SO, we regrouped in Puerto Varas and then headed to Greg's farm on Lake Rupanco. This place was a two hour bus ride from Osorno to the end of the line (literally just the spot where dirt road ends). We were the only gringos on the bus (or so we thought) and there was a super awkward moment where the bus driver evicted people from a seat on the jam packed bus so that we could sit down, and we had to shuffle down the crowded aisle and sit there while all eyes were on us. Turns out there was actually a French couple on board who were also volunteering with Greg and the four of us would bump numbers up to 17. Cool. We felt immediately welcomed by all the other volunteers who showed us around and made us feel at home straight away. This was definitely going to be different from our previous Workaway experiences - in a good way!
Given that Greg hosts such a large group (our number would eventually swell to 28!) things have to be pretty well structured to keep everything in order. We worked from 9am to 2pm Monday to Saturday, with your afternoons and Sundays free to do whatever you wanted. Each day two different volunteers were in charge of cooking breakfast and lunch for the group and would wake us at 8am by ringing a bell to signal that the food was ready. They would then cook while we worked outside, and there would be a huge, delicious lunch waiting for us when we came back to the house at 2. It was a pretty sweet set up.
Lunch was generally followed by a presentation given by one of the volunteers about a subject that they were passionate about. These were such a great opportunity to get different perspectives on various issues (e.g. advertising, food waste, globalisation, happiness, collectivism vs individualism, education, living with less etc.) and the discussions afterwards were always interesting as there were 28 of us from different cultures and backgrounds with varying political and religious beliefs. This was one of my favourite aspects of the entire experience as it really showed how mature adults with different viewpoints can have a rational, non emotional conversation about issues, provided that everyone is respectful of each other. That's something that is very difficult to find in today's society, particularly in the online world. I definitely came away from it with a lot of new ideas, thoughts and motivation to delve deeper into certain topics.
Our 'real' work was varied and for the most part super fun (weeding the potato field got old very fast though). We cleared fields, built new trails, collected manure, chopped wood, cleaned and disinfected honey trays ready for a new batch of bees, helped make the barn semi-liveable, landscaped some outdoor areas, and did a LOT of weeding. Dave and I also got the chance to do some sheep shearing, the super old fashioned way - using scissors! They used a lasso to catch the sheep, which I think is cruel, particularly after one of the guys 'practised' by lassoing me. That rope around the neck hurts, and not in the good way! I got kicked by an angry sheep that day too, so probably not my finest hour. I did manage to score some pretty sweet gigs on other days though, like cleaning the outdoor wood fired hot tub and spending a morning baking biscuits and cakes for Christmas. The property has a bread house with a temperamental wood fired oven, where every couple of days one of the volunteers will bake fresh bread for the group. I got the chance to do this in our last week and made 14 of the most beautiful loaves of bread you've ever seen. Some of them even had edible flowers on them. When I get home, you're all invited over for homemade bread and water (that's all I'll be able to afford!).
What else? There were puppies! Dave and I were the designated dog feeders/walkers in our first week and that involved feeding and playing with seven four-week-old puppies and their mum and dad. Kind of the best job ever you guys. The puppies were ridiculously cute, but unfortunately their numbers started to dwindle as they were given away to local families and farmers until there was just one left. His name was Sparrow (although Greg is definitely going to change it to Cuno, despite this being an exceptionally inferior name) and he was the greatest. Because I had started feeding the puppies immediately after their mother stopped giving them milk I fancied myself as their replacement mother and Sparrow and I had a special bond, even after he stole one of my hiking boots and took it under the house. I got the shoe back and it was unchewed so we were able to go back to being best friends forever, which I'm sure is a relief to you all.
Our free time was a great opportunity to hang out, chat with people, head down to the lake to tan on the volcanic sand or jump off the pier, go for walks on the property to one of the two waterfalls, do yoga on the grass, read one of the books from Greg's library, drink beer, nap, watch the entire Harry Potter series, or if you're bonkers crazy, carve a few oars and climb into a boat with 16 others to row yourselves the three hours to a third waterfall, only accessible via the water. I had the good sense to make the most of a quiet house this day but Dave, like the workhorse he is, rowed for most of the journey and was rewarded with the sight of a three tiered waterfall that flowed out of a hole below the top of the mountain. The group scrambled their way up to the second tier via a mud track. From the top they could see rainbows and had an amazing view of the volcano across the lake. Before heading back a couple of the guys found a tall cliff to jump off into the lake which was roughly 20 metres high (I'm sure by the time we get home he will say it was 50 metres!).
The property was huge and stunningly beautiful. Forest, lake, volcano, waterfalls, you name it, this farm has it. The weather oscillated between hot enough to swim and tan and cold and rainy enough that we would light a fire inside the house. The views of the volcano were stunning on a clear day, and it was fascinating to see the different amounts of snow on the peak and how much it changed from day to day depending on the previous day's weather. No shit, Dave and I spent two of our three weeks there sleeping in a freaking tower that could only be accessed by climbing a ladder through a manhole. It was straight out of Narnia, I swear. Our windows looked out over the lake and the night sky and all in all we felt pretty bloody lucky to be there.
