Alpacas, Argentina, Austin...Oh My!

Hello to everyone from Austin, Texas!

This will be my last post focusing on my time in Argentina, although I’m sure that sustainable living will remain a theme in my future posts. I’ll also have a later post focusing on my visit to Austin, but for now let me fill you in on my last couple of weeks in Argentina and at Mama Roja!

We ended March with an AMAZING pizza party, cooking the pizza in an adobe brick/cob oven- so good! We were also able to enjoy a last-night bonfire, complete with s’mores thanks to the care package sent by the Wevers!

We then set off up the hill in search of adventure. We stopped for a night in the city of El Dorado, and then set off the next day to check out the crystal/amethyst mines at Wanda. These were absolutely incredible and gorgeous, as the photos will hopefully demonstrate! After Wanda, we caught a bus to Puerto Iguazu, where we were looking forward to spending a couple of days checking out Iguazu Falls.

We ended up visiting Iguazu National Park two days in a row, because one was simply not enough. I have to say that this is one of the best maintained, most worthwhile parks/tourist attractions I have been to. The entrance price was really reasonable, and the falls are INCREDIBLE. There’s also a ton of trails, so you can spend the day hiking and staring at beautiful waterfalls. I’ll try and let the photos speak for themselves, but I’m not sure they can do justice to the sheer power and beauty of the falls and the surrounding area.

After a few days in Iguazu, I parted ways from the group to go and visit Alo, who is the cousin of our neighbor Han back in Canada. It’s a distant connection, but as soon as Alo heard that I would be in Misiones he invited me to come and visit his farm, which I was happy to do! Alo picked me up in the tiny town of Dos de Mayo and took me back to his home about 20 minutes away. He also had family visiting, including his daughter, son-in-law, and grand daughter from Holland, so it was great to meet everyone and spend some time getting to know Alo, who is 73 years old. Alo was a Dutch sailor who was the navigational officer on a cargo ship that traveled around the world. He had many stories to share of his time sailing and the countries he’d visited (not to mention his adventures drinking local alcohols with the local ladies!). He had settled in Argentina for a while, left when the political climate became too hostile, and then returned about 20 years ago and built the house he’s currently living in. He grows sugar cane, mandioca, pine trees, corn, and some fruits and vegetables, and has pigs, cows, and chickens. While there, I got to try milking a cow for the first time! Alo also made sure that my beer/caiparinha (a drink made with a sugar cane rum, sugar, and lime juice) glass was always full, and yet managed to outdrink me somehow. I stayed there for 2 nights, and then caught the bus back to Obera to spend a couple more nights at Mama Roja.

During my last couple of days at Mama Roja I was able to obtain some more resources and documentaries on my hard drive, take some last photos, copy out the yellow recipe book on my computer, and spend some time with everyone before I had to go. I then caught my bus back to Obera, my overnight bus to Buenos Aires (made bearable by gravol, ear plugs, and cama total service including free booze!), and then my overnight flight to Dallas and connecting to Austin! I arrived in Austin surprisingly rested, and was picked up by surprise by my friends John and Alex. We then proceeded to have an AMAZING time at Jonny and Bri’s genuinely beautiful wedding- but I’ll share more of that and my adventures in Austin next time!

To attempt to summarize my internship in Argentina would be incredibly difficult. It’s safe to say, however, that my experiences have forever altered the lens through which I view the world. I am more committed now than ever to attempting to lead a sustainable lifestyle, wherever I am and whatever I’m doing. I am bursting with ideas to implement at my parents’ house, and I am exploring what it means to live in and as an integral part of community. As such, I will be maintaining these blog posts with a different focus: to share my trials and tribulations, learnings and ponderings, and ideas and suggestions regarding sustainable living practices. I intend to write shorter posts (!) focusing on different topics or projects that come up, so you can learn through my doing, share your feedback and suggestions, and perhaps become inspired to make changes in your own lives as well.

