ocean and a river. It was hit very hard by the tsunami was a location with a particularly high number of resulting deaths because the river if anything aided the tsunami’s entrance onland. The main activity we did in town was take a boat ride to an island which sits almost at the mouth of the river in order to visit a memorial built for the people who died on the island during the tsunami. It was a popular place to camp in the summer, and the tsunami also happened to occur on a holiday weekend = abundance of campers. The island was quiet, and altho the visit was somber, it was also peaceful. Max had been to Constitucion 10 days after the tsunami and hadnt been back since.
The town had a lovely plaza, which had a small feria/artisan market each afternoon we were there. I imagine it is full of vendors in the summertime.
We stayed at a little campground/cabana lodge owned by a surfer friend of Max’s (Masi), located at the end of a coastal road that led to Port Maguellines. The place had three canvas domes with wooden floors, three private multi-room cabanas, and a common eating/hanging/bbq area. And it was all right on the beach, with a pine forest mountain right behind it. The sunsets were spectacular there, and there were huge rock formations at the end of the beach that were fun to climb for good sunset-watching spots. One morning while Max was surfing, Masi took me mushroom hunting in the forest. It wasnt really a mountain, but the elevation at the stop of the hill was way higher than the beach, and it was a steep (very much so at times) and fairly long (15 min?) drive to the top. You could barely call what we were driving on a road; it was super washed out in areas and rugged, a little slippery at times, and again, really steep in some spots. But Masi drives an old Suzuki Samauri and handled that road like it was an art. I am super impressed by the off-roading skills of some of the people here. Makes sense tho, in this dramatic landscape with so many undeveloped routes/roads still being used. I wish i had gotten pictures of the ride up the mountain and of the forest… That friday night we watched Chile win their 3rd game (2nd win - 2nd game was a tie), which was a blowout. Max was going crazy.
We got home Saturday eve (stopped at Nicolacha again), and we did nothing on Sunday; it was nice to relax after traveling. Ricardo came over for dinner Monday evening (I made a stirfry with broccoli and the foraged mushrooms I brought back). Tuesday evening we went over to the farmers’ house to watch Chile play Uruguay, who Max refers to as “anti-futbolistas” because they cause more fouls and penalties than actually play the game and try to score goals. It was a nerve-wracking game, but Chile finally scored a goal with 8 minutes left in the game, to win 1-0. Very exciting. Tuesday-Thurs have been cool, grey and windy, so have been pretty much just staying indoors, watching movies, reading, and finally finishing up reorganizing some of his kitchen drawers and cabinets and stuff upstairs in time for a couple who visited us for the long holiday weekend. We relaxed and enjoyed the gorgeous weather, bbqd, and watched another futbol game; Chile beat Peru to to go the final game. Argentina kicked Paraguay’s butt last night, so this Saturday we will go back to Allantu to watch the final game against them. Very exciting!

Photos: June 17-24th

christinebaker — Thu, 2 Jul 2015 05:48:00 GMT

June 7-14

christinebaker — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 05:13:00 GMT

Weeeelll, this entry was originally written yesterday, but my dad informed me this morning that it was never posted. And of course, it was the first entry i wrote directly into the journal website instead of writing it in a word processing document before copy/pasting it into the journal, thus, it was completely lost. I hate to say it, but i thought it was a pretty darn good entry! I will try to recapture yesterday’s words, but i’ve lost some enthusiasm with having to rewrite this…

