Working Away in Argentina
“When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either stop being mistaken or cease to be honest.” That’s one of Dave’s quotes which I like. (It was originally said by Abraham Lincoln.)
For the last week we’ve been staying at Dave and Suzan’s place near Salto Village which is about 25km from San Rafael. We found them on the “Work Away” website and arranged to stay in the flat next to their house in exchange for helping out around the house and with the garden for a few hours a day.
So far it has been a great experience! The garden work is physically strenuous but also quite satisfying. We heard about “Work Away” for the first time from Inti, the guy who’s guesthouse we stayed at in Coroico, Bolivia. He told us that two South African girls were going to work by him the following week. The site’s address is: www.workaway.info. It’s a more cost-effective and a very interesting way to discover another country!
Besides for weeding, sweeping and trimming trees, we’ve washed the car and Marc dug holes to make fires under big Eucalyptus tree-stumps. The trees have been cut down a few years ago but the stumps and roots are still there. It turned out to be more fun than what we thought. During the digging we found interesting grubs – which look like big larva worms; a pretty piece of rock
(granite perhaps?) and a tiny, mysterious, glass bottle. The green bottle looks like it could have contained some type of potion or poison. It’s about 5cm long, slightly skew with lots of small bubbles in the glass – as if it was handmade. I wonder how long it’s been buried under the root of that tree!
It’s definitely been more play than work though! Dave is an awesome guitarist and we got to sit in on their band practice last night. They taught us how to play the card game, spades, and as expected the ladies’ team was victorious. One afternoon Tiv helped us catch the bus to a winery, Alfredo Roca. After a tour of how the wine is made and bottled we got to do some free tasting! We have also gone for a walk to the river which runs through their property. They also have two water channels – one runs in front of the house and the other at the back. These channels run all over the area which is interesting.
At first I thought Dulce de Leche is sort of like a drug but now I know it definitely is a drug! I know I shouldn’t have more and that it’s not good for me but I can’t stop myself. Each time I just want one more spoonful, then just one more spoonful, until we have to go and buy a whole new tub. It tastes like caramel-treat and they sell it everywhere here! At both of our hostels in Mendoza they served bread and Dulce de Leche for breakfast! We will have to be banned from buying any more Dulce de Leche!
The weather has been awesome! Spring is certainly a good time to be in Argentina. The trees are also all lushes and green. As we’ve mentioned in the previous post, Argentinians usually have supper between 9pm and 12pm, but because Suzan and Dave are originally from the U.K and U.S.A we eat at about 7pm. (which suits us much better!) We take turns at making food which is nice. There have been some good discussions around the dinner table about different countries, philosophy and aliens. I think the conclusion is: “The grass always looks greener on the other side because there’s more shit.” None of us came up with an answer for the aliens.
