Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Aldea Luna - Jujuy - Mar 27th - April 10th

Arriving in Jujuy the resemblance to Bolivia was astounding. The closer and closer you get to the border the more like Bolivia it seemed. Street markets, darker skin, dirtier streets, uglier buildings. I had really missed this environment, as strange as that may sound. People are seen walking around the streets, smelling weird and with cheeks packed as full as they can possibly get with Coca leaves. The chew on so much coca that smell sweats out of their pores, in a bus full of locals, as they usually are up here, tends to filled with an overwhelming smell of Coca with undertones of Body Odour, lovely. 

Anyway I spent that day walking around the desolate city of San Salvador de Jujuy, as there is nothing to really see or do. Walk around and get stared at. Once again being a giant gringo marks me as a bit different than your standard person. The town was devoid of tourists, hostels were empty and expensive compared to neighbouring Salta. I was had lost hope in  the place and decided to head the next day to Purmamarca a town a short drive north out of the city with the famous Cerro de Siete Colores (hill of seven coloures) their had to be more people there to meet and at least things to do. As I was losing hope in the hostel, feeling like I was the only one in the place I made dinner and a tall kinda clumsy looking guy walks in and buys a beer and offers to share it with me I jump at the offer and share dinner. Next thing I find out this guy is working on a farm just outside of the city. The farm is called Aldea Luna, the guy, named Alex, from France, has only great thngs to say about the place. Throughout my entire trip I was looking for a farm(s) to spend some time and learn. This Aldea Luna farm sounded like just the place I had imagined as the perfect farm to spend some time.  I had only little over 3 weeks to get back to Lima to get my flight but I felt this was a good choice to all other options, settle down some time, meet some people, learn some things, save some money. Alex and the owners were in town on errands and Alex had got a thorn in his leg and had to visit the hospital, lucky for me. Elizabeth, one of the owners suddenly showed up in the hostel where we were eating and drinking, after running it by her it was set. We would leave the next day to the farm. Couldn´t have been more perfect. I was thinking I would stay for 1 week still giving me time to go do some other things and not simply having to rush back to Lima. 

I think it is a standard thing to stay longer than expected at Aldea Luna. I don´t think any of you would have blamed me if you saw or experienced this place. The owners, a married couple, Martín and Elizabeth from Buenos Aires and Montevideo respectively with their son Matías and Martín´s lifelong friend Girardo are all amazingly warm and selfless people. They had come here to the Northwest six years ago looking to buy land and start a farm, before that Martín and Elizabeth had been in Ecaudor running a hostel where Matías had been born. Upon starting the proect Girardo joined in has been with them ever since. 

Alex and I got picked up that afternoon and drove maybe 20 kilometers out of town with takes around 1.5 hours along the unmaintained and windy road. Once off the road we crossed a river in the truck and through grass and mud paths kilometers into the completely green hills and mountains, opening and closing gates to finally arrive to their property. It had been raining heavily earlier that same day thus while trying to climb some sections of the dirt and stone roads to Aldea Luna we got stuck more than a few times. Jump right into getting dirty and physical strain. Completely abandon any hopes of staying clean and dry. After maybe 30 minutes we   got through the hard parts. Myself and my backpack were quite muddy and disorganized. The truck was covered in mud and the road was completely destroyed from spinny tires. We succeeded and carried on to the farm, the last section walking because we could go no further. Upon arriving to this place I immediately knew I had made the the right descision to come, that viewpoint would only be further solidified as the hours and days went by. Four structures made of stone and wood sat on the top of this bald hill. Paths connecting them all. One common building where the kitchen, dining room and games were. Two cabins in the rear with a total of 11 beds I think each with its own bathroom and shower. Then the large building down the hill a bit was for Martin, Elizabeth, Matias and Girardo. The extensive garden lay around that building and descending down the hillside. I had arrived there as a Volunteer thus working 4 hours a day 8am - 12pm and paying 50 pesos a day. That gives me accomodation and 3 fantastic vegetarian meals. By fantastic I mean the food was incredible, Elizabeth was always able to create something scrumptious. So the mornings were spent working, usually working with cement and stones down the hillside working on building Girardo´s house. After 6 years of sleeping in the same room as Matías he finally ¨wants to finish my fucking house che!¨ The work was usually relatively relaxed, as was everything on the farm. The afternoons were spent playing board games, reading  (lots), talking, or occasionally taking one of the extensive trails that led about their property, which was actually within the limits of a Provincial Natural Reserve. The setting was amazing. The sunrises every morning were very nice and the weather was, for the most part, sunny and warm with little rain.

