The Farm

We arrived back at the farm at about 10pm to have a small snack, before going to bed. I was a little tired and I think I needed the rest. My friend’s welcomed me back with open arms. The following morning parts of my body were on fire because of the ‘kisses’ they gave me during the night. Damn fleas. Anyway, I tried to take it on the chin and keep my mind on other things, so as I would not scratch my new and old bites. If something was happening, I wanted to be a part of it. The turbine was not generating as much electricity as it should, so Papi and I went and cleaned the water aqueduct to maximise the water flow. Even then it only helped a little. The amount of water in Chile is low. Power prices are going up, as they don’t have enough water to run the hydro-generators at full capacity. We were having the same issue at the farm, a lack of water. I also collected a few apples to go into the collection for making Chicha. It was simple work; just collect the apples that had fallen to the ground. The only problem was, I was not given a basket to collect them in until after I had a discussion with Papi about it.

I also spent a lot of time on the computer, writing text to go into this blog spot. Trying to remember events and details from about 6 weeks before, is a real stretch for the brain but a good mental activity. I got up to date a lot at the farm, as you have a lot of time to think about things and also to write about them. Paul and I also spent a lot of time playing PC games. It was great fun shooting as many bad guys as we could. It was a great way to fill in 2 or 3 hours of the day, when nothing else was happening. I think that Papi got a little sick of Paul and I spending so much time on the laptops, but we were having fun. He was always going on about how we should be spending more time outside looking at the surrounding hills and trees, so we decided to take the laptops outside and play the games, an easy fix to that problem. I even managed to get onto the internet a few times with Paul’s GPRS connection. It was a good enough connection for MSN typing only, but it meant I had a link to the outside world. One night Paul and I sat and watched the lunar eclipse. It was amazing how bright all the stars were once the full moon was out of action.

The last full day at the farm Papi, Paul and I went into Temuco for the day. First of all we went to Gorbea to undertake a few paperwork matters that Papi needed to attend too. Like always in South America, a function that should take 20-30mins took us about 2 hours. This meant that we arrived in Temuco in time for lunch. So we headed to the central market and ate a lovely lunch, after they mixed up the order, took ages to fix, then gave us coffees and teas without hot water and then took 20mins to get the bill to us. That is a thing that is also lacking here in South America, Customer Service that is efficient and friendly. We then went and did a few other things around town before heading back to the farm. Ohh yes, on return I was also made to make Chocolate pudding again. I think that this is becoming way too much of a common theme. But I don’t mind, as I am contributing to the enjoyment of the farm. It was Paul’s request, like a last night feast.

The last morning was similar to the morning we travelled to the South. It was an effort to get Paul out of bed, with the regular "give me another 20mins. This went from 9am until just after noon. By this time, the lunchtime BBQ was well under way and there was more than enough food to feed an army. So the decission was made to stay for lunch and leave shortly after that. Lunch was a great feast. My only concern was that I had told Jessica, my friend in Los Angeles (where I was going to stay for the next few days), that we would be at her house by about lunchtime. With no cell coverage, I could not get a message through, saying we would be late. At 3pm we finally said our goodbyes and headed for the open road. It was sad to leave the farm but also good to know that I was heading back to a more modern environment. I do like the farm, but it is just a little remote, at times. I also said goodbye to Paul's uncle, Harry, but I knew that I would see him back in Australia, as he was heading home in mid April.