Day 32

These ants were going somewhere important, apparently. They made a whole caravan across the driveway this morning!

I have become a good scavenger here. While in Iguazu I tried guava in the park, I found an avocado on the sidewalk and ate it, and I picked up a fallen passion fruit to bring home… we’re still waiting for it to ripen. I wonder what it will taste like! It’s different than the little wild ones we have found here. Today I walked into town with Clayton. We barely caught the bus, even though we had hoofed it up the hill at a good clip. It passed us when we were about 100 feet from the end of the driveway, so we sprinted the rest of the way, and made it, thanks to the other people getting off and on the bus. It’s the first time I’ve successfully caught the 7:45 bus into town, and I feel kindof proud about it! I think next time I will try to leave at 7 though… 7:20 just doesn’t give us enough time!

I’m still getting to know the new interns, and we were immersed in conversation about culture and religion when I looked up and realized that we had missed the bus stop in town too. So, we went all the way to the bus terminal and walked into town from there. Going a different way was fun though, and we passed a herd of male turkeys who were strutting their stuff.
I did the turkey noise (like Jon does when he wears the peakey feathers) and they all followed suit, gobbling in exactly the same way. It was hilarious! We did a few call and responses before moving on.

We also passed a mango tree (within a fenced yard- no wonder they have that fence! The mangoes looked amazing!) and an avocado tree before we made it to the center. I picked up a couple of avocadoes before we left, and had them for dinner tonight. They are smaller, and more smooth and black than the haas avocados at home, but delicious. Hopefully I can find my way back there and get some more on Tuesday!

This is what the streets under construction look like in Obera. Look at all of that beautiful red soil under the cobblestones!
While in town yesterday Marcelo made dentist appointments for four of us. I went this morning, and told the dentist that I had lost a filling and was hoping to have it replaced as well as to have my teeth cleaned (it has been a long time- too long!)… he took a look at my mouth, got out his drill, and went to work... for 10 seconds or so. About 5 minutes later, he was done with my filling- no novocaine was needed, no frills. He told me that my teeth look great and don’t need cleaning (I’m feeling glad that I floss!), and charged me 120 pesos (about 30 dollars). Cheapest filling ever. And it’s something I have worried about for so long! I’m glad to have it done.

The hooties found a friend with similar values! This is Marisa's bookbag:
After spending another afternoon at Esso, I caught the bus home with Marisa and Steve (also known as Coop). We enjoyed talking (and slipping) on our way down the driveway. It’s the new moon tonight, and we are having a celebration and fire, just because we can. Marisa knows some songs for honoring the earth, and she bought some dates and cheese to share as a celebratory food delight/offering. Kayla has made the fire, and Steve is playing guitar in the hammock to my right as I type. We’re just waiting for everyone else to return home from town.Lulu is eagerly (and not so patiently) hoping for dinner… Kim and Marcelo always feed the animals in the evening, and none of us know how it’s done. She is enjoying good snuggles instead though, and I’m sure they will all be home soon. It was a good day in town, and I am tired. Last night was the first night that I woke up feeling cold in my sleeping bag. Tonight I will wear my long johns for the first time. It’s amazing how quickly fall has come upon us. I wonder if they have something like Indian summer here… I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Day 31

Earlier today Marcelo told me that I am shy to speak Spanish. I didn’t realize that was how I come across, because I feel like I’ve been trying to speak a lot, especially during this weekend away. As he went on to help explain building with mud to the new interns, I continued laying bricks with cement along with Marcos. It gave me a chance to speak more, as Marcos doesn’t speak English, and we managed to communicate just fine, both about the project we were working on, and also about family and travels. It feels exciting to have a chance to practice, and I definitely feel like I understand more and can speak more too. The weekend away was so helpful!
Lulu and her morning gravy stick:
Jo and Lulu, having a morning cuddle:
Marisa, making cobb for Marcelo and Kim's house:
When Maggie got here she wanted to see the butterflies more closely. She did a little manifestation that they'd come to her, and ever since she has had little tag-alongs everywhere she goes.
Here is my favorite butterfly of the moment... its iridescence gets me!
Rambo, and his medicinal mud tongue:
The new gang:
Our new little garden starts (repollo rojo: red cabbage)...
The blissful wife beans are doing well!
The remains of the sweat lodge:
Papaya flowers smell so delicate and lovely, like a gentle version of lily of the valley!
This afternoon we worked in the garden, double-digging to extend three of the beds, and planting garlic around the perimeter of other beds to keep pests out (and contribute to the deliciousness of next year’s food supply). What a clever idea!
This crazy bee relative (who is iridescent turquoise and orangey-yellow) was dragging this spider back to his lair. The spider was much bigger than him, and appeared to be dead... I wonder if he was dead or just stunned? Either way, it was an interesting sight as he dragged him across the path by the tool shed this afternoon...
These grasshoppers are EVERYWHERE in the garden!
We found this very cool spider web in the garden today:

After work today I did some craniosacral work on Kimberly because one of the vertebrae in her back has been hurting her. It was amazing to do this again, after so much time away. I am always impressed by how well things move and flow when I follow my intuition, and I get good feedback from those I work on too! By the end of the session we both felt better, energized. And we emerged from her house to find Marcelo, home from town with their new bicycle-powered washing machine! They found someone who would build it for them, and they have been waiting patiently for months… and now it’s here. We’re all so excited to see how it works!

