WWOOFingish at Aldea Luna

No, this isn’t a post about dogs ;)

WWOOFing (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) is what this post is about. We signed up for the Argentina WWOOFing site, one of the worst websites I’ve seen in a while actually… I’d love to rewrite it. Anyway, once you’ve signed up then you get access to all the contact information for WWOOFing places in that specific country. Costly sign up process if you’re going to a lot of countries. We subsequently heard of workaway which seems like a much better bet as most WWOOFing sites are on it, and it’s one (lower) cost for the entire world.

Anyway, Aldea Lunca is a lovely spot 15km or so outside of Jujuy in the North of Argentina. Their full-time WWOOfing spots were all taken, but they had an option where you pay 910 Pesos per week per person, and you do 4 hours of work too, that was the option we went for.

We took the local bus from Jujuy and were met by two kiwis (Sam and Georgia) off the bus, and with them we walked the 2 1/2 km to Aldea Luna, our home for the following week. There’s zero internet there, and power only for a few hours on Saturday – so bring all your gear fully charged! It’s a 940+ hectare area of mostly bush, but there’s a large garden to tend, a really massive project – they’ve been living there for 10 years now.

There were quite a few people volunteering when we arrived, maybe 10 others? that dropped down a bit while we were there, and I’m sure it’ll pick up again. They pretty much have volunteers all year round. You work 6 days a week. Breakfast at 8am (9 on Sundays, your day off). Then work from 9 -> 1pm, lunch, and the rest of the day off. You’re expected to help with the dishes and cooking and general tidying up too of course. Their system for the washing up was open for gaming, as it was up to you to put your name on the list ;) Still, what sort of terrible terrible people wouldn’t put their name on the list? Not me anyway ;)

We did a lot of weeding, quite a lot of hacking at things with machete’s (good times). There were snakes (didn’t see any) and lots and lots of spiky plants which I’m still picking thorns out from (despite leather gloves). The food was vegetarian, and absolutely fantastically amazingly delicious. Their chilli sauce was just brilliant, I’m hoping the recipe will go on their website sometime. Ever seen a basil plant as big as this one? I hadn’t!

The family were lovely. Maaike had (has) a bit of an upset stomach, and Elizabeth prepared special food for her so that it would be kind on her stomach. Martin was extremely jolly and just a pleasure to work for.

On the Sunday we went for a walk to a highpoint with Sam and Georgia, a nice view about. The dogs came with, and (as per usual) you were picking burrs out of their jackets for days to come.

Probably my favourite task was helping to rebuild the road. There’s an awful lot of rain in the rainy season, and the road basically gets trashed. So, a couple of times a year bits of it have to get rebuilt. Martin discovered that the river on the property is basically the perfect self-refilling quarry. There is every grade of rock, large, medium gravel and sand, perfect for rebuilding roads!. The resource consenting process doesn’t apply so much out in the wilds it seems ;). I did enjoy picking and stringing up the chilli for drying too.

And then all too soon it was time to go. We had planned on being there for 2 weeks, but time is running out as we only have until mid May to get through Bolivia, Peru, Equador and Colombia… fun times ahead :)

Oh, and finally, a picture of a way smaller bug, and a very large spider (that it was beating up quite badly)..