Thanksgiving

Happy thanksgiving everyone. We were privledged enough to have a very large and tasty meal ourselves.
Here you can see the huge amounts of consumables with staple thanksgiving dishes like deviled eggs, mashed potatoes and of course green bean cassarole. It was a very good meal and we all sat around talking of thanksgivings past, traditions and all sorts of festive topics


















Above is Adam And I rotisering two Chickens for the meal and enjoyind a cold glass of Quilmes in the hot sun. It had been Raining for the past several days so is was a big relief to be able to enjoy some time out from under the roofs of the tents or kitchen. On the right is some nice looking birds ready for serving.

Here is Karen (from Colombia) showing us some of her Salsa skill while serving herself. Thats Talent!:)

Very Large Spider. These guys are larger and more predominate as the spring progresses into summer. Its hard to get through a day without being startled half to death after mistakenly rustling up 4 inch Arachnid

This is what we did for the last few days while it rained cats and dogs. It was tough but what else can ya do. Misiones has recieved a historical amount of rain this november. On the 24th we had nearly 14 inches of rain. this is an excessive amount of water and everything was beginning to take on a very unpleasent musty smell.

This is apparently a butterfly on the left even though its a fairly blurred picture. Can you tell what insect is making an appearance in the shot below

Sweet Snail

Not Deadly but this scorpion has been said to give a fierce sting that will send you to the hospital with a rageing fever. Check your boots everyone!!!

Very strange looking Grasshopper. Welp Im off to get some cavities filled here in good ol´ Obera. I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. Our families were at the top of our minds as we enjoyed a plentiful meal on the day of gratitude. Let us all enjoy some leftovers MMmmm..!

Feild Trip to subsistance

This past thursday the whole group went on a field trip. First to Chakra Siusa (a swiss farm) and second to a guy named Erick Barney. Barney Studied at Berkley in the late 60´s and early 70´s and since has been working on alternative energy projects including Micro hydro and wind energy. he is now retired from his position as a professor at a nearby university. Pictured below is a centripital regulator for a wind turbin. The basic funtion is to control the speed of the turbin in high or low winds so that it turns at maximum efficency. It also serves as a protection mechanism for very high winds changing the orientation of the blades so they dont spin to fast and destroy the whole machine.


This is an example of a turbine that Barney created and used to teach his students. It is located on his Yerba Mate Farm just outside of Obera and is capable of producing .5 kilowatts of energy. More than enough to power a normal size home. Barney showed us some other creations of his including Ram pumps, Micro Hydro generators, a high efficiancy grain dryer and a device that burns wood then cleans and captures the monoxide in order to fuel deasel engines. Erick Barney is a very cool dude and very inteligent, unforunately there is a lack of funding to develope his ideas due to government resistance to new technology because of coorperate influence. this is not unlike all of the great ideas in the states that are shut out because they oppose the big corperations ability to profit. Green Power is easier then I have ever thought and there are thousands of mechanisms out there just waiting to be produced.





This plant is called Pimienta de Agua ( Pepper of water) it was explained that the leaves of this plant can be steeped in to a tea and consumed twice a day to cure cancer.. TO CURE CANCER!! If anyone is interested in this I implore you to read up on the subject and see if there is any truth what so ever to this information. This knowledge was given to me by farmers here in argentina so I dont know to what extent it is effective but i surely intend to look into it.





Nice Flower shot Eh!.? This is the best of many flower pictures taken on our field trip. The next picture is of a Floral pineapple that is native to the area.























These are some shots of the animals on the Farm. The calf is only one week old, how cute. This will be added to the milking cows as it becomes of age and is impregnated thus able to give milk. All of the animals that are here including pigs for pork, chickens and Quale for poultry and eggs and cattle for beef and milk are treated with respect and fed a very well rounded diet. Pictured on the right is were the Dairy cows are milked twice a day producing between 70 and 150 liters of milk a day, every day.










The pyramid on the right was built by the founder and Patriarc of the farm. It is oriented so each wall faces the cardinal directions. They produce viniger and age it here but it is also said to have a ´special´energy about it and when a dead watch battery was placed inside apparently it regained its charge.













more pretty flowers















Artichoke on the left and a delicious lunch on the right. This was prepared for us while we were touring the farm. the meal consisted of swiss noddles (spetzle?) a creamy sauce with very tender beef, carrots and peas. Again everythings organically grown and produced right on the farm.





















Here is where we got some meat for breakfast and lunch. about a 3/4 kilo of thick sliced Bacon and some other dried cured pork products. The swiss farm Has a very cool thing going for them. They are completely self sufficiant, making the food for the livestock and chicken, producing Biogas to fuel the stove, solar hot water heater, and among many other things, a labrinth of ductings that acts as a water catchment system to subsidise irrigation. Along with this they create most of there own tools and make/raise all of their own food. Pretty sweet.














BANANA´S MMMMMmmm... good!