Day 30

I remember the night before we left for Iguazu my tent smelled like feet as I climbed into it. Last night, as I returned to it for the first time in four days, it smelled like chocolate. I guess the time apart must have done us some good.
It's nice to be near the river, back in the calm again. Somehow the water is always the perfect temperature, no matter what the day is like. If I'm hot, the stream is cold and refreshing and coolse down as soon as I dip my feet in. If it's cold out, the stream is warm. I always feel refreshed standing in the water, and worry that dunking will make me cold, but I let myself fall in anyway. As soon as my body hits the water I turn over and dunk under the surface. I'm always surprised at how perfectly comfortable the water feels. It's blissful, yet every time I still worry that it will be cold. The mind plays funny tricks.

The yeast sponge for our bread today... I've been having fun teaching others how we make bread here!Today we're all getting to know each other a bit more, and I'm excited to see how our group dynamic shifts over time. Everyone is sweet and interesting, and between us we have lots of skills to share, which is always exciting.

Here's some iron trapped in one of our baked bricks:
Our beautiful cloud show before sunset today:
Marcelo took those of us that are returning to start on a new project today: we're building a stem wall around the base of their house. The bottom is made of baked clay bricks and cement so that it will act as a moisture barrier to prevent water from wicking up the foundation into the walls of the house after we pack them with mud. It was a pretty mellow day, which was the perfect way to transition back into life on the farm after our busy weekend away. Gosh, it's good to be home!

Day 29

This morning the bus dropped us off at the end of the road that leads to the mines. We were greeted by four people speaking to us very quickly in Spanish. After a few minutes, they stopped to wait for our answer to a question I didn't understand, and I told them that I understood very little of what they had said. This made them all burst out into laughter. Maggie and Kayla were behind me with confused expressions. Now that Keren has gone, I speak the most Spanish in our group. Despite the difficulties I have in understanding people, it's exciting to have to try harder, to use what I know to understand and be understood. I'm always amazed at how well I am actually able to do this when I have to.

We walked the 2.5K down the road in the sun, and I couldn't keep myself from stopping to dig out random crystals that had been packed into the roadside by passing cars. Young children were running out to the road to ask for money, or hoping to sell us crystals they had collected or metal trees with rocks for leaves, wrapped around bigger crystals so they looked like bonsai.We passed this on our walk in towards the mines:
We asked if we could enter the mines ourselves, but were told that we needed to take a tour to see them because they are too dangerous otherwise. Our tour was in Spanish, and I translated for Maggie and Kayla... I'm sure much was lost in translation, but we understood a surprising amount too!

Here are a couple of amethyst geodes in the ceiling of one of the mines we went into. They were huge- about as big around as a soccer ball!

Ramon (our tour guide) said that Argentina is covered in red clay because of the oxide ash or gas from volcanoes nearby. One day, a woman was washing her clothes in the river and she cut her hand on a piece of calcite in the river. She noticed other crystals too, and somehow that led to the discovery of this giant piece of black rock that is full of geodes. They are huge, some of them many meters long, and Ramon took us into the caves (dug by the miners) to see them. The miners use jackhammers, explosives, and hand tools to extract the geodes, and if they don't wear respirators while they work, their life expectancy is only 45 years because inhaling the rock dust causes pulmonary disease. It's strange to think that extracting geodes is worth it given the lives at stake and the destruction of habitat and ecosystem... How much are miners paid, and how much can they sell geodes for? It seems crazy.

You can't go into the mines without a fancy hardhat...
This machine was huge. It's used to help with extraction of all of the geodes somehow... I was a bit unclear as to how. Maybe for cleaning rock bits off of them?
Ramon said that it's good to touch the crystals with your left hand, it brings positive energy (touching with the right hand brings negative energy) because of the direction of energy flow to the heart. He said that rose quartz brings harmony in the family.
These water plants have beautiful blue flowers in the spring we were told. They were floating in pools of water with geodes embedded in the rock all around.
Here is quartz above and rose quarts below:
I thought this spider might be sad, but Ramon assured me that he was quite well. Apparently this is a decent place to catch a snack.
Interesting leaves growing in pots in Wanda:
We took a remis (taxi) to the bus station in town.

Maggie and the hooties have been enjoying coke in bottles... It's made with sugar here instead of corn syrup (like in the states), and I must say: it's pretty delicious!
After lunch sat talking to a man who sells chipas to support his son's studies in Paraguay.
Some images from our ride home to Obera:
This little girl and I had a good game of peek-a-boo going on the bus...
The cemetaries look so different here!
Passing houses and stores...
and Argentina's tiny vistas:

We arrived back in Obera, and took the last bus home in the dark. As we neared the end of our walk down the driveway we could hear laughing and music. A joyous reception awaited us; everyone was up, singing, chatting, and sharing stories. Tonight we welcome five new interns: Marisa, Steve, Jess, Clayton, and Jo. They come from the US, Canada, and Brittain. While everyone seems very sweet, it's also strange to return home and feel displaced... I'm not sure where we fit in anymore (would it have been different if we had been here when they arrived this morning?), and our group dynamic will be different for sure. Different is uncomfortable, but exciting too, and encourages more opportunity for growth, I think. So that's good... I am sure after a day or three it will feel like we had all been here together all along. I wonder what the rest of the month will look like.