Animal farm

...Continued


Before you ask, the reason for all the blog updates recently, is that I have had quite bit of spare time on my hands what with being ill so I thought I put it to good use!


Anyway, on with my experience...

The friends of my aunt and uncle, turned out to be a family (Paola & Andres) with two young kids, aged five (Manuel) and three years (Lorenzo) old. They lived in a remote farm house in a small town called San Marcos Sierras - basically Hippyville. Seriously, there was even a Hippy Museum in the town!


When I say the family lived remotely, I need to paraphrase this. It took us a good ten minutes just to drive up the track to their house and when we got there you couldn't see any houses for miles.

The two geese that lived in the garden

La casa

Having been traveling now for almost three months, I felt as though I was proving myself as someone capable of living outside of a city and coping with things that the countryside throws at you. I now know I have had a false sense of what is the "countryside". My exposure to the "countryside" in South America has yet (properly) exposed me to any scary creepy crawlies nor meant I was alone for more than five minutes given I was traveling with others. I am ashamed to say that based on my experiences at the house of Paola & Andres and as per my blog title, it has hit home that I am, and shall therefore remain (I imagine...) a city girl throughout the rest of my time in South America.


Let me explain the reason behind my above statement. As we got out of the car outside the house, their five dogs all came charging towards me almost knocking me over. I am not a dog lover. There I said it. I like them from afar, not up close where I can smell their doggyness.


Walking into the house I noticed that all the windows had meshes on them to protect from insects (I would later be grateful for these beautiful inventions...) and it lacked air con. It was boiling. Oppressively hot. Maybe I still had a temperature from my illness but I don't know how anyone could live in a place without at least one room with air con? I stress this point as it means you wouldn't need to have the windows open to let air in, especially at night. Having the windows open allow for noises from outside to penetrate in. Horrible insect noises and weird creaks and sounds that sound like someone is outside the window. Ive made my point. Not only am I not a big fan of dogs, I also HATE insects and am not overly keen on the dark, especially when there are weird noises to be found...


During my time at the house, we encountered a scorpion (a small one but still scary!), several spiders (some that jumped!) loads of big fat moths, tiny flies, stick insects, tiny frogs, mosquitoes and the list goes on. Some of these were inside the house, but most of them thankfully outside because of the meshes on the windows. Phew!


The parents, Paola and Andres were lovely, very welcoming and they, especially Paola took great care of me. She ensured I was fed and where possible kept me away from the kids so I could recuperate in peace. The children, whilst adorably cute, were absolute little monsters. Ive never known any children to misbehave as much as they did! Their energy was never ending and the noise they made was deafening. You can tell I don't have any children of my own yet...


After I started to feel a little less reliant on the bathroom, the family took me to a nearby town called La Cumbre which is where Paolas brother lived. It was his birthday and all his friends and the family were having an asado (BBQ) to celebrate.


En route to the La Cumbre, there was an electrical thunderstorm. Ive never seen anything like it. Even from the car (wedged in between two baby seats) I could see the whole sky light up every time the lightning struck. The way it lit the sky up in the distance looked like how I imagine the blitz to have done during the second world war.


The smell upon arriving at the house was amazing. The asado in the garden was in full gear and it looked amazing. We timed our arrival well as pretty soon the meat was dished out. Alas given my constitution, I was only allowed white rice. it was torturous, especially when the birthday cake came out later that evening : (

Delicious food!!

Lorenzo going in for some birthday cake action...

Thankfully, a few days later, when I was feeling much better, we went to another asado. This time it was held at a local campsite which one of the family friends were looking after as a favour. The meat was being cooked on the biggest asado Ive ever set eyes on. It was huge!

The Asado

The chef A.K.A the papa of the guy who invited us all to the campsite 

Unfortunately being in the middle of the country, we were surrounded by flies. They were everywhere. Getting in all the food and drink and generally being a nuisance. Nightmare. We tried every trick to get rid of them but failed. Pesky insects...

The fly situation wasn't helped by the fact that our table was near the toilet...

That afternoon, the rain came down a second time in a few days. It needs to be mentioned here that the Argentines talk about the weather a lot. Especially about rain. I guess because it doesn't tend to rain that often, so when it does everyone goes a little crazy chatting about it. Especially for those living in the country where water is needed for crops etc. This rainstorm was immense. It managed to flood all the local tracks leading up to the house. Thankfully the family had a pick up truck which we used to get into town otherwise we would have been stranded!

View from the back of the pick up truck in the rain

The old school coche in front of ours which was struggling to get through all the water 

Not the greatest picture but if you squint you can see the biggest rainbow ever!

All in all I was at the family home for almost a week. There were a lot of sleepless nights given my fears (and my irritable tummy) but it was interesting to see how life goes on in the country. 


I'm off to Salta in northern Argentina now before I head onto Bolivia. Hopefully this experience in San Marcos Sierras has prepared me for my time in Bolivia where I expect to encounter even more insects and funny noises in the night...!