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)

Jefe (#2)

...In the afternoons, we were given various jobs to do. We removed salvageable bricks from a wall for reuse, broke down a wall with a hammer and extracted a tub


,


dug soil from the ground and transported it to make a garden, and turned and weeded another one. By the end of the week, we had truly gotten our first experience on a farm.
Apart from Alec, I was given a task to do with another employee named Soan (a sweet, patient, puppeteer "titeretero" from France who had traveled around South America for 2 and 1/2 performing).


Over the coarse of our stay, some of the sheep had gotten sick from contaminated water. With Soan, we fed those sheep vitamins. Soan was amazing. She cared so deeply for those sheep, and showed them affection that I never saw with any other on either farms.

One of these sheep was extremely ill. Her and I carried her to the sunlight and laid her in the grass. We attempted to hand feed her, but she refused to eat. We left her and returned throughout the day to check on her progress. By night, I walked outside with my headlamp to find that she had died.

It became Soan and I`s job to burn her. After Hector carried her a couple hundred feet away from the barns, Soan and I collected wood and piled it on her and burned her. We did not completely cremate her. I learned that the reason we were doing so was for the dogs. If we left the sheep to decay on its own, the dogs would eat it, and relate the smell of wool to food. If it was burned, they could then eat the cooked meat and associate that smell with food.

But through it all, Alec and I worked closely with Soan and Hector. Here and there we saw Augustine during the 6 days after the asado.


He dropped by to check on the farm and give tours to people of the land. WE became part of the tour. People would watch us work and observe us milking the sheep. It was strange.

We had some issues with our living space...no hot water for showering (the weather outside was cold and their water was freezing as it came from the well below) and the gas on the stove ran out for cooking. We addressed the issues to Augustine when we saw him...it took 5 days for hot water (you can imagine how smelly we were), and the gas was never filled. He did in fact provide us with good food to eat fresh from the farm.


It took a couple of days, but we slowly did notice a divide between the two farms. Almost a class divide. His personal farm, living space, and hostel was beautiful; the conditions of our farm where his employees and volunteers resided, was the opposite. It saddened me to see this. I understand that there are economic crisis everywhere, but maintaining the space and relationship with those helping you to stay afloat is imperative.

Everything we were experiencing was bearable, especially since Alec and I have each other. It was the lack of appreciation and acknowledgment that we did not receive that led us to leave the farm so much more prematurely than we had expected.


Which brings me back to my first point..."it´s all about the jefe." If you are a boss, please appreciate your employees and volunteers! It can seriously affect their performance, the environment of the job, and whether or not they stick around. And if you are an employee, and your boss doesn`t appreciate you, it may be worth it took look for another place to work (if you can afford to do so).

But as I sit here and ponder my thoughts, I realize that it isn´t just the jefe that needs to appreciate, it is all of us. We need to appreciate everyone around us. And most importantly, let them know.

Alec and I appreciate all of you reading about the thoughts and experiences that we have every day. Knowing others are sharing in these experiences we are having here makes this blog worth writing. We appreciate all of our family and friends. We appreciate all the wonderful people we have met along this adventure. We appreciate all the beautiful nature and animals that we see and come in contact with. We appreciate all the experiences we have every day and that are yet to come:)!!!



...Thank you...

Jefe (#1)

It`s all about the Jefe

How many of you like your boss??? It makes a world of difference if you respect your Jefe!!! I am beginning to realize that half the battle in liking your job is being compatible with your boss...or better yet, just being your own boss:)

So this brings me to our next adventure...the farm in Colonia del Valdense. We arrived at the bus stop around 6pm


and were picked up by a man named Augustine. He drove us through the town, showing us around, chit chatting about his experiences living in America, and politely speaking Spanish slowly to help us to learn.

After about 30 minutes in the car, we arrived at what would be our new home for an amount of time we had not yet decided. It was beautiful. A huge plot of land with sheep and cows grazing, a couple of barns, and our favorite part, Panda (mama dog) and Manoush (puppy girl) - our new best friends.


Panda and Manoush greeted us, tails wagging, jumping with excitement, as if they had been waiting patiently for our arrival.