To start, I’d like to offer an Earth Day contest/commitment of sorts: For the past few years I have been collecting Aeroplan points on my Visa, and I’ve accumulated enough that I’m looking at different ideas for what to do with them. However, I don’t really need to accumulate more stuff, and I’d really like to contribute positively with them somehow. There is an option through Aeroplan to donate your points toward a carbon offset program- basically a program that funds different reforestation/tree planting projects, green energy, etc. to sequester more carbon in the earth and to reduce the amount of carbon being used/released.

Here’s my goal: If I can get YOU guys, all you dear friends, family, and readers, to donate a net total of $250 toward my own tree planting project, I will donate ALL of my Aeroplan points (over 15,000 at this point) to this carbon offset program. I will be using the donated money to purchase trees from St. William’s Nursery and Ecology Centre (check’em out here), and planting those trees on my parents’ property. If you are a resident of Southern Ontario and would like a tree planted on YOUR property, I volunteer to purchase the tree, get it to you, and even plant it for you! Basically, I would like to see $250 worth of native tree species planted, either at our house or yours, for the good of the earth. So, if this is something that you’re interested in, please send me money! (haha). But really. Money doesn’t grow on trees (or does it?), and nursery trees do cost said money, so if you’re able, willing, and feel that this cause would be worth your time, donate whatever you feel you are able to! We can do an email money transfer (if your branch is set up for this, use my email: cwever@uoguelph.ca). If a good ol’ cheque or some cash changing hands works better, give me a shout and we’ll figure out a plan! And if I reach or surpass $250, I’ll donate all of my aeroplan points in support of carbon offsets!

A quick sidenote: if you’re unfamiliar with how trees help to remove carbon from the atmosphere, here’s a rundown....carbon is stored (sequestered) in various forms: fossil fuels, organic matter in the soil, living creatures, plants, trees, etc. When these forms are disrupted, particularly if they’re burnt, large amounts of carbon are released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and other green house gases and contribute to global warming. This would all be fine if there was enough time for natural carbon cycling to happen, or if carbon-based forms were being destroyed/burned at a reasonable rate. However, our incredible usage of fossil fuels, our practices of deforestation, and our demonstrated capacity to destroy topsoils have resulted in insane amounts of carbon-based greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, and subsequent climate change.

Planting trees that will remain in one place for an extended period of time sequesters carbon both in the physical form of the tree itself, as well as in the increase in organic matter in the soil through fallen leaves, bacteria associated with the trees’ roots, etc. They also remove pollutants, provide shade, prevent soil erosion, retain water, and provide food and habitat for native creatures, and ourselves! The trees planted at my parents’ house will remain there at least as long as the house is in our family, so you’d be contributing to some long term carbon sequestration, among other ecological benefits!

That's all for now- I'll post again in a while with stories of my time in Austin, and then regular posts about my sustainability projects!

Making the pizza dough for our party!

The pizza-building station, replete with delicious goodies (including some local meats from la chacra Suiza)

Kim, a professional wood-fired pizza oven handler

Partaking in our tasty creations

Last night bonfire complete with s'mores from Mama and Papa Wever!

Candle lit hang outs

One of the beautiful dream catchers made as good bye gifts for those of us leaving at the end of March (the things hanging at the bottom are letters of love from our friends :)

Exploring the crystal caves at Wanda

Shadow boxing on the road to the caves

This is true love (sorry Ashley :P)

Ashley's ready to travel and I'm taking a break to read my book as we wait for the bus

Jungle hikes at Iguazu

A nature-made swing set

Person-eating vines- I'm not sure if you can tell by my face but this is a very serious and scary situation.

GIANT ants on the forest floor!

Part of "La Garganta del Diablo," The Devil's Throat

Loving the falls!

Besties <3

Crystals with water and the trees reflected from above

Some more of the gorgeous crystals from Wanda

Purple amethyst and calcite

A wicked cool shot of the caves!

More amethyst- the darker the purple, the more valuable they are

Some bigger stones on display

This man's job is to cut crystals all day for sale- terrifying!

You can't take a bad photo here- the falls are amazing!

More Iguazu (which means "big water" in Guarani, one of the indigenous peoples of Argentina)

A look from the top of a set of falls- a hundred feet below is another viewing platform, and at least a hundred feet below THAT the water fall meets the river.