21/11/2019 – Volunteering, San Rafael, Argentina

We were up and ready to go by 07:30. Time to feed the animals! Again we started with the cat and dogs, the geese, the llamas, the chickens and the horses. Although the early start was a bit of a shock to the system, feeding the animals is such a nice way to start the day! The sun was already blazing hot. We went to the kitchen and had some coffee and toast with home made honey. All our food is included in this workaway experience, but it has already become apparent that with our big appetites Josh and I are going to need to go to the supermarket and stock up on snacks! We brushed our teeth and put our factor 50 on before reporting to duty. Our job for today was to sweep the terrace, which gets so dusty from the dry earth being swept up by the wind. We swept the terrace and cleaned the outside area before then deep cleaning the kitchen. At lunch time we cooked rice and vegetables, which we ate alongside Frederico. He is so nice, and very clever, it is really interesting to chat with him. He poured Josh and I a small glass of red wine to have with lunch. He told us it was nothing special, just something that one of his friends, a neighbour, makes. We explained to him that that did indeed make it special for us, and it tasted pretty good! We helped clear up before relaxing for the afternoon. I had a little snooze and Josh finished his book. Then it was the afternoon feeding time! We fed the animals like we had the day before, but without Casper and Samantha to help us as it was their day off today. That meant we made a couple of mistakes, like letting the llamas into the paddock too soon. They spent the whole time following us around hopeful for food!

After feeding the animals we went back in and showered, pretty dusty and dirty by this point!

As the sun was setting a huge storm came in, thunder, impressive purple lightning and lots of rain. It was so dramatic! Leonoras kids were happily running around in the rain, because it doesn’t happen here very often! The power went out and we hung out in the large hall, which echoed the rain down so loud.

We made a spaghetti dinner that we shared with Samantha and Casper, before going to bed and starting our new books. Josh is reading Dracula and I the Handmaids Tale. It was a lot cooler tonight so much more comfortable to sleep!