Augustine showed us where we would be staying. A brick building with dirt floors, a separate kitchen, and a bathroom with shower.


Alec and I decided we preferred to pitch our tent and sleep under the stars, and thanked Augustine for his hospitality.


Augustine invited us to an asado (bbq) about 2km from our farm, where he lived with his family, the following day.
Upon Augustine's departure, we began to figure out where to pitch our tent, as the sun was quickly setting.The house was within a closed fence where three cows grazed. On the opposite side of the fence grazed 40 sheep. We agreed to camp with the cows who turned out to be quite curious as to who their new tenants were.


As I had mentioned before, one of the things that always makes me uneasy is the sounds when you are camping in a new place. You can only imagine the sounds we heard that night. Sheep, cows, birds, dogs, and me frantically awaking Alec when the largest shadow of a cow spread across the side of our tent. You see, our tent is amazing, but (for me) it has one flaw. It has no windows to see outside. You have no idea what is out there...except if it is largest shadow of a baca (cow) you have ever seen.
So after surviving yet another crazy night in the tent:), we awoke Sunday morning to the sunshine above, and to Panda and Manoush greeting us with tons of love.


We relaxed and got to know are surroundings, and by mid-day we were on our bikes riding to Augustine's house.
For me, this bbq was a big deal. This day happened to be Eid - the celebration at the end of Ramadan (month of fasting) for Muslims. I grew up celebrating this holiday, and it was nice to feel as though there was a party of some sort about to happen.


We pedaled to his farm, and were extremely amazed by the beauty. We took a look at the house that he had built,


the hostel that he was running (70 dollars per person/per night, i meant "dollars"),


and his amazing farm with donkeys, sheep, horses, and roosters!!! One donkey was especially happy!!!


We returned to our farm, made some matte, and noticed that the baca (cow) took an interest in our tent. It was then and there that we decided we would get along better with the sheep (obejas) on the other side of the fence and took the appropriate action.
At 6:40am our alarm rang. It had been a long time since that occurred for Alec, and forever for myself. We hit the snooze button several times as usual, and were out of the tent by 7:20.Ten minutes to make matte, brush teeth, and make it over to the barn by 7:30. It was our first day of milking sheep.
There were 40. Instructed by one of Augustine`s employees, Hector (23 year old local who has never left his hometown), we herded them around back, prepared the inside of the barn for their entry 15 at a time,


and were ill prepared for the most mierda (you can look that one up on your own) that we had ever seen in our lives. These sheep were terrified of us, running in all directions as they entered the barn. We had to yank, pull, and push them as they kicked at us desperately trying to avoid having their necks secured in preparation for milking.

After they were all lined up, we had to squeeze each tit until milk was extracted, and then place the pumps. We thought that getting them inside was a challenge, this was another story. They avoided us with all of their might. Kicking, leaning, pushing, peeing, pooping, anything possible to avoid those "sucking claws." But to know avail, it was our job, and we were going to get it done!

Alec took to it pretty quick. Myself, I had some troubles. I never seemed to completely extract all of the milk from the sheep. Hector always had to finish them off. I don´t know, I think I was concerned that the pumps were hurting their nipples. After all, they were purple after the second round of pumping was completed. Over the days, I created a song that I sang to the sheep as I milked them. It calmed myself, and seemed to have a positive affect on them as well. Although it doesn´t make the most sense it goes something like this - "Tu eres chaquita, tu eres bonita, tu eres chaquiiiiiiitaaaaaaaaaaaa...tu eres bonita, tu eres chaquita, obeeeeeeeeeejaaaaaaaaaas."

But the best was yet to come...after milking 40 obejas came the cleaning. We had to empty and measure the milk (25 liters on average - this is the amount of milk from 40 obejas, equivalent to 1 baca), bag the milk and put it in the freezer for preparation for cheese (Hector pretty much did this), sweep and hose down all the mierda on the inside of the barn, and then sweep, hose down, shovel, and toss over the fence all the mierda on the outside of the barn where all the obejas had lined up.


The entire process took 3 hours. This was our morning task for the week that we stayed at this farm. We got pretty good at it, but just when we started to feel comfortable, those 40 sheep turned into 80!


-- Expanding Experience through every Step...