Two years ago, on a missions trip, William got to visit a farm in Tucuman and spend time with some of the most wonderful young men working, eating, and singing in the countryside. Lucas, Roberto, and Mendoza (from left to right, leaving out Trevor) brought us back to enjoy, work, and see what they'd done.
The farm has come a long way since I saw it last. They've got the beehives that we hoped to help with, along with chickens, pigs, ducks, and other farm type animals.
They've also begun producing bricks for a building that their church wants to build on a different plot of land.
in five hours of work, we produced 800-1,000 bricks. Granted, they still need to dry and be fired, but it was a pretty good morning's work.
Along with some play, of course
Time to clean up and get ready for lunch!
What's on the menu? Fresh chicken. And if you look closely, you can see the blood splatter on Cesar's face
Trev and William got to experience first hand how to prepare a chicken for eating
Unfortunately, I neglected to take a photo of the bee boxes they have for producing honey. I did, however, snap an unimpressive yet costly picture of this wild hive. The bees did not like the flash, and I spent the next few minutes sprinting and swatting wildly. They still managed to sink three stingers in me.
Cesar and their pregnant cow
Goofy and wonderful guys. Lucas, Marcos, Roberto, and Cesar, in descending order.
We carried a bunch of meat out to the farm for...
Asado!
Of course, the roosters care not at what hour we go to bed. The first night there we actually finished eating at 2:30am, and woke with the rooster at 6:15am. The siesta was eagerly anticipated.
Here you can see a bit more of the land and Trev in the morning sun.
Cesar bakes bread on the farm in an ingenious oven. It's a cut off steel drum with supports to suspend a round metal pan in the center. He starts a fire and then puts some coals underneath, and some above. The bread was delicious.
Resting on the farm
Sadly, no one there is very skilled with the guitar, fortunately, that doesn't stop them from singing
Bye bye everyone!
The day after returning from the farm we biked to Cadillal and swam in the river.
We also practiced our slinging skills with the Tibetan, yak fur sling that our friend Marty gave us.
The stones often make cool noises as they fly through the air
Pablo, again, was our guide in bicycling adventures. An excellent, generous and goofy guide.
Beautiful Cadillal
Gringos
Naps are important
This is a picture of one of the poorer neighborhoods in Tucuman. Trev and William got to meet a bunch of the people living there and share some gringo cookies and soda with them. It was sad to tell them that we wouldn't be back for several weeks.
Frolicking on the sidewalk as we wait to be picked up for another dinner that we were invited to. The pastor of one of the churches we've been to invited us to eat delicious chicken with his family.
I failed to capture any pictures of the wonderful dinner, but I did get this photo of the soccer game that the kids started afterward.
The next morning on our run, we went to the bus terminal to purchase tickets for Buenos Aires where we'll meet up with Fer again, as well as Megan (Trev's girlfriend), Lisa Barnard (a friend and missionary from our church in Seattle), and Marcos, her fiance. Then, we'll head to Iguazu to visit the most spectacular (or second most spectacular) falls in the world.
