16/12/2019 – Pilar, Argentina

We were downstairs for breakfast at 0800 and made ourselves some toast and coffee whilst Liliana drank her mate tea. We started volunteering at around 0900. I was footing the very unstable heavy ladder for Josh whilst he put some silicone sealant between the wooden slats in the ceiling of our room. Liliana says that when it is hot there are a lot of insects and she says she really doesn’t like them, so the plan is to do some sealant in some of the gaps in the house. She said at one point she had bats flying down the chimney and into the house! We finished that and then had a job of sealing off behind the sink in her art studio. Josh took me under his wing as an apprentice for the day, and laughed at me when I didn’t know how to tighten the drill bits with the key. Trial and error! Liliana went out for the morning to run some errands. We sat down for lunch at around 14:30, and had aubergine lasagne, salad and bread, which was very tasty, and we gobbled down two portions each! We cleared up and made a coffee. After lunch Josh took a look at some of the electrical jobs around the house, and even managed to fix a couple of the issues pretty quickly. I sent mum a video of all of Lilianas plants – she uses all sorts of containers to house her many cacti and succulants. Liliana showed me her collection of hanging plant pots that she collects from each country she goes to, not the most portable item, but she seems to manage nonetheless and they are very interesting to look at. Mum sent a video back of all her plants potted in bedpans which Liliana found funny. I had a powernap and Josh went on the Wifi for an hour before we walked to the supermarket around the corner. We stocked up on milk cereal and some fruit and wandered back home. It had been super hot and sunny all day but drizzled a bit of rain as we walked, which was actually quite refreshing. When we got back to the house Liliana was making dinner. We had homemade vegan mushroom and leek burgers, which were the best vegan burgers I have ever tasted! We had a carrot, orange and pistachio salad and some fried potatoes, it was definitely food made with love, and Josh and I have greatly appreciated eating some homemade food! It feels like we are getting some much needed vitamins into us! We ate queso dulce for desert – a traditional Argentinian pudding. It is a slice of creamy cheese with a slice of a jelly like candy on the top. It sounds and looks horrendous, and I was quite nervous about having to pretend I liked it, but actually was very very tasty! Liliana told us that the sweet on top of the cheese can be made from many different things, and this one was made from sweet potato! Afterwards Josh and I washed up and then Josh went upstairs and I sat in the lounge with Liliana writing the diary, whilst she watched a French t.v. show.