As I was preparing to leave Linares and the ecological park, I checked my email one last time to make sure the farm in Curicó was still apt to receive me. Alas, they were not, so I spent 20 minutes on the phone calling half the farms on the wwoof list. Most of the numbers were out of service but finally a very friendly voice answered the line and insisted that I arrive the same day. Although it was 7 hours of travel, I knew heading north would bring a little bit warmer weather, finally!
I arrived around 9:30p last Tuesday and haven't had time since to even pick up a book. The owner, Aldo Vitali (obviously of Italian descent) is charismatic, tall, and with a mass of kinky, salt-and-pepper hair. He has been in the goat business since 1979, and currently lives with his girlfriend Erika, or Kika, and his adolescent son, Agustín, while Kika's very cool daughter Tamára visits often. They are wonderful people and I already feel like I have known them for years. And even more special is the one other wwoofer, Karla, from Ecuador. Adorable and fun-loving, she is in awe and marveling at her newly discovered world of farming- we get along famously! She is basically my immediate manager as she has been here for about a month and a half. She also loves to eat, and we have been making some fantastic meals together- vegetarian, as she has a huge heart for animals and cannot imagine eating them.
The day after I arrived, a friend of Aldo's arrived- Ari. A Jewish Chilean, he was recently hit by a car and his achilles tendon was demolished. He weighs about 200 pounds (I think) and has a cast that is not made for walking. As such, moving around our small cabin and the farm is not easy for him, and we have all been his little helpers. The day after Ari arrived, another friend of the family arrived- Efrén- who has been working as a biodynamic agriculturalist for many years. Biodynamic agriculture is very interesting, as the planting and harvesting is planned around astronomical timing. Also, the human energy is extremely important in the dealings with plants, organisms, etc. I am very interested to learn more, as it appears to be a much more complex system than permaculture. Efrén is a very calm and sage-like man, with a lot of intellectual resources and life experiences. He, Karla, and I have had some very interesting and illuminating conversations.
Juanito, a joker by nature, is primarily the one who cares for the goats, beginning with milking by 7:30am, then taking them out to the pasture until lunchtime. For the most part I have been hauling goat shit for the last 5 days. First I cleaned all the shit out of the goat corrals (with over 40 goats, that's a lot of shit), and took it to the compost pile. Then I used that shit mixed with compost to create a rich bed of soil at the base of the lemon and apricot trees. Karla's ongoing duty, besides feeding the rabbits and watering all the gardens and orchards, is running the store we have on-site. We sell our own goat and sheep cheese, as well as some neighbor's products such as cow cheese and the most delicious chocolate truffles I have ever tasted.
On Saturday, before a huge storm came in, Karla and I hauled a bunch of firewood into the quincho (an outdoor, covered area for barbeques and bonfires) to prepare for the fiesta that night. We boiled almost an entire goat over an open fire, ate well, drank well (mainly chicha- a type of moonshine made from grapes or corn or basically anything), and listened to Kika's beautiful singing and guitar playing. It was a magical evening. This morning we were able to sleep in til 10, worked a little, then Karla and I came to the center of Olmhué for internet. It has also been a special day because there are a lot of fathers around ;)
I am thoroughly enjoying every minute here, and loving the hard work. I plan to stay until the end of June, when I will leave to see the famous city in the desert, San Pedro de Atacama, far to the northeast. There I hope to do some horseback riding and mountain-biking, and maybe even take a tour to Bolivia to see the salt flats. For now, however, I am very content to stay put for awhile, and daydream about my imminent return to my home country.
Blessings to you all- much love and hugs!
es realmente fabuloso revivir momentos leyendo esto luego de tanto tiempo !! de verdad conocerte Marie, y a todos los que alguna vez fuimos familia en la cabrería Nonna Rosa Marco mi vida!!
ReplyDeletequiero alguna vez en mi vida vomitar de amor como alguna vez lo hice a tu lado !!! y revivir una profunda conversación junto a una fogata!
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