Buenos Dias!
It is mucho calor here in El Bolson as I sit on the bench outside the Casa del Viajero, a peaceful hostel just outside of town. The cervesa is rojo, the porro is rolled and I am ready to take on the latest of entries.
Last time on Adventure with the Acworths we took you on a journey that didn't necessarily keep you on the edge of your seats..this is all about to change as I get you all up to speed on the latest happenings of your favorite traveling duo. ( perhaps we are your second choice..is o.k, as the broken english speakers say )
The town boasts an amazing market, complete with all the handicrafts of local artisans, beer, jam, and fashionable jewelery ( if you are inclined to wear things a little more on the hippie side of things )
It was here I met Nadia, a lady no more than Natalie's age, who lives in the high mountains with one of the most inspiring people I have come across. The mountain rasta man known as Uriel. ( pronounced Oo-ree-el ) We met her, selling her wares in the market. Modest, hand made bracelets and necklaces made with painted fruta pits, seeds and nut shells. I mentioned to her that we were having a tough time locating a farm for which to learn the skills we will one day put into practice. We signed up for WWOOFING before we left ( a community on eco tourism allowing seekers to gain the necessary skills to one day live of the land ) but it turns out it is much more popular than we had anticipated. Responses were not promising. It seems we weren't the only ones with this idea.
Nadia went on to invite Natalie and I to spend some time with her and her amor at their little farm in the mountains. They had no electricity but running water coming straight off the glacier above them.
It all sounded great, and with the lack of responses from farms, this was our only lead..and we decided to take it.
This would prove to be a rather difficult undertaking as Nadia didn't have quite as good a grasp on English as we thought. We agreed to meet on the next market day to come with her after work for a dinner. She would show us the farm, have some chow chow then get back to the hostel with a few days to make our decision.
It was all very clear..or so we thought.
The next market day arrived and we were eager to see what was in store for us. Things were lookin up!
We arrived to find her still at it, talking to potential customers and mingling with the local artisans.Reluctantly, we nudge forward, somewhat apprehensive, partly due to a lack of Spanish on my part and perhaps a little intuition on how the nights events were to play out. Greeted with a kiss on the cheek, she exuded a warmth that seemed to put us both at ease. Everything was bueno. The two us sat silently as we waited for the market day to close. Nadia packed up her things and set off to buy some fish to cook for us. We waited for about 30 mins when she arrived with bag in hand. " A friend will pick us up soon. " she proclaimed..but as we've come to learn, Argentinian time is not the same as Canadian time or rather that of the North American flavour. No, it would take us to nearly 9 o'clock at night before she would find out that his car has overheated and is not fit to make the journey. " We get a remise!" ( a cab which you can only get from a remise outlet buy going in and ordering )
As the sun goes down we begin to question what lays ahead. We will need to pay mucho dinero to travel the 16 kilometers into the mountains then back again to the hostel...and with the light fading, would we even see the farm?? After a short conference, me esposa and I decide reluctantly to pull out, stating our concerns. This she did not understand. In fact not only did she not understand that but it turns out she hadn't the same idea as us at all!! The stress on her face told more than her tongue could. It turned out she figured we were coming to stay there, indefinitely at this very moment! I flash back to earlier and recall some Spanglish she busted out having to due with us traveling so lightly...of course we didn't understand her meanderings at the moment but now it was all too clear. She then asked if we had become afraid. "No no no!" I assured her and then went on for 15 mins explaining our misunderstanding. She then asked, " So, you come tonight then si? " I would have to explain again with added stress, our predicament..perhaps using more sign language and gesturing.
I got the sense she was then concerned on having the money to get home by herself..we were her ride now!
We gave her some money to get home and promised we would speak again at the next market. This time we'll bring our new aussie pal, Ben, to translate..the guy is a translator after all..no shit!
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| Ben, the aussie translator n new chum |
A rather long and painful situation can be draining as most of you will agree, so we sauntered home, deflated and feeling somewhat defeated. The next market day rolled around and feeling had not left us. What do we say to this girl? Do we pursue this further or just leave it? Something deep inside told me we were meant to have the original interaction but my brain fought. We will leave it for today..Ben has already been in to the market and will doubtfully return. It's hot, and we are mucho tranquilo...and I know Natalie felt the same. We needed more time to come around but come around we did and we dragged our new English chum Holly along for the ride.
Ben was good enough to join us and in not so many words, everything was claro.( sorted ) She had understood our misunderstanding and all was set up.Natalie and myself set out for dinner that night feeling much better about everything. Time to meet the boyfriend, or partner as Nats would say.
To be continued....
