Day 17

BEWARE: The beginning of this post involves butchering a chicken and you may want to skip down if you don't wish to see or read about that...

I killed a chicken this morning. Marcelo helped me. It was an interesting experience, being closer than ever before to the production of the meat I eat.

With much reverence we thanked Nestor for helping to feed us with his life, and got him a bit drunk on vanilla whiskey left kindly by a previous intern. Marcelo sharpened the knife, and handed it to me.

It took more force than I had expected, and I was pressing with all of my might so that he would suffer as little as possible. After letting him drain upside down briefly...

we pulled out his feathers (against the grain) as quickly as possible, while his body was still warm. They came out relatively easily, and it wasn’t nearly as stinky as I remember it being when they are dipped in hot water first.Marcelo prepared him, and Kim made him into a lovely soup for our dinner. I couldn’t believe how beautiful his fat was- so golden yellow! The soup was absolutely delicious too, and felt like it fed all of the deepest parts of my body and soul. Soul soup.

Our bricks (which have been drying for what feels like forever due to all the rain we had) arrived this morning,

and we handed them down the line to be stacked two-by-two until the truck was empty.

With much of the morning still left, we washed our tools in the river...

and followed Marcos to his house to see the tobacco his family dries in their barn,

and to pick eucalyptus leaves for making oil-based insect repellant. The colors around us are so bright and vibrant here in this Argentine summer!

The hooties are enjoying getting to know the butterflies here...

The cows in the woods don't seem to mind the heat.

Marcos took us to the big river where we swam against the current, and I discovered a new feeling- one I have dreamed of for a long time.

If you stand in the water and hold your arms out like you are flying, and then gently fall forward in a swan dive the current holds you up as it rushes under you.

I remember standing on the lawn in heavy winds when I was younger, trying to do this but it never worked… it was the most wonderful feeling in the water!

We found this little beetle on the driveway, pushing a ball of mud... or is it dung?

And later this evening this little mantis was on one of our toothpaste tubes outside the bathroom:Moonrise was lovely this evening...

And our toad friend is back too! He comes around most nights, hopping through the kitchen on his way to wherever he is going. Conan is curious about him, and sometimes wants to play. Thankfully he's gentle, and the toad doesn't seem to mind too much.