Week ? Halfway point of ¨Headed Down South¨
Trip Start
Mar 05, 2006
1
8
12
Trip End
Jul 27, 2006
Malargue,
Argentina
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Those of you who skim the logs just to look at the pretty pictures such go ahead and quit reading, cuz there aren´t any this time. But, you could always try using your imagination. Visualize....
So yep, still without a camera. We plan on buying one in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. Its been a real headache trying to find one at a decent price, and not last year ´s model at double the price. Argentina isn´t exactly known for its inovations in digital electronics. We have a cheap disposable at least.
We´re currently in Malargue, Argentina, about 5 hours south of Mendoza. Since our last entry we took a lovely 13 bus ride from Salta to Mendoza in a sleeper bus
02 - Rock and River Formation
! They serve whiskey and the seats go almost all the way back! (eat your heart out Sheila). Mendoza gave us a rude awakening. We were almost robbed the first 10 minutes as we walked to a hostel with all our stuff (note to self, bring less, much less stuff next time). The ole squirt goo on your bag and then help clean it off as you rob the tourists blind routine. Thankfully Audrey had her hand on the Buck knife and was watching out. All that happened was some pink hand cream on our bags. We had a pretty fun time in Mendoza. Managed to get a good deal on a hostel room (thanks Avi, Shelia), ate at an awesome all-you-can-eat buffet... by far the best we´ve ever seen... for only $5 (thanks again A and S), and toured wine country. Unforunately we only made it to one winery (deja vu Sonoma), but we followed it with a great meal, stewed rabbit...mmmm..... Other than that, I can´t really remember what else we did in Mendoza. The weather was quite gloomy so we stayed in alot and watched wonderful english language television.
So then it was off to Malargue, our home to be for the next 2 weeks. This is our first WWOOF/ HelpX experience. For those who don´t know WWOOF, it stands for Willing Workers On Organic Farms. It is a network were volunteers can contact and volunteer for farms in exchange for food and accomadation
03 - James so cool in the Payunia
. Each farm is different and independent. In our case, the farm is also a hostel serving outdoor enthusiasts (Malargue is close to the best skiing in South America). Oh, by the way, the first snowfall happened yesterday. Fall has peaked and winter is coming strong. If we were in Argentina longer, we´d snowboard some. But it will have to wait till NZ!!!!The experience has been some mixed so far. First, the description on WWOOF´s website its not accurate: 4 hours a day for 4 days a week is actually 6-8 hours a day for 6 days a week. Quite a bit different, but we can handle long days thanks to the NCC. Gaby and Jhonny are the owners and they are very welcoming and funny. Gaby works in town and Jhonny had a knee injury, so we´re left searching for our own work or asking Mother Teresa . Momma T is a local campesina (country worker), aged 65ish, serious lung cancer most likely, and very hard to deal with. Think ¨set in their ways Wilkes County¨. She most definetly does not like Audrey, and I´m not her favorite either. Rather than bore you with our escapades, lets just say she doesn´t like to serve us breakfast.
There are 2 Austrians doing the same thing we are, but they are carpenters adding on to the hostel. They speak possibly the worst spanish I've ever heard
03 - Semi drunk French Canadians
. Carmen is the momma of the Hostel and takes care of us as needed. Her two sons Leo and Cristen are 20ish and full of arrogance, but they are growing on us. And then there´s the other set of characters Rosetta, Builder guy, Onion Guy, Solar Power Guy, etc. Oh yeah, the drunk French Canadian college school trip group too. Have you ever drank liquor on a school field trip? Arabelle, you are by far my favorite Quebecean. So needless to say, things are a bit more busy than we thought they would be. I´ve been working on the garlic field and will plant the darn stuff Friday. Audrey has unfortunately been sick with a cold/sinus thing, but she´s recovering now. 2 winters in one year isn´t the best for your health.
---Prest-O Change-O ----- Now Audrey is writing...
James was a bit tired with the all the typing after a full day of making irrigation ditches for the ajo (garlic). Tonight is our first night eating out here in the booming metropolis of Malargue (normally with 2 dots over the U). We did manage to find the best pizza in town and totally went vegetarian up in a piece, after having some fashion of beef or goat (that's right kiddies, Goat...aka: Chivo, is very popular here) EVERY MEAL
04 - James is soooo tall
. We were due some veggies. So, it was really nice to not eat meat...really nice.I am feeling better now, although not perfect. I've had a tough week now. Being sick in the middle of nowhere is difficult. Not quite as difficult as trying to explain acetometaphine (aka: Tylenol) to Argentinians, but tough enough. Let's just say I'm up to one nostril now, its better than none.
Anyway, we head to Buenos Aires on Saturday...well, Sunday, considering it's a good 19 hours by bus. We splurged again, the extra $7 total to have 'Cama' (bed) seats as opposed to 'Semi-Cama'. Makes for a whole day on the bus a lot better. We hope to meet up with a lovely chica named Mei-Ling (a journalist from Detroit) who we met in Peru. She lives there with her husband, so I'm sure they can show us some cool places.
We hope you all are wondermous. Let us know how summer is coming along back home. We're over the hump now. Down hill and more down south from here. 2 Weeks left before it's a new continent for us.
Muchos besos de Malargue, Argentina,
Audrey y James
