So after
having a wander around the Sacred Valley, we headed for the jungle again
in order to work on a farm for a couple of weeks. We ended up mostly
harvesting coffee and cacao (chocolate) and weeding with trowels and
machete.
The
first morning was a hoot when Ian walked into the kitchen to find Em
holding a dead Agouti (a large rodent that grand pappi Alfredo had
hunted) by the legs, with its bum sticking in her face, while Roberto
skinned it over the pan of boiling hot water. Nice start to the
day....hadn´t even eaten breakfast yet.
Another
highlight, about a week into farming Sabine had warned us there was a
wasps nest in the vegetable patch, near where we´d be harvesting cocoa
that day. We failed to notice it had dropped onto the ground and were
completely unawares of its whereabouts...until Ian walked right into it.
Next thing we knew it was like the scene from my girl...we ran like two
screaming girls all the way back to the farm as the wasps followed us
and stang our faces, backs and bodies through our clothing...in the
midst of all the chaos Ian had dropped all our equipment. We had to go
back..ems response 'you can f**k right off'...so Ian braved it out and
got stung again on the eye (his face).
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| Patio with drying Cacao |
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| Emma scooping out the cacao beans |
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| Em´s a real chocoholic... She just loves chocohol |
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Had to be careful not to kill the dogs that always followed us around
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Our mate Natalie
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He works hard our lad...check out that sweat!
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Mirko...one of the three lil uns from the family..
hes a right cheeky little bugger. |
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| Ian hiding from Carlitos (and his flea infestation) |
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Carlitos... just before he ripped open the rubbish bin
to eat all our used toilet paper |
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Tony... this
guy had serious problems... he had something
growing on/eating his brain
so he couldnt walk straight.
Ian didn´t like him. |
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Illyan...the
little cutey of the family...not so cute
when he´d always place the
kitten in the tree then call
you to come and get it down for him...with a
broom
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Just getting breakfast ready
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Sabine
just getting the porridge ready...you eat a lot of that
when you´re
weeding or machetteing for the first three hours of your day
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Grandpa Alfredo!! Loved this guy...he was so cute...he was always
out all day hunting for meat for us with his gun.
Poor old sod caught
one thing in the two weeks we were there...the
bloodyhousecat.
Sabine found it hilarious but poor old Alfredo
retreated to his cabin with
depression and bought the family 12 new
chicks out of guilt...bless him!
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I
caught Alfredo giving the kids a telling off...think it was because they
were torturing the animals again. One day Mirko tilted one of the
big barrels
over and out popped two dogs, a chicken, two ducks and a
cat. Little buggers...
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We caught Alfredo one morning dying his eyebrows moustache
and hair...he looked so cute! Like an italian mobster...
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Ar lad washing up...just where he should be
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Harvesting cocoa...we´d use long spears to cut them down from the high trees...
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Muscles galore...
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Illyan
generally walked around with no pants on...good job he had
a lovely
little toddlers bum cos he'd just stick it in your face anyways...
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Shelling the coffee beans before theyre laid out to dry...
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Both look a little bit dazed here...must be tired...
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Why
so serious? This is Kyram the eldest of the three...loved playing card
games,
and cheating at card games, he had a swift hand that kid!
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Two weeks work taking its toll...
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Sabine cooking up a storm...guinea pigs in the background have no idea whats in store for them...
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Ian grinding up fresh coffee, we miss the amazing coffee in the mornings, was damn fine!
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So
after farming we made our way to the south coast to Nazca and headed
north to Huacachina to sandboard on the massive dunes...such a surreal
little oasis town. Sandboarding was great, as long as you diverted from
the glass bottles and litter strewn in amongst the sand...
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struggling to get back up the dune...much easier going
down it, she says with a gobfull of sand... |
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Farmer joe and Sarah Connor
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Waxing his board...thats what she said
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We're currently in Huaraz back in the mountains before we head back to the coast, see you on the flip side!