We spent Christmas and New Year at the farm and they were both such special, unique days and being there as part of the volunteer family helped ease the pain of being away from our real life families and friends. I also succeeded in upholding my yearly tradition of watching Love Actually AND drinking Christmas Eve beers in the hot tub, which added to the feeling of normalcy. On Christmas morning we did Secret Santa and exchanged hand made presents with each other. Despite the lack of resources we had (this place was super remote, you couldn't just pop to the shops) everybody gave lovely, thoughtful, creative gifts and it was a really special moment to be part of. Dave and I then helped make the salads and sides for Christmas lunch, which momentarily helped me to understand why parents hate Christmas so much, cooking away in a hot kitchen for 30 people while everyone else was drinking beers outside. It was all worthwhile though, when we came out and the massive table had been beautifully set with flowers from the garden and there was an entire barbecued lamb ready for eating. Dave had watched the lamb be slaughtered the day before, as he felt it was important to witness the process if he was going to eat it. I'm still assessing exactly where I stand on meat consumption and it's something I will continue to think about over the course of our travels. It has been a very minimal part of my diet in the last few months and I'm surprised to say that I haven't missed it. But eating that lamb that day, fuck me it was delicious. Delicious, delicious murder.
New Years Eve was a shitload of fun. Our schedule of events (oh yes, there was a schedule) included drinking pisco sours, a talent show, a bonfire on the beach, making 'S'mores, and hot tubbing. The talent show was fabulous, with dancing, singing, playing of instruments, a hilarious mock radio show, and a dance circle which morphed into a giant dance party. At midnight we gazed at the stars, in one of the clearest night skies I've ever seen and I got to teach my new Northern Hemisphere friends about our southern constellations. Okay, I only really know two - the saucepan and the Southern Cross but dammit, I know them well! Not for the first time I missed my big bro and the planetarium database in his brain (I almost even missed the 'presenting voice' that he would have explained them with). Once we'd had our fill of shooting stars and existential conversations about our place in the universe we moved down to the beach for a bonfire. This is where the pisco sours and beer really started to kick in and the night got wild. I will leave it at that, but rest assured everybody had a good time.
It was really nice to have the opportunity to greet the new year in such a beautiful place and we made sure to take advantage of it. We didn't see the sunrise but we did go for a morning swim in the lake and walked to the elusive second waterfall, which you could walk behind and dunk your head under the freezing water. We were also lucky enough, that night, to be involved in a 'sweat lodge', which we all pitched in to help create. First we collected volcanic rocks from the beach, then we lit a fire which we placed the rocks in for a few hours until they got super super hot. The rocks were then transported into the sweat lodge - a hut we constructed from branches, with a plastic sheet over it, which was then covered by blankets for insulation. We all entered in our bathers or our glory and sat in the dark while Greg threw water on the rocks to create a really hot, steamy environment. There was a bowl of sage water that you passed around and only the person holding the bowl was allowed to speak. People expressed their feelings and shared their thoughts and we all sat together on the dirt in the heat. Afterwards we walked down to the stream and one by one submerged our bodies in the cold water as a kind of cleansing finish to the entire process. It was a really unique experience and something I'm glad we were able to have the opportunity to do.
The following day was our last, and we left in a group of eight after a really lovely farewell ceremony by one of the Brazilian girls where we joined hands and celebrated being part of the group one last time. Then it was time for goodbyes (Sparrow was particularly hard to farewell) and we jumped into the truck and headed for civilisation.
Reflecting on the entire experience now, it's clear that Greg is trying to create a community whereby everyone looks out for each other and makes decisions with the benefit of the entire group in mind. Greg himself is pretty hands off in the whole process and it is expected that when you arrive other volunteers will let you know how everything is run and what's expected. It's a good system but I personally thought it worked better when the group numbered less than 20. Once it swelled bigger than that things seemed to fall down a little bit as everybody assumed that somebody else would take care of passing on the information. It was an interesting time for me as I felt that I had grown a lot as a person over the last 6 months of travelling, and there were a few internal things that I thought I had really improved on and achieved as a person which were pulled into stark reflection once I was back in what was essentially a microcosm of society. It seems that it is very easy to make personal progress while you are living in your own little travel bubble but much more difficult to continue with it when you're thrust back into the real world. I'm grateful for having had this realisation at this stage of my journey as it gives me the opportunity to set new goals and to be prepared for my confidence in what I have achieved to be once again tested when I eventually return to the real world. Two steps forward, one step back, but at least I'm heading in the right direction.
