The Traveler

It's not only about the amazing sights you see along the way, the locals you meet that give each place its uniqueness, or the incredible experiences you have everywhere you go, but it's also about the travelers.

The traveler is a unique being. Whether backpacking, driving, flying, kayaking, biking, walking, thinking, however one decides to drift (here's to you Amira - www.sundaydrifting.com) through the planet...we are all travelers. Creating our own experiences from the comfort of our own homes, cars, bikes, or backpacks. We all decide to experience the world around us in our own way.

Alec and I decided to travel by backpack





, opening opportunity to travel by any means, and allowing for us to drift in and out of the lives of so many other travelers. This blog is dedicated to all those we have met along the way!



















A traveler knows what it is to be out of their comfort zone; in a strange land with a strange language trying to find their next destination. In this way we identify with our fellow traveler, knowing that a smile or a generous gesture can go a long way toward bringing a sense of global community to a sometimes lonely journey. With this common understanding we have been greeted and treated by so many (Argentinians and Extranjeros) with an overwhelming generosity. It has been almost hard to believe how trusting, generous, accomodating and friendly these people have been.

Somewhere along the way, as a North American, all the paranoia and jaded talk of negativity gets to you. The news has you believing their fear mongering, and your world becomes smaller. Before we departed on this trip people continually warned us about our safety. The fear of the unknown was overwhelming to us, and repeated stories of crime and sickness painted us a picture of a land of ill and scary people.

It is obvious that anywhere you are, anywhere you go, and anything you do in life you must take proper care of yourself. Alec and I are so happy that we threw ourselves into an unknown land, and opened our eyes, and allowed ourselves to listen and learn. It is not like what people told us. We are happy to say, as backpack drifters of the world, that people we have met have warmly shared their food, water, home, and life with us.

One thing that we have learned time and time again on our travels is the power of a traveler. A traveler not only experiences the land of another, but also brings the experiences of their land to others. They become the voice of their people. People know that a government, its politicians, and media are not the voice of its people(except for the guy who sold us our bus tickets in El Chalten:) So they turn to the traveler.

What do we think of Bush, Obama, the war, health care, and the education system are common questions that we encounter daily? Alec and I play a powerful role as representatives of our country. And the other travelers become the represantion of their land. We all know that a couple of travelers don't represent the beliefs of a country, but somehow, each traveler becomes a voice for its people. How you decide to be as a traveler can make a world of difference! And as for us, this land is only the beginning of our representation and exploration of the world that surrounds us.

P.S. To all those we met along the way that we didn't get pictures of you are not forgotton-you know who you are so send us a pic please and we'll add it;-)
Although we wrote this a while ago, it is now new years eve(and a blue moon, and a partial lunar eclipse too;)
So we wish you all a happy and healthy new year!! Amani and I will be thinking of how happy we are to have met and know you all...

-- Expanding Experience through every Step...

Location:Bariloche, Argentina

Dia de Gracias

La Dia de Gracias : The Day of Thanks

Alec and I spent our Thanksgiving this year on the farm of La Paciencia. Sitting around a table of familiar faces and new ones, we held hands before a wonderful meal and gave thanks:

We thank the water earth and air Agradecemos al agua, la tierre, y el aire
And all the helping powers they bare Y a toda la poderosa ayuda que nos brindan
We thank the people loving good Agradecemos a los que aman bien
Who grow and cook our daily food Quienes siembran, cuidan, y cocinan
nuestra comida diaria
And now at last we thank the sun Para terminar agradacemos al sol
The light and life for everyone La luz y vida para todos

Thanksgiving dinner marked the beginning of an amazing three day course in biodynamic farming at La Paciencia. Along with spending days and nights getting to know our community, we attended classes in astrology, astronomy, composting, sustainable living, the fibonacci numbers, geometry, egyptian studies, and how they all interconnected with farming and nature.

We talked, learned, worked, ate, sang, danced, and lived under one roof for a few days, but by the end of the course, we were like a family.

