Market Days

One of the most splendid memories I have of New Hampshire is making my way to the Seacoast Farmer's Market. The food alone is enough to set my senses spiraling, but the amazing community vibes that warm the air, even on the most brutal of New England winter mornings is what sticks with me while I'm away.
There is not a proper Farmer's Market here in Chubut/ Rio Negro, Argentina, or in many of the places we have traveled thus far, but farmers are selling their goods everywhere!! With all of the tourism, I can't help but wonder if a more organized effort would be worthwhile. Three evenings a week there are vendors in the small park in Lago Puelo that mostly sell crafts, but some alfajores cookies, and jams are sold too. The larger market in nearby El Bolson is packed with tourists and locals and consists of probably 100 vendors. Here you will find more fruits and vegetables for sale. There are dozens of farms in this area, but we still encountered difficulty when trying to find one to volunteer on in exchange for room and board.
Serendipitously, as often happens for us, we made a connection in an unlikely place. While getting her haircut, Mary learned that Vilma, her stylist, lived on a farm. We setup a date to pay her mother a visit. The main cash crop on the farm this time of year are frambuesas, raspberries. Many farms utilize volunteers through programs like WWOOF, but Vilma's mother, Olga, usually just worked with neighbors who assisted in picking. Olga's mother, whom we only know as Abuela, grandmother, is 90 and although she does not have to work the land, continues to do so everyday. We could sense Olga's uncertainty about having us there the first day. Honestly, why would these Americans travel so far, and for so long to work for free?? Good question! Ameen and I generally would look for a farm with a work exchange option, but since we are staying with my family, it opened up our options. After showing Olga that we would work hard doing anything she asked us to, and explaining that we had the desire to learn her techniques, she warmed up and began expanding our duties outside of raspberrry picking.
My favorite part of this experience is working with Gabriel, my nephew, who just turned six on January 6th. The lessons he is learning on the farm and the work ethic that is being instilled are priceless. There is plenty to keep his little mind busy, and when he tires, there are plenty of animals to watch.
Hot days, into the 90s this week, make lake and river trips very appealing after work and on weekends. Yesterday, we rented kayaks and went across part of Lago Puelo (the lake itself) to a presumably uninhabited island where we discovered between the rocks instead of sand, the earth was clay. We rolled it around in our hands for awhile and then I made stripes on my face with it which led to Ameen covering his entire face....and of course once Gabriel noticed that he wanted in on the fun and we all were practically covered in greenish clay. Ameen was the only one who left it on the entire day, all dried and crumbly, he looked like a zombie Frankenstein. There were plenty of strange looks coming from people at supermarkets. Unfortunately, none of us had a camera handy to capture that debauchery.

Photos of farms and lake attached separately :)