It is hard to believe i’ve been here for over a month now. Technically, last Sunday (the 7th) was my month “anniversary”. It sounds funny to say. Well, on this day Max decided to try out for the first time his homemade standup paddle board (SUP, as he calls it). The nearest little river to try it on is 8km from his house. This turned out to be perfect for me, as since ive turned to running to substitute my once biking routine, ive gotten up to 8km runs, so i cruised with him to the river to check it out, and then ran home while he was SUPing. I love running around here, because it has been the best way to take in the scenery more closely and slowly (rather than in a car), and its been a great way too to enjoy the mostly impecable weather we keep getting, although winter is basically here.
Thursday we returned to Chanco to watch Chile’s first futbol game in the Americas Cup, against Equador. But first, we went back to the forest preserve so I could check out the little museum and get a better understanding of the history behind the forest. It was quaint, but well put together. Then, we returned to the beach, because the first time we went there it was cloudy/hazy, and today it was clear and sunny. And, i finally witnessed my first green flash. There was still a bit of haze on the horizon, and Max said this made the flash less brilliant and a little shorter than when viewing conditions are perfect/pristine. But, i totally saw it! At the very last moment the very last bit of sun was setting, that bit of sun grew a little and turned bright green! Then it disappeared. It is called a green ray (rayo verde) in spanish, which is a misnomer because it is more like a small pulse/flash. But with a name like “green ray” i can see how people might expect something different or more spectacular. I was still amazed by it. We hung out for a while longer watching the waves and the sky turn colors as nightime fell. I am so mesmerized by the waves here; i could watch them for hours without getting bored. This visit was also neat because the haze last time prevented me from being able to see the entire bay from beach like i could this day.
There was a solid little crowd at Allantu to watch the game. They had a projector set up and seats rearranged so everyone had a good view, and they had their awesome homemade woodfired oven cooking pizzas for everyone. I had a fantastic veggie pizza, probably one of the best ive ever had. Great crust, not a lot of cheese, and chock full of veggies. And i sprinkled on lots of merken, my new favorite spicy red chili pepper, and very important to native Mapuche cuisine.The Mapuches were the native southern Chileans, who were the only tribe never conquered by the Spanish (i belive…). Of course like most native peoples of a place otherwise conquered by whites, their heritage was marginalized and mostly disregarded until maybe 10 or 15 years ago when Chile started to reimbrace its native cultures, foods, etc. So speaking of Mapuche, and back to the futbol game, the Americas Cup is being hosted by Chile this year, and all the offical team logos/flags and the offical ball are shaped in the form of a Mapuche 8-sided star. I thought that was pretty cool. It was a great game, most especially since Chile won.
Friday we drove to Cauquenes so Max could take care of various errands he can in the smaller nearby towns. This is the first time ive been back to Cauquenes since taking the bus there from Santiago to get here originally. It was dark when Max picked me up, so i did not get a good feel for what the landscape was like on the drive to Curanipe, other than it was hilly and curvy. It was a beautiful drive, although it was a cloudy day. Unfortunately there were no good places to pull off the road and take pictures, so i will just have to describe one scene in particular that left a huge and somewhat sad impression on me, and would have made a fantastic photo. We passed two immense hills right next to each other. The first hill was covered in tall, beautiful native Chilean trees, which were golden and orange colors with the autumn season (Max said this is the latest he’s ever seen leaves still on the native trees). The other hill was dark green with very closely planted, tall pine trees. The juxtaposition between native forest and industrial forest was striking i tell you. We passed lots of other hills, mostly with pine trees, or that were recently harvested, so only stumps and bare ground made up the hills. Pretty ugly. But, this is Chile… There wasnt much to see in Cauquenes proper. It’s population is maybe 45,000? It had a nice little town plaza, but nothing notable surrounded it. No cool bars or restaurants or shopping districts. It appeared more strip-mally than anything. And apparently most towns are like this in Chile (as was explained to me by Max and the couple who stayed with us this weekend, surfing friends of Max’s). And although it is a decent-sized town, it is still sleepy enough that there are not many places to get a decent lunch because most businesses close during lunch to go home and eat. But we found a place to get lunch, which was part of a well-known local long established bakery in Cauquenes. The only vegetarian option on the menu was, alas, pizza. I didnt want to have pizza again since i had such a good one the previous night, but i figured it couldnt be bad if it was coming from a bakery (thinking bakery = good dough). WRONG. It was literally the worst pizza ive ever had in my life. The crust was limp, and chewy like a stale cracker, the sauce was flavorless, and it was drowning in too much gross cheese. I kinda couldnt believe the cooks let it leave the kitchen. I sort of salvaged it by peeling off the cheese and moving all the veggies onto one half of the crust, which i ate with some balsamic vinegar. It was rather humorous i thought. There were highlights to the trip though, because Max didnt want it to be all errand-running. He ordered a small woodfired stove from one of the oldest metal working shops still remaining in Chile, and visiting that place was really neat. He’s going to install it in his bedroom. He also took me to a vineyard next to Cauquenes, whose wine i have been enjoying quite often at Max’s. Its called Lomas de Cauquenes, and apparently they dont water their grapevines! Way cool. The last cool highlight was going to the open-air produce market. There we stocked up on veggies and fruits and some spices/herbs. There were lots of produce vendors, but also some local artisan/craft vendors. It was a long day and we did not get home until 10pm that evening.
This weekend was enjoyable too. A couple Max has gotten to know recently came Saturday afternoon and left Sunday night. We ate well and had nice conversations, and when they went surfing yesterday i took the time to write my (lost) journal entry and go for a run. This entry did not turn out exactly as it was yesterday, but the information is mostly the same. Hope you enjoy!