Tierra es mi cuerpo Earth is my body
Agua es mi sangre Water is my blood
Aire es mi aliento Air is my breath
Y fuego mi espiritu And fire my spirit

Every day is a day to be thankful for. The food we have, the people we know, the ones we love and who love us, the ones who are living and the ones who have passed, the sun that rises and sets each and every day.

After you finish reading this blog, think of someone or something you are thankful for. It could be the food you are eating, your cat or dog, your sister or brother, and thank them.

In this blog, Alec and I want to thank all the people we have met in Mallin Ahogado. Today is our last night after 28 amazing days here in La Paciencia. Tomorrow we embarc on a new adventure. Thank you to all the people we have met here. that have treated us like family, who have cared, taught, supported, and trusted us.

Special thanks to Anna, who opens the doors of La Paciencia to so many people. She welcomes so many into her home with open arms. Thank you Anna for all your love and support. We will miss you!

CommUnity

It has been a long while since we last posted, but this blog will explain why!!!

Community...

Since our last post 1 month ago (time is flying!) Alec and I have traveled South of Buenos Aires to Mallin Ahogado (drowning waters), an alternative farming community just north of El Bolson. Yet again, we have been fortunate to find welcoming and friendly people. In our time here, we have gotten to know many people in the community to the point where we go to town and run into familiar faces.

The community here is unique, one that neither Alec nor I have ever experienced. Here, many people compost their food and feed it to the soil. They recycle their bottles and reuse them for other storage. They collect their plastic bags, stuff them in containers, and use them for insulation in alternative building designs. The majority of people here are conscious. Conscious for their own personal reasons. Some practice alternative ways of living for cost, others for environment. Either way, Alec and I are witnessing practices that are having a positive impact. We are also learning different ways to use and reuse the various daily products produced by nature as well as by man.

We have had the opportunity to attend workshops on alternative building and permaculture; and in the near future, biodynamic farming. We have been working on a biodynamic farm named `La Paciencia` (patience). For Alec, he has been brought back full circle as he grew up on a biodynamic farm.

For the last three weeks, we begin our day on La Paciencia at 7:30am (including Saturday and Sunday - the farm life doesn´t sleep in).

We start our day milking cows and from the milk we have learned to make butter, cheese, and ghee (clarified butter). We work with chickens every day, feeding them and collecting their eggs. We had the opportunity to learn how to kill, pluck, and gut 7 chickens, something Alec has experience with from childhood.

We have also been working in the greenhouse. According to the biodynamic calendar that closely follows planetary cycles(http://www.stellanatura.com), the optimal time for seeding and transplanting was on November 18th and 19th, of which we spent the majority of the day doing. To our surprise, directly after seeding it began to pour.


We have also learned how to make beer. Right down the road lives a German man they call Cuba, who makes and sells beer. He also teaches beer making every Monday. We attended one of his classes and left that night feeling good:) We found out that there is a ping pong table in town that Cuba is the champion of...he and Alec have a match in the near future!!!

Alec and I have made some friends here and attended a couple of farm parties. We have spent our days getting to know the community, practice our Spanish, and learn how to live life more sustainably.
One of the things that we most love about Mallin Ahogado is its barter system(trueque). Here, they try their best not to exchange money. Every Saturday there is a market a couple of miles down the road. The community gathers, brings what their farm produces, and exchanges.

Alec and I have been inspired, and continue to be inspired, by the people surrounding us. Not everyone here practices these systems, and of course, not everyone here gets along. One Saturday, Alec and I arrived where the market should have been to find none, but instead a group of locals in a circle having a heated discussion. These group of locals had been supporting one another and their farms, but as the idea of expanding the group was considered, anger arose and people began to leave the group.

So our only excuse of not being attentive bloggers is that we have been attentive community members. We have been learning, working, and talking a lot...as we will continue to do. And as for Alec and I we are coming closer to knowing what lives we want to create and/or be a part of in our own home, and in our own lives.