The other people who were there at the time were extremely nice, a few in particular I connected very strongly with and learned a lot from. People more or less came and go. Alex was with his two friends, Antoine and Florrant, There was Jeremy from Belgium, Nicolas from Germany, and Vidar from Norway. These was the lineup when I arrived. We added up to 7 guys. On a farm in the middle of no where. You can imagine the environment. I had joined a group of 5 or 6 ¨pent up¨ men that were clearly sitting on the edge of their seats for women to start calling on the telephone. Thus with each telephone call, (they were rare) everyone would quiet down and listen for any potential tail to be heading out to Aldea. Although 9 times out of 10 it would just be Martín´s mother that would be calling, she usually called 3 times a day at least. Don´t ask why... So while there were no girls, there was lots of jokes, constant laughter a kind of community of people, for when you spend that amount of time with the same people, you grow very close, very quickly, you  actually get to know people, and you learn much more, expecially from the work. The owners were very talkative people, they all could speak English quite well and were seemingly constantly happy. The environment was always sos positive, anger, jealousy were non existant, Laughter was constant, smiling, peacefulness. It was a truly unique place created by the people that inhabit it. So after only a few days I was completely comfortable with everyone there and the location. When the weekend came around the 7 men packed their things and headed to Jujuy to search for the thing that lacked on the farm. For the three French they would not return, they had been there for 2 weeks already. but the rest of us would go back on monday. Thus we spent an entertaining weekend in the city, cold beer (no refrigerator on farm), warm shower (no hot water on farm), barbeque (no meat on farm) and hitting clubs. There wasn´t too much to do in Jujuy even at night, but it was still good times. We headed by to the farm on monday with an english couple who was starting their 2 month stay there. When we arrived it was a different scene at the farm. On top of the english couple there was a German couple, another french girl and two other girls that were planing on leaving the next day, they only stayed for a few days. I myself was planning on  leaving sometime during that week.

As the week went on faster than ever I was coerced into staying ¨just until friday man¨ cause friday would be party, then it turned out that the party was saturday so pushed it back til sunday, but then sunday was hike day, so I pushed it back to Monday, then Elizabeth and Martin told me they were going to Jujuy on tuesday morning so I pushed it back to tuesday... That adds up to 2 weeks. Leaving me 10 days to get back to Lima. No time to really do anything in particular. I still wanted to go to La Paz and Cuzco second times before Lima. 

I don´t regret it though. Friday we made a fire, played games, told stories and played music, Saturday we set up music, Martín has an awesome sound system and Aldea Luna brings in boxes of shitty wine to get good head aches from the next day. The parties their are amazing, blasting house and reggae music surrounded by wilderness, stobe headlights, and wine. Great environment. And the hikes around the area have awesome scenery. By the time I left on tuesday I was very attached to the place and the people. I was not looking forward to going home, I wanted to stay there for the next 4 weeks and leave with some of the other volunteers who were staying longer. Vidar, Jeremy, Nicolas and I. The 4 that came back from Jujuy the weekend before were quite close, especially Vidar. All great guys, good friends, varying in age but all equals. 

Amazing expereince and the descision to do it all was created and decided in a matter of minutes. Extremely satisfied with everything that took place. Very happy that I got at least one farm experience during my 5 months here, that experience will push me to do more of it in the future which is priceless in my eyes. The door of potential has been opened, in more ways than one.

Now with 10 days to get to Lima I´m back on the road, missing Aldea Luna already and the people there. But understanding that in a very short period of time I will be reunited with the connections that I miss at home. 

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