Beautiful African Violet in bloom I could not help but to admire.



















The end of the day consisted of a bottle of regional wine (Malbec) and some delicious swiss cheese while cooking dinner for the group. It had been threatening to rain for the past 4 hours or so but the system passed us by to the north. Over all, our field trip day was awesome and it just gave us more hope and inspiration as to how life can be lived. With a lot of thought, work and care it is completely feasible to provide everything for ones self including food and energy

So, here I am putting roofing on the earthen house. We decided to go with a material made from recycled TetraPacs. This is the stuff that juice boxes are made of and many thing here are packaged in it. It consists of metal, plastic, paper and wax all smashed together. This stuff is impossible to recycle in its individual catagories but they have found a way to reuse it by grinding it up and pressure forming it into corrigated roofing material that is insulated.

One of the ways we get into town on our day off is by Hitch hiking. Sometimes the bus doesn´t come on time or at all so you have to find other ways to get around. This ride was very nice becasue it was extremly hot and we were all very sweaty. A great way to air out so we dont offend the locals by our scent.

´MMmmm Pepino´s(cucumbers) what a nice trellice made of strips of Bamboo. were getting about 5 cuc´s a day now and it should continue for some time. we´re growing dill as well so soon I hope we will be Pickling. What a treat

here we have a gigantic catapillar with horns´. this isnt the best shot but you can see that it is longer and fatter than my finger. WOW

There are caterpillers everywear here some of which have a mean sting that can give you blisters and much discomfort. On the other hand we have thousands of butterflies everywear big, small, colorful, just white, just black, some nice, some mean. it is quite a sight to see hundreds of little yellow butterflies congregated around a poop pile or water puddle.

this is a make shift water wheel waterpump. Our nieghbor created this out of old jugs and what looks like an antique wagon wheel. This mechanism pumps water from a spring pushing it up nearly 70 meters over a distance of almost 400 meters to the house of the creator. The water is put into a reservour and use for drinking and all the other household needs including watering the garden.

A Bagonia growing off a rock next to the river. Sweet right!





Ashley is hard at work organizing the wood pile. This is going to be a big job because the pile is huge but everyone is helping out of appreciation. The pile is looking neater and more orderly by the day which is great because it was a bit of an Eye sore in an otherwise beautiful view of the gardens and the rest of the land.

MMmm meat with Ham and an Egg on a sandwich. I dont know what this deal is with this but I think I love it.

Here is Ashley Feeding a little pigglet, how cute. Im very thankful for all of the Incredible things that we are experiencing down here in good ol´Argentina. every day I feel a little more at home. We´re learning the language and a little culture and having just a sweet time.

Esta es el cataratas de Iguazu and they are breathtaking. This is only a small part oF an expansive system of falls

here is the Hotel we stayed in. it was very nice with A.C. and soft bed and Breakfest in the morning. we stayed here in Puerto Iguazu for two nights and it was great. For 35 pasos ($9 U.S.) it was hard to beat. there was a pool and it was oriented very close to the bus station to get the the actual park where the fall were. One night Ashley and I enjoyed some wine while seated here waiting for the others to come back with the key since there was only one.

This is another section of the fall. we spent about 6 hours walking around this park and only saw about 3/4 of it. the river was very high so we couldn´t go to the island and swim´. We were all a little sad about that because it was a blistering hot day. Along with the island there was a rafting tour and a high speed bout tour ( much like at Niagra) that we could have gone on but it was just to much stuff to do.

Allthough we could not go to the Island because of the water level it made for some very spectacular falls. This part is at the very top of the falls called the devils throat. We saved this for last and it was truely powerful and beautiful beyond words. As you look down over the falls everthing disappears in to a mist. Surging explosions of water soak the deck were you stand and the awe of the place is completely consuming.

Before going to the fall we went to some anchient ruins in San Ignacio. this is a shot of what once was the entrance of a towering church that stood about 30% higher than what you see. The floor was all engraved tile and at the far end stood a barely recognizable alter.

Some of us may recognize this plant from working at Esmans green house. This is growing out of one of the many delapadated walls that littered the grounds of what was once a thriving Jesueit Mission

Here is the cliff that over looks the campground that we stayed at the night after exploring the ruins of San Ignacio. We had to set up at night and the Mosquitos were horrible so we could not even hang out outside the safety of our tents.

The following morning we climbed the steps that lead to the top of the cliff and thier are our tents clustered in a safe circle near the rivers edge.

The Parana River which is fed by the giant falls of Iguazu is a place of great beuaty as well as commerce as you can see by the small ship in the distance.

And Finally we have Ashley delirious from the long and taxing yet awe inspiring journey through the provence of Misiones Argentina. We returned back to Mama Roja late wednesday night sweaty and tired but it was all worth while. The journey opened our eyes to an unknown world filled with power and history. We are both humbled at the diversity surrounding us and we even more excited to see what next is in store.