Random new stuff

No real new stories or anything today, so we will just throw some random thoughts or observations as they come to us.

-We have been making bricks out of a sand/soil/clay/water mixture. Lots of back-breaking labor involved and really only mildly interesting. The farmer is trying to nuild a small house in order to house tourists in a growing "agrotourism" industry in Argentina (also growing in Uruguay from our observations). I think this is an interesting concept and all in all a good one. It seems in the US we are a long ways away from our food both distance and in having any idea whereit comes from or how it grows. Maybe Agroturismo could help us to care a little more about this important issue.

-We continue to eat massive amounts of fresh honey. We figure the ratio of honey per pound to bee stings to be currently sitting around 15 to 0, which is a nice ratio.

-If we hear the song ´Girls Just Wanna Have Fun´again, be it a remix or not, we may pack up our stuff and go home. Argentina and Uruguay, you are on notice. Chile, Bolivia: advise your supermarkets and other public areas accordingly.

-As graduates of NCSU, I think we can pick on our engineer friends and family a bit. The farmer we currently work for is certainly an engineer more than a farmer. Whereas on our past farm, things could be done in many ways and the ultimate goal was important, the current farmer watches every detail and points every minute mistake. If the seed is not pushed into the ground with 3kg of pressure per square centimeter, then it is a state of emergency. Tracy and I have begun to joke with each other about to keep from going crazy.

-Snow caped mountains are really beautiful and we cant get enough of them. When working until 830 at night sometimes, it is really hard not be in a good mood when considering you are in a valley surrounding by enormous snow capped peaks.

-Wildflowers here are really nice and abundant. Lupines are the wildflower mostabundant here in various shades of pink and purple. All of the roadsides and in random places around the farm.

-We learned that our suspicion about widespread digestive issues from eating so much meat is a reality. It is apparently not unusual for some Argentines to eat only meat, and apparently the GI tract issues are serious. The government has a division called pro-garden in which it encourages citizens to grow their own fruits and vegetables. The hope is that this will aid in this issue as well as with hunger issues around the country.

-We really enjoy all the comments in our comments section, we tried to reply to some, but the internet connection broke, and we dont get to make it to the internet very often.

-How far will NCSU fans go to see NCSU beat the pants off of UNC??? Well today we wanted to go to Lago Epuyen. It was a 7 mile walk out of our way to come to the internet today. It is 34-10 right now, so I am calling my blistered feet well worth it. (I will say it is not as fun just watching the score change on the internet, but it still bring about true joy)

-At our last farm we baked lots of bread in a clay oven. Here we have made empanadas, tartas (a veggie pie of sorts), baked potatoes (sweet and and regular), baked carrots, bread, apples, and a tiny bit of meat. Very useful and fun, I think the clay oven needs more use in the US.

-Grapefruit soda is all the rage here. We think it is delicious!