Bolivia Bound

Why hello again.  I am trying to cram in a lot of info in one big dose to update you all on our latest adventures.

We are in the very north of Argentina right now, and in about a week we will be crossing the border into Bolivia.  We just finished a week of work in a very remote reserve just outside of the town of Jujuy in Argentina´s northernmost province.  We planted corn, dug holes, planted beans, weeded, cooked, cleared brush, and did a smattering of other things.  The region has been experiencing a serious draught, so once again our bathing practices were quite limited.  We had to clean up in a ¨river¨that was a few inches deep, using a cup to pour over ourselves.  One day it was 105 degrees, so you can imagine how sweaty we were getting.  It was pretty gross!  But we had a great time.  We worked with three Swedish guys and another American, who actually went to Penn as well, as well as a girl from England.  It was funny to talk about college in a small and very remote reserve in the middle of nowhere of Argentina with someone.

Anyway, our plans have changed a bit in the last few weeks.  We were supposed to work in Mendoza for a month, but that fell through at the last minute, which was really annoying, but I think it was a blessing in disguise.  It means more time in Bolivia and Peru, which we are super excited about.  We are looking around for some more work-volunteering in those places.  We are thinking of working in Pisco, where there was a huge earthquake a few years ago, and they still need many volunteers to help rebuild the entire town.  So far we have one gig lined up in Bolivia.  Today we are headed to some remote villages in the north of Argentina for a few days, where we will do some hiking and waterfall viewing and things like that.  Then, for Christmas, we are headed to Bolivia, where we will spend the holiday in Tupiza.  For any of you who have seen Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid, the town we will be in is where they die.  Luke is pretty excited about this, as am I.  It is supposed to be just beautiful, with tons of outdoorsy things to do in the area.  Then, we are headed to Tarija, which is a bit off to the east, where we will work for one to two weeks with a guy who provides organic produce to local restaurants.  It is also Bolivian wine country (we´ve heard the wine is not so good, but still, we will try some).  Last night we ate llama for the first time, and it was yummy.  I think there will be much more llama to come in Bolivia, although truth be told, we have eaten almost no meat on this journey.  We did split one steak since we are in Argentina, but our budgets to not allow for much meat eating. 

Anyway, I will try to do some more frequent updating so I am not trying to cram in an entire country´s worth of stuff into ten minutes of writing.  I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season, and know that we miss and love you and are thinking about you all.