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Aldea Luna was Awesome! One whole month without any contact with the outside world except the radio and visitors that came to the reserve. A private nature reserve deep in the yungas in Jujuy, the most North-Western province of Argentina, Aldea Luna was the cherry on my Argentine Pie. The owners are Martin, Elizabeth, their 13-year-old son Matias, and their friend Gerardo. All wonderful people. Many different groups of people came and went during my stay and I met people from England, France, Holand, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Germany, Canada, Kentucky, Washington, and New York.
The work was always something different and almost always fun. The one job that I really didn't like was sifting sand out of a huge pile of stones, it involved attempting to shovel loads of stones onto a big wire grate that would allow the sand to fall through and not the stones. I don't know if you've ever tried to shovel through a pile of big river rocks, but it sucks. Unless of course you are Gerardo who would just plow through a ton of stones and fill up the wheel barrow with sand in about 2 minutes all while smoking a ciggarette. But other
than the sand days the work was great, a couple times we had to hack our way through the jungle and scramble accross cliffs laying water pipe all the while being aware that we very well could anger a venomous snake. (Also, poison ivy ain't shit compared to jungle plants).
The food at Aldea Luna was amazing. All vegetarian (I am sensing a trend with these damn WWOOF farms), always delicious, and finally some spicy food! There is no spicy food anywhere to be found in Argentina and the chili sause and Aldea Luna was a godsend. I loved all the food so much I was the designated leftover disposal. Everyone was constantly thunderstruck by the amount of food I am able to pack down, I guess I store it all in my knees. Some of the best dishes were Tarta de Cebolla, Pizza, and of course the amazing garden burgers!
There were two cabins with bunk beds for visitors to sleep inn, it was like going to camp as a kid, but with a bunch of badass travelors. We spent our free time playing cards, soccer, frisbee, and hiking around the reserve. I learned a new card
game called Euchre, an awesome game that can only be played with four people. There are two teams and each competes to win tricks that give them points each round. It is really awesome and if my friends won't play with me in Flagstaff I am going to make new friends who will.
Another of the highlights was a giant vine that hangs aside one of the trails on a big hill. We could swing on the vine like Tarzan and hope that we didn't slam into the tree on the way back! It was so much fun! There are a couple pictures of this somewhere in my photo section.
Also Check out the Aldea Luna website and blog:
www.aldealuna.com.ar
http://aldealuna.blogspot.com/
Now I am in Peru and I am going to end this entry so I can work on my Peru entry. Peru rocks.
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