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The beginning of a new school year and the ending of our trip -
Life does not always go as planned, and here in Argentina that has certainly been confirmed. Lesson plans are changed minutes before a class begins, products disappear unexpectedly from the grocery store, internet service is down during the weekly trip to town. Some things, though, have been quite predictable and dependable. Bus schedules are amazingly accurate, nothing will be open during siesta, and there is always time to share a mate drink. A bit scruffy from summer neglect, La Lucena was whipped back into shape again for the new school year. After much thoughtful pondering, we decided on a new departure date for our trip and we made plans to be back in the States by Easter. So now we experience each day just a little differently, thinking this may be the last time we teach this class, the last time we eat this food, the last time we see this view - a rich but bittersweet way to be living.

La Lucena Environmental Learning Center Summer break finally ended and school groups began returning to La Lucena in mid February. The first groups came from the American school in Buenos Aires, children of diplomats and CEO's from around the world. There were over a dozen countries represented, and it was amazing to consider the priviledge and worldliness these children have experienced in their young lives. It was also surprising to discover that many of them live with the fear of being kidnapped and held for ransom, an increasingly common event in South America. Not knowing that the topic of parents' employment was generally off limits, David learned that the majority of the families were connected to the oil industry and he therefore made it a point to include peak oil and energy discussions in many classes. These were serious students with lofty goals (becoming president of Argentina was one) and it was particularly inspiring to hear them so casually sliding between several different languages in a single conversation. In another branch of La Lucena's work, the following week, we hosted a day with teachers from local schools introducing them to some of the Center's resources and projects. We were pleased that the projects we are leaving behind, the solar ovens and composting system, were highlighted with the hope they can be incorporated into some of the schools' ongoing programs. Composting food scraps seems to be difficult here in Argentina in large part due to the free-ranging dogs. The La Lucena composting project was designed with this in mind. We used empty barrels from a Jesus Maria soap factory, drilling aeration holes in them and setting them up in a row with all the ingredients for a proper compost recipe - food scraps for nitrogen, dry straw for carbon, and soil and manure for starter culture. The barrel currently being filled is tied to a large bamboo post dug into the ground so that the dogs can't tip it over and the rest are clamped tightly shut. Every week we have the visiting students roll the full barrels around to mix and aerate the contents. Sometimes nighttime dog visitors do the rolling for us as well. The sun bakes this mixture for several weeks and then the greatly reduced, but still not quite fully decomposed, contents are moved into a caged worm composting bin to finish being processed. The worms work their way through the mixture, leaving behind beautiful soil that La Lucena uses in their tree planting nursery. The small solar oven collection is another legacy we leave at La Lucena. We brought two US manufactured solar ovens with us in our luggage, and David (along with Mike, when he was here) built a larger oven out of locally available materials. This homemade solar oven project began in mid September and was nearly completed by the end of February - few things happen quickly here. Finding the right materials has not been easy, with difficulties ranging from expired foam insulation cans to tempered glass that took several months to special order. The metal flashing for reflectors has proven to be impossible to find in the area and will probably have to be done without. Even with all the right materials, these ovens will not work without the patience and attention of the cook (and, of course, a sunny day.) Although Lise baked many batches of brownies with students and we have personally enjoyed many solar cooked meals, it requires an accomodating attitude to work with the sun, something we hope that Argentines will be better at than most Americans.

THINGS WE WILL MISS (AND NOT MISS) FROM ARGENTINA... MISS: Scrubby forests full of chattering parakeets and cooing doves, the frantic flashes of green darting between branches and the clumsy bumbling of plump birds in the branches NOT MISS: Pulling thorns out of skin and shoes (fear of flora) MISS: Dogs with a life of their own, stray but not homeless, claiming the bus stations, the sidewalks, even the middle of the streets, the nighttime serenades, reminders of that other society out there beyond the human one. NOT MISS: Bed bugs and hairy spiders in the house (fear of fauna) MISS: Reliable, regular and cheap public transportation NOT MISS: Carrying home the weekly groceries on the bus... actually, relying on food from the grocery store at all (Oh, how we miss our Round River garden produce and well-stocked freezer!) MISS: High speed internet (even if it is only when we get to town) and video rentals without due dates (or if there are, we just smile and get away with it) NOT MISS: Loud or smoky internet cafes and pirated dvd's that freeze at the best part MISS: Highway lines seen as only suggestions -- drive where it makes sense, avoid the crumbling edges, cut those corners, ignore the painted lines, the road is yours to use! MISS: Highway signs seen as only suggestions STOP: if there's a car coming SPEED: as fast as your car can handle on the particular road, watch the donkey backs (aka: speed bumps) PASS: whenever someone's in your way, without rancor or frustration, as a fact of life in a country of narrow roads MISS: Freedom from headlines (since we can't read them) and media frenzy (since we don't have a tv or radio) NOT MISS: The struggle of easy polite small talk, feeling speechless and stupid for being here all these months and still not speaking Spanish, fear of the phone call requiring conversation without gestures MISS: Greetings with a kiss, friendly touch in general NOT MISS: Ubiquitous security guards, the Disco (a supermarket, not a dance floor) security system which routinely beeps (very loudly) at Lise MISS: Dulce de leche ice cream cones NOT MISS: The chronic shortage of change at every purchase MISS: Simona (Bolivar) and (Jose de San) Martina, the kittens we regularly babysit NOT MISS: Locking house doors MISS: Siesta silence - empty streets, a daytime city shut down (Ever heard the joke about how Argentina lost the Malvinas War because they refused to fight between 1 and 5pm?) NOT MISS: Not knowing when things are going to happen...really, not believing it when you are told MISS: The luxury of empty space in life NOT MISS: The boredom of empty space in life This has been a rough landscape to feel tender to, and human relationships have been kept shallow by our poor language skills. But we have watched the scenery of the Sierras turn from brittle brown winter flatness to dripping green summer lushness, and we have become fond of the people who have been a part of our daily routines. Our journey to Argentina has done pretty much what we intended - stripped us bare of what we