A conscious community is imperative to the survival of our planet. Mallin Ahogado is an amazing example of the honest and hard commitment of a community trying to positively support our environment. It is the hard working farmers that we will all turn to when our computers fail, when technology ceases to exist. If there is one important lesson that Alec and I will take from Mallin, it is to learn to be more sustainable and to always treat our earth with respect!:)


p.s. We promise to try our best to keep this blog more up to date...even if it is just posting a few pictures sometimes. We encourage you all to register as followers, and pass on this site to anyone interested. In the future there hopefully will be a growing conversation between you the viewers and us the doers..(we always apprectiate your comments) Thank you for all your thoughts and support!!

Where the Wild Things Are

In the past 10 days, Alec and I have had the great fortune of traveling throughout Argentina. Through our new friend Simon, we met his brother Jose. When we met Jose, who is a kayak guide in San Martin de los Andes, Argentina, he happened to be on vacation, buying a car, and hoping to go on a road trip. What more could we ask for? Nothing.We were pleasantly surprised to discover along the way that Jose is a funny, extremely patient, and easy going guy. He is also an amazing Spanish teacher, an unbelieveable driver (drove the entire way), and must be given tons of credit in the creation of this blog (Thank you Jose: check out his website: http://www.paralelo40.com.ar/, and be sure to pay him a visit if you are in Argentina!!!)

So we packed our bags, bought some food, and set off on an incredible adventure. Little did we know that by the end of the trip, we would cover 5000 km (3,125 miles); more miles than across the United States! The amount of things we saw, the experiences we had, the laughs, the cries (pretty much only me), cannot be summed up in words. So, for this blog, Alec and I decided that pictures were the best way to bring what we saw as close as we can to you. (At the end of the text we have written a list of all the places and animals that we saw).

Before the images, we want to leave you with a message that Alec and I have taken from these past days. Along our journey, we saw the most incredible landscapes, and the most beautiful animals. We witnessed the wild living in the wild; animals in their truest forms.

And then we witnessed the other side; animals living on farms and eating from land that could be mistaken for garbage dumps. It was awful. It is awful. All over the world we are mistreating our environment. We feed animals waste and then eat them. It is a cycle of unhealthiness, uncleanliness, abuse. Human construction becomes natures destruction.








And we seem to forget that we are a part of nature. So we leave you with this. Alec and I try our best to separate our garbage. We believe this simple practice will make a large impact. We would love to encourage you to do the same:) Create a compost for your food scraps, a recycling bin for your cardboard, bottles and cans, and a waste bin for the rest. These simple steps will minimize the amount of waste you accumulate which will be positive for the environment. The environment will be receiving our waste one way or another, so the less the better.

We also try to bring our own bags to the supermarket to reduce the amount of plastic bags we accumulate. If you don`t already have these systems in place in your community to handle your needs (recycling, compost, etc..), you can be the beginning through petitioning for the creation in your local community. There is even money to be made for recycling buisnesses, and that is always a good way for inspiration.

If you already do these things (most of you in San Franciso probably already do), maybe you can try to find someone you know who doesn't and educate/inspire them. If you don't already do these things, we believe this simple change will make a difference...

Here are a few Places we visited that we will never forget:
Iberá Wetlands, Iguazu Falls

Quebrada de Cafayate:

Ischigualasto (native language) (aka: valle de la luna)(moon valley)...

Ruinas de Quilmes(largest preserved indigenous ruins in Argentina),

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Animals we saw (organized by province):

-El Palmar : viscacha (vizcacha), armadillo (armadillo)

-The Wetlands in Entre Rios (in between rivers) : camel cow (vaca)(nota real name, but a cow with a camels hump), american ostrich (ñandu), alligator (yacaré), capibara (capibara), scavenger eagle (carancho),ant houses as high as 4 feet (casas de hormigas)
-Iguazu Falls: monkey (mono), raccoon family - looks like ant eater(coatí), butterflies (mariposas)

-Salta: snake (vivora)

-Tucumán: donkeys (burro), condors (condores)

-La Rioja: foxes (zorros), in the llama family (guanacos)in the rodent family (mara)