A sun dial in San Rafael, where my time flew by

I arranged a 2 week volunteer work-stay with Alejandro and Virginia at their wine farm in San Rafael of Mendoza, Argentina. The program from which I sought them out is World Wide Organization of Organic Farming (WWOOF).  WWOOF began in Britain in an effort to support local organic farming through a global network that offers volunteer opportunities to travelers interested in learning and sharing cultures, lifestyles and organic cultivation techniques with local farmers.  Alejandro and Virginia have been hosting volunteer workers for 20 years, the majority from Europe and some from Asia and North America.  Most arrive eager to learn and help with the work around the farm but they have had a couple bad experiences with volunteers that do not speak Spanish nor were willing to learn and do not put forth the effort to help work.  I very much looked forward to the experience and the 2 weeks flew by.

Ari is an Argentinian who volunteered on Finca la Rosendo during my first week.  He has been volunteering at other Fincas in the area experiencing the ins and outs of wine with a goal of returning to the restaurant industry as a sommelier.  He was an interesting fellow to work with  and I enjoyed listening to his experiences.  He is well learned in Chinese medicine and acupuncture.  He has experience in the restaurant industry, picking up good cooking skills thus helping us prepare and plan vegetarian meals at the Finca. He brought along a very spicy chili sauce that we used to spice up his soy bean milanesa and hearty soups. We prepared a tasty salad from the wild arugula he picked from side of the road.  I shared some peanut butter and brazilian fruit jelly sandwiches with him as snacks.

Wine bottles protruding from the adobe walls

We slept in a one room building about 50 meters west from the house.  It was evident we were in a wine region with wine bottles embedded within the adobe walls.  The building has a north facing window and covered entry door area on the west.  These winter nights would dip below freezing, so we heated the interior by burning small wood logs in the stove that Alejandro had welded.  We prepared breakfast on a small propane burner in our dwelling.  We used a latrine about 5 meters off the northeast corner and fetched water from a tap about 5 meters off the southeast corner.

Our day would start with breakfast, I usually ate oatmeal mixed with homemade plum jelly, sometimes a fresh egg with toast.  We met Alejandro and Virginia in the house for matte at 9am and received instructions for the day’s tasks.  We worked through 12 or 1 to break for lunch followed by a siesta, during which I laid in my hammock enjoying the warm sun and cool breeze.  We resumed work after reenergizing with a mug of hot coca tea around 3 then finish work around 6 or 7.  We closed out the day preparing dinner, eating around 9 and went to bed around 10.  We worked half days, Saturdays and Sundays were free days.

Taking a siesta on the finca

Bottles stacked in the wine cellar

Our tasks varied from preparing orders of wine to digging ditches.  For the wine orders, we collected the required quantity of bottled wine from the cellar, polished the bottles, adhered the label and boxed them.  Finca la Rosendo bottles 3 red wines, a rosado and a blanco, predominantly from the Syrah grape, all organic vinos naturales.  The Criollo, my favorite, is a blend of the Criollo and Syrah grapes.  The white is blend of the gimenez and torrontes grapes.  We also boxed organic grape juice, which they bottled so concentrated that you would want to thin it with equal part water.  We prepared and packaged orders of wine flour, to which I had not been previously introduced.  Wine flour is basically finely ground dried pulps of fermented grapes.  After fermentation the bunches of grapes are dried.  We separated the stems and stalks leaving only the dried grapes, which we passed through the grinder twice, http://youtu.be/RZ3iM-X97lk.  We weighed out 200 grams, then packaged it in a plastic bag, folding it over and stapling a label to it.

Wine flour, who knew?

My work experience and education in Civil Engineering involved the design and analysis of digging and cleaning out ditches.  After my experiences at the finca, however, I gained a greater appreciation for the actual physical labor involved in reducing Manning’s ‘n’ value, establishing flow lines and top of banks.  Shoveling and hauling dirt and debris was great cross training to complement the runs I would get lost on, like in the community’s hedge labyrinth, http://youtu.be/mOsGa0_0Db0.  The Mendoza wine region is located in the arid highlands of the Andes receiving little rain.  Thus ditches are throughout the community to convey irrigation water for the farms on a set schedule when the dikes are opened.  It would have been neat to see a wier set in place to flood a field but it is not the growing season.

