Farm 1

Well folks, I have been here one week! Crazy to think about; it doesn’t feel that long. To be honest the first couple of days were extremely hard for me, I couldn’t believe that I was in a foreign country alone, unable to speak the language, and to top it off Jorge  didn’t seem too impressed with me. Thankfully the first weekend there was a family here  learning about organic permaculture and they knew a little English, this helped a little. They would ask me how to say words in English and I in Spanish, it was lovely!

A little bit about the family I am living with! They moved to Chile from Colombia 4 years ago and I am still trying to figure out why they moved...to farm, better job, they like Chile better, not sure. Jorge stays at home and takes care of the house and farm while Ellos (Jorge’s wife), travels to Talca, a city one hour away, to work as a physical therapist.  I was able to watch her in action with a patient here in town and she seems great at her job! They have a 3 yr old girl named Gabbie who is adorable, I just wish I could actually talk to her. 

Now, I bet you are all curious what I am actually doing here in Chile. My work varies from day to day and the first few days I didn’t do much of anything except hang out with the family. This past week I have: moved plies of wood from one location to another, sifted dirt, potted the sifted dirt, mowed the lawn (with a non-motorized mower and pruning scissors), collected the worlds smallest seeds from the ground, and I am currently helping Jorge build an ecobathroom. I have also built a future garden for Jorge. The hopeful garden is an experiment: Jorge thinks that if he puts dirt/wood/rocks in a space covered with dry grass in a year the soil will be perfect for a garden. I hope it works, because it has been work to get it there!

Working on a farm where people only speak Spanish gives a person a lot of time to think, and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing! I decided that I would like to see different parts of Chile and I am currently emailing farms to visit over the next few months!

    

On Sunday, 02/20/2011 I helped Jorge with an Exposition in Yerbas Buenas, a town 12km away. At this exposition Jorge and I sold humus (the organic component of soil, formed by the decomposition of leaves and other plant material by soil microorganism, dictionary.com) both in solid and liquid form, aloe vera, as well as CD’s Jorge made about how to be more green. Jorge was very popular with the crowd and could not be more delighted to share his philosophy on living with everyone that stopped to ask questions. Many people were impressed that Jorge had built a solar run light and it always caught peoples attention. I was lucky enough to wander around and take a look at want Chile expositions offer! There were games, food, and entertainment! I of course had to try some Chilean food, it was different and I am still not sure if I really liked it but the churros were delicious!

This past week I have helped Jorge clear more land for his future rustic house and more plants. It will take many years for all of his projects in his head to actually happen but with the help of volunteers it will one day happen! But it sure is a lot of work to prepare the land for his plans. 

Today was the first day that I actually went into Linares City and walked around accompanied by Jorge and Gabbie (his 3yr old daughter). It is not very big but a typical city with street venders, food, and people carrying on with their day!   

Hola from Chile

There I was, standing at my gate waiting to board my plane in Atlanta knowing when I got off I would be in Santiago, when I realized I left my passport in my room. Great, just great, now I have to get my bags and find a flight back home....well thankfully that was just a dream and I was able to wake up fro it! However I did find myself in a cunundrum.when I went through customs in Santiago. Excitedly I gave the person my credit card and waiting for my approval that was soon to be denied. There I stood with horror struck eyes, not able to pay my visa and stuck in limbo.  You may be asking yourself why not pay with another credit card, well becuase the only other credit card I have is a discover card and they do not take it. Why not pay with cash? Because I was ten dollars short of the visa requirement. Travelers check? Nope, forgot to get those, I only had personal checks. All I can say is you live and you learn, sometimes the hard way. Thankfully the security in Chile as well as the people who represent Delta here in Chile are amazing, patient, and extremely friendly! Without them I would not be in Chile right now! I was able to get everything worked out with my bank from Chile and gladly paid for my Visa. I was not only a 4.5 hour bus ride away from my new farm!

Now let me tell you a little about the family I am staying with. It is a couple with a three year old little girl. They are from Colombia and have been here for about 4 years...from what I understand. I have also learned that they speak about as much English and I speak Spanish-not very much. Communication is the toughest part of this adventure, but somehow we are making it happen! As for my living conditions I sleep in the family-play-office-TV room and have not been able to create a space that is my own. They have running water, a toilet, gas stove, computer, TV, it is a very comfortable living space. As for what the farm grows I have figured out only a portion of the plants: mint, melon, peaches, apples, raspberries, plums, and much more that I still hae yet to learn! They also make their own compost, worm food, that is a little smelly and gross, but I still enjoy learning about it. As far as a ¨"typical" day I have yet to have one. Once I know, that blog will be up ASAP! I hope you are doing well, abrazar y besar from Chile! 

Leavin on a Jet Plane!

Hello!  Well, it’s getting closer to take off day and I am getting very excited! I still have a lot of things to get done here in the US though. On a different note, modern technology is still amazing, why? Because I was able to meet the family I will be living with on Skype! The family said their farm is very high on the list for volunteers and that they have been participating with WWOOF for two years! I will be working on a few different farms during my time there (his parent's farm is one). I am still unsure what exactly I will be doing but whatever it is I am beyond excited for this experience!