Our literal next direction was Valdivia by way of Greg's truck and a crowded chicken bus. Our group of eight finally arrived and we're lucky enough to score 8 beds in the same hostel at 10pm. It's fair to say that the receptionist was pretty startled by our arrival. We spent two days in Valdivia, with nothing particularly notable to say except that we hit up a couple of breweries, travelled to the beach, shopped at the local market and had a big cook up of salmon and salads on our final night. We said goodbye to our fellow volunteers (except for Monica) and headed north to Valparaiso.
Valpo was one of the spots we were most keen to check out, as fellow travellers had only good things to say about it. It is described as the San Fransisco of South America with its colourful houses and many hills. Having not been to San Fran I can't really comment but I will say that Valpo is VERY South American. It is rambling and loud and dirty and a lot of the houses look like they could fall of the side of the hill at any moment. It's full of interesting characters, there is amazing street art everywhere and there is a really cool bohemian vibe to the city. We loved it. Our friends Jess and Rachel who we had volunteered with in Bahia Bustamante had been working at a hostel in Valpo and we stayed with them for our first night and got a locals tour of the city which was great. Our second day was my freaking birthday bitches and we moved into a hotel paid for with money we got for Christmas (thanks parents!) and set about celebrating ME! It was a really fun day, we went on the free walking tour which was actually awesome (they're not always so) and covered a tonne of history and politics, we drank pisco sours, went to a local restaurant for a menú del dia, napped, drank cocktails with our friends at sunset with an amazing view over the city, drank some more, ate street food, went to a bar, bought edible chocolate cups with shots of liquor inside them from travelling saleswomen, watched a one man band play, and then watched four different guys from the crowd join him onstage with their harmonicas that they just happened to be carrying with them. It was a super fun night spent with great people that we've met along the way.
We took a day trip out of Valpo one day, catching the bus to Viña del Mar, then riding a tandem bike 15kms to Concón just so we could eat their delicious fried empanadas. Tandem bikes are hilarious you guys and lots of fun but fucking annoying to ride for 30kms! I'm glad we did it but I won't be rushing to ride another one anytime soon. Our time in Valpo was mostly centred around eating and drinking and there are a lot of cool places in which to do so. We ticked off the Chilean 'must eat' foods of chorillana and pastel de choclo and were underwhelmed by both of them. A shitload of emapanadas and alfajores from a 'secret' shop (not a secret at all, just ring the doorbell) were consumed over the few days we were there as well as plenty of great cerveza from the local brewery. We also cultured it up at the cultural centre/former prison where there was a banging photography exhibition on display.
Our last night in Valpo we bid farewell to Jess and Rachel (so many goodbyes lately!) and tried to give them good life advice as if we were actual proper adults who know stuff about stuff. I'm not sure if we pulled it off or not. We then headed for Santiago the following day, a city that we were really unsure about given the mixed reviews we had heard from people. Unsurprisingly, given my penchant for big cities, I really, really liked it and we actually ended up extending our stay here for an extra day as we felt like we were running out of time to do all the things we wanted to. Some of our Santiago highlights were drinking wine on the amazing terrace of Monica's hostel with a view of sunset over the Andes, the walking tour which went even further into Chile's fascinating recent history, visiting the Museum of Memories, checking out Pablo Neruda's house and our favourite city activity - walking around. Santiago reminded me a lot of Buenos Aires in that it is safe to walk around even at night, you can see a strong European influence in a lot of the architecture and there's plenty of culture and events happening all the time. However the streets are a million times cleaner than those in BA - generally dog shit free, which is strange considering there are stray dogs all over Santiago. It was also really nice to see green open parklands after our time in the concrete jungle of Valpo.
In Santiago we also farewelled our travel buddy Monica who has been pretty much a constant in our lives over the last two months. We volunteered in Bahia Bustamante together and then travelled through southern Argentina as a team before separating in El Bolson. We reunited in Puerto Varas and then volunteered at Greg's together, before heading to Valpo and Santiago. It was really nice to have someone else in our team other than just the two of us, especially someone so easy to get along with and travel with and we were sad to say goodbye. Enough with the goodbyes, I hate them!
On that note, I'm gonna say goodbye to you all. We are currently back in Argentina (can't get enough of the place) on our way to Iguaza falls via a ridiculous bus journey. We stopped for a night in Mendoza after a stunning drive through the Andes yesterday (if I could paint I'd paint a picture of them.... insert remaining lyrics of that song here). Tonight we catch the first of two consecutive overnight buses and I am a tiny bit worried/super excited to see the falls.
I'm going to leave you with a few of my all time favourite words from the inimitable David Bowie, just as something to think on (and because he's far more eloquent than I can ever hope to be):
Because love's such an old fashioned word, and love dares you to care for the people on the edge of the night, and love dares you to change our way of caring about ourselves, this is our last dance, this is our last dance, this is ourselves, under pressure.
xox