Digging Ditches – Before and after – even the rooster helped claw as he got fat off of worms

We collected firewood from the neighboring finca’s pruning of plum trees and cutting down dead trees along the side of the road.  The dead tree limbs snapped easily but the pruned plum limbs were still green and scratched my arms and wrists raw while loading them onto the tractor and trailer, even with long sleeves.  I am to warn the next WWOOFer coming in March that large piles of firewood are waiting to be chopped down to size.  We use firewood for cooking tasty soups in a cast iron pot in the house fireplace and bake fresh loaves of bread and toasty pizzas in the outdoor brick oven.

Collecting and hauling firewood for staying warm and cooking tasty soups and pizzas

The indoor fireplace served for warmth and cooking tasty soups, like locro

Ari attends the outdoor oven to bake toasty pizzas

No farm is complete without a garden, so we did a lot of work preparing for the growing season.  Alejandro and Virginia had a fenced in area with 12 plots for growing their vegetables like lettuce, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, squash and beets.  Despite the frozen ground, we weeded the plots and turned the ground over with rich mulch from leaves, chicken droppings and other organic compost, just like dad’s garden back home.  Alejandro tilled a larger open plot with the tractor for us to plant garlic, corn and beans.

The kitchen table was the center of work, food and socializing.  They played music in the background from their laptop’s album collection.  If the electricity was out, Alejandro would fill in, since he always had a song in his head and would hum or sing while he worked.  Our conversations covered all topics from our families to politics, pop culture, history, health and economy.  I shared a lot about American life but also learned a lot about American TV, music and films since I am not too familiar with those.  Their two dogs embody the definition of man’s best friend and would follow them to the ends of the Earth.  For fun they chase the hens and roosters that range freely throughout the day clucking, crowing and pecking around for grub worms seeds and grains.

Super poncho sometimes hung out with me in my hammock

Soaking in the afternoon sun

On Friday night Ari and I joined Alejandro for a ‘junta’ to meet his friends sharing some snacks and wine.  We met in a cool building in the middle of some farm field.  It was circular with a conical thatched roof and walls constructed of adobe with wine bottles.   His friends brought a variety of instruments, string, wind and percussion that we could pick up and play.  Some were really talented on the sax, guitar and trumpet.  I took a quick lesson on the guitar but primarily stuck with the percussion instruments playing to the feel of the beat.  Our music is a long way from being recorded, but a fun way to unwind after the work week http://youtu.be/zWbCwDEs0UU

On my Sunday off I literally ran the 20 kilometers into San Rafael to take a bus to the Las Lenas ski resort to check off another continent on which I have skied, leaving Europe, Africa, Oceania and Antarctica.  I enjoyed my day of skiing after a 2 year hiatus.  http://youtu.be/ZuUpEbLkfwY The sun was shining brightly, so I got by without renting ski clothes and wearing the atypical warm gear I packed.  Elisa’s balaclava kept me warm under my rain jacket and I managed to stay upright on the skis, keeping my thick-lined running tights dry until I challenged myself on the last run down.  Afterwards, I cooled off with an Andes beer thanks to Patsy.

Virginia left for a wine competition event and would not return before I left so we said our goodbyes early.  During the prior week, they had imprinted the finca’s leaf logo on towelettes dyed with their wine to hand out and sell at the event to market their event.  On my final day, Alejandro drove me around for a tour of San Rafael, picking up fruit trees and a load of meat to grill for a typical Argentine asado in the back of the finca.  I got to try their Rose from the barrel my last day at the Finca with the great array of meat, served in the traditional style on wooden boards, an authentic send off.

Rose wine from the barrel

An Argentine Asado

Joe, Virginia and Alejandro