Cristina is a lovely Mapuche lady--any idea yet? One of the indigenous population like our Native Americans, the Scandinavian Sami people, Australian aborigines or really, any native people. She spoke of their struggle to keep open isolated schools with small populations (instead of sending 6 year-olds to boarding schools), the lack of official deeds for lands since centuries-old paperwork doesn't seem to count, and providing upper grade and higher education as well as usable voc ed for students. Both inspirational and poignant. Then she sold us silver jewelry--actually there was much more to her talk than that, a lovely person. And yes!!! I was tall, quite tall, standing next to her! So there's that as well. I am rushing to get in my tale of the whole day, read on---
Having packed my backpack to almost bursting, I pulled out my waterproof pants, my rain jacket, an extra layer and climbed into a raft under cloudy skies. Fortunately a mist fell on us a couple times but that was all. We floated gently down the stream, no! I mean the Limay River! So peaceful was it there, willows on the banks, some special geese with immature children, not extremely young, columnar basalt, volcanic ash from a year or two ago, a kingfisher, and more naturalist information. The talk was informative, but the river is wonderful in its peace and calm with only the sound of the raft and the river, and, yes, of course, the wind for it was sometimes strong and the layers were needed, but we needed no more than we had. One fellow thought I'd have enjoyed the ride more if I had paddled, but I doubt it. I was in an almost meditative state, absorbing the ambience through my senses and my very pores. 'Peaceful' is the best word for it.
Following lunch we drove to an estancia for horseback riding and a barbecue with a charming family
It took awhile to reach the place on a road rather rough for our bus; we even forded a small stream (I think the bridge wasn't strong enough!) Lovely, gentle, genuine people, pleased to share their life with us for an afternoon. Parents maybe late 50s, son in late 20s, daughter around 30 and her two children aged 8 and 4 (her husband has a different job and doesn't participate in this.) Let me tell you about the countryside there: it could be almost anywhere in the American West from western Nebraska to Montana to northern Nevada. Many other places as well: mountains on the horizon, foothills, more willows where there's water, ground cover and broad meadowlands--but is it still a meadow without lots of grass, because this had ground cover but not rich grass so they don't raise cattle. And like many beautiful places, they do many things to support themselves. The father planted from seed thirty thousand pine trees, a plantation which will be harvested in a few more years. (Actually he planted many more, that's how many are growing now.)
Although my steed was a little independent, I managed well and was entirely pleased to be out IN that comfortable landscape. The moon had risen over some mountains in the afternoon sky and watched over us all. I realize my vocabulary of the day is redundant, but it was truly lovely and, once again, peaceful, a genuine joy to be there.
Dinner was a feast as you can imagine! Grilled chorizo, lamb and, for the second round--beef! Many side dishes and garnishes(?) including chimmichurri and squash mayonnaise. For some reason they serve wine (delicious Malbec!) in a white pitcher in the shape of a penguin; when you finish one, you have 'killed' a penguin! Don't tell Greenpeace, but we killed a few! Malbec doesn't make me sneeze!
Driving back to the hotel, the sun set and again, it was beautiful--though it had been so even before that. Who knew all this beauty was down here in the bottom of the Southern Hemisphere? Who knew it looked so much like home? What a blessing this trip is.
Tomorrow over the Andes to Chile--really? That's surreal!! Jackie and Kay are going to Chile tomorrow!
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