And now, the stunning conclusion that will go on and on of course until we find ourselves back in Beautiful B.C.
So, without further ado we set off with Nadia to the farm. Our driver, whom I have no understanding of his relation to our new friends, was the town simpleton..Nadia’s words.
He seemed a lovely fellow but reminded me slightly of a South American version of that guy from Of Mice n Men..you know, the one who pets the bunny too hard and well, you know the rest.
After driving a kilometer or so it was time to switch vehicles from his rather decrepit car to an even more run down old ford truck..which I think was held together only by rust. It took a few tries to get er going but start she did. VAMOS!
The long dirt road into the mountains was stunning..the peaks that looked so far off in the town were now like fellow punters at your favorite festival..very freakin close! So close you could smell em!
I was constantly reminded of the fact that Nadia traversed this 4 times a week to the market..on foot! It would take nearly 3 hours coming back, up a gravel mountain road. Clearly, I’d had it pretty easy and that statement was about to get even more true. We arrived with enough light to harvest the beans n peas that would feature heavily in our diet..not only for the night but the rest of the week. Dinner took nearly 3 hours in the dark of the small log house and with only 2 stools ( they didn’t have many or any guests I’d wager)but we took turns sitting.
Nadia was greeted by her amor, a tallish, rugged but handsome man with a cheeky grin and long brown dreadlocks. He peered back from behind the days dirt which covered most of him permanently. Uriel, a rather mad cap character that spoke not a lick of English. This would not come between us and soon we were conversing like best buds using sound effects and our mutual love of dramatic over acting. He was hilarious!
I felt we were cut from the same cloth. The night went on with home brew cervesa, beany chow, and much laughter but the night slipped away from us and our driver became weary. He seemed to be getting somewhat agitated (which I can totally understand..he pretty much stayed outside the convo all night waiting patiently..bless ‘im)
So we said our goodnights and began our long trip back to town to La Casa del Viajero..our hostel..the Home of the Traveler...which as I type I miss dearly..magic little spot it was..wait, getting off track.
In the morning we talked it up to our wee English adoptee, Holly, and she was stoked to join us for the adventure.She too had felt the need to get on with some activity as the hostel was somewhat of a trap..a lovely, food, vino n cerveza filled trap that was starting to put pounds on all of us. Time for some rugged farm work! The next day, we packed up and said goodbye to our lovely, super chill, cozy nook and set off for some mountainy goodness. After making our way to the local market we greeted our new host for the 3rd time and together set out for high ground.
Arriving with little light in the sky, Nats n I managed to put up our new home for the week. A small but nice tent on some slantly, lumpy ass ground. Good thing we did not come prepared to camp..that might have got in the way of our non sleeping! That night was reasonably warm for the mountains so we were kept awake only by how damn uncomfortable we were..how little did I know that the following nights would see us dressed in EVERY bit of clothing we had with us for the trip and STILL freezing our important bits off...but it was worth it.
Still, we had one more uncomfortable challenge to overcome. We had arrived believing we were to slave on the farm to earn our keep. When we awoke, everything was reeeeeaaally freakin mellow. We sat for hours drinking mate, sharing the greenery, and eating homemade chapati n jam (also homemade..hell, EVERYTHING was homemade so imma just go on without typing it over n over, cool? )
“ Today we go for a walk to the river yes? “ says Nadia. Sounds good to us..but isn’t there farm work to do? Ah, hell, maybe it’s adjustment day..yeah, that’s it..slip into things easy like..niiice. “It’s only a 6 kilometer walk.” What wasn’t mentioned was how incredibly hot it would be..oh, and in hiking boots, oh and through a mountain dessert forest, across some indigenous land which could see us shot at, and down a long gravel road, but hey..we were just getting seasoned at this point..you know, soft city folk need to some wearing in..at least I know I did. The walk proved to be a good challenge though, I could feel the weeks of white bread and cheese literally melting off, or was that my face? Either way, once in the valley, the incredible flora and fauna provided us with sufficient shade and apart from one sketchy bit, it was reasonably easy to get there. At the river, we shared a few things, some food n the like, and got to some relaxing. The water was glacial so mucho frio but we waded in to cool ourselves after the long hot walk.
The day was spent, playing in the water, laughing ( with Uriel, most things involved many giggles) and good ol’ fashioned bathing in the sol...but things were about to change.
Yes, it would seem we were not quite finished with the incredibly awkward.
more to come...and I promise, the next entries will be much more summarized..I canny keep up this kinda detail!!! I mean, I haven't even got to the psy-trance festival..AND IT"S IN THE DAMN TITLE for cryin out loud..
Love to all until next time..
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