getting rustic

Wednesday January 23, 2008

It was nice to have a few days to get accustomed to the lifestyle here in Argentina, especially the “mañana” attitude. They operate in a very slow, relaxing pace, but I am learning that a lot of it is because of their environment and weather. This is their summer, about like what July would be for us. It is also the peak tourist and vacation season and San Martín. It doesn’t get dark until 10:30-11 at night and it isn’t until then that they start thinking about dinner. The hottest part of the day is from 3-6 and most of the store are closed from 2-5. Siesta time! I like this schedule. ;) Then they open back up from 5-10. We haven’t done the late night bar scene, but supposedly the action downtown is the best starting at 2 in the morning! It’s no wonder that they sleep in so late! Meals are definitely a process and you must devote at least 3 hours for dinners if eating out. Now, that isn’t 3 hours of different courses and lots of food. That’s waiting for the waitress, waiting for drinks, waiting and waiting and waiting for the food to come and then waiting some more for the bill. So I’ve learned that I can’t go to dinner extremely hungry because then I just get more hungry and cranky waiting 2 hours for the food to come. Dinners here are more of a social time to visit and time to drink, and then eat a little.

Every meal has some kind of meat, mostly beef. For mom and me this is great! Meat, potatos and ice cream, the perfect meal! For those who aren’t devote beef lovers, not so great. So we’ve done a good job of getting lots of fresh vegetables too.

Michael’s Farm
*I’m not sure what to call this place, Michael calls it “the land,” which confuses me, but I would call it the “ranch,” so I’ll meet in the middle and call it a “farm.” He hasn’t come up with a name for it, but either way, it is a little slice of heaven.

On Tuesday we made the great trek to Michael and Maria Luisa’s farm, a 2 hour drive north, half on paved road, half on dirt road. The landscape to the north is completely different from the mountain and forests that we drove through coming from the south of to get to San Martín. The farther that you go north in Patagonia, the landscape opens up into vast plateaus and high plains surrounded by drastic peaks and even the immense Volcano Lanin in the distance. It was a beautiful but dusty drive. I can’t tell you how far because the metric system still boggles me, but I will learn that soon too!

For the last half of the drive we winded along the side of the river Aluminé. Absolutely gorgeous. Michael’s property is along the Aluminé, only accessible over the river. By boat. Row boat. Leave it to Michael to own something that you have to get in a boat to get to.

As rustic as it was, in every sense of the word, it was simply beautiful. They have an African tent like the ones that they use to stay in for safaris and such, Julie Kirby, you know exactly what I’m talking about! I think I will not try to describe but just show in the pictures. They have also been building a house for the gauchos to live in and are gaining much progress. They build a huge green house and thriving garden with lots of vegetables and have planted hundreds of trees, most of them fruit trees, that will hopefully come into production in 2 years. Michael has 10 horses here and 2 round pens and a tack room/shed. When they bought the property a few years ago there was nothing. So considering that they have had to take all of the supplies across the river on the rowboat has been quite an accomplishment and they are progressing quickly. Maria Luisa’s son, Marco, 15, has spent most of his summer vacation here, living with the 2 gauchos – Omar, 24, and Patricio, 17 – and the carpenter and his son.

Omar is a fabulous cook and bbqed chivito, a small goat, for us and it was fabulous! I have had goat before, but this was so neat to watch him start the fire, put the goat on the spit, and watch it so carefully. That afternoon we also went swimming in both of the rivers that meet on their property, the larger the Aluminé. It was like being in our own little world with no one else around. The water is so clean and clear and refreshing in the hot afternoon sun. It was a blast!

River Rats!
That night Michael, Maria Luisa and Maeva all stayed in the big tent. But Frannie, Maria, Marcia, Mom and me stayed in the closest town (Aluminé). The next morning Michael picked up Frannie to take her back to the ranch, but Mom, Marcia, Maria and I went river rafting! This is my new favorite thing! We didn’t really know what we were in for, knew we were going to float down the river, but didn’t realize that we were actually going to conquer some rapids. We lathered on the sunscreen and met our guide, Julio, and he took us to the raft. We were all taken back when he started handing us jackets, life vests and helmets. I guess that wasn’t what we had pictured. But we were game anyways.

This turned out to be my favorite part of the trip so far! Julio was a great guide on top of having a great sense of humor, even though he barely spoke any English. The whole trip was 2 ½ hours down the river. Apparently we went over some level 3-4 rapids (he said 5 was very hard) and then some very small rapids as well. We all got soaked but we also got to swim in some areas and then float down some rapids ourselves. The Aluminé River is pristine and clear and refreshing. Around every turn and canyon was another breathtaking view. We only passed two fishing boats (fly fishing for trout is very popular here in Patagonia) but other than that we had the river to ourselves. It was spectacular.

After that Michael picked us back up and we went back to the ranch. Marco took Mom, Maria and me on a horseback ride. I had been dying to go! It was wonderful, they have some great horses. It was a special ride because we got to see the river and the property from a whole different vantage point. It was one of those experiences that are made extraordinary because you are sitting on the back of a horse. It made me look forward to the next few weeks when I get to go riding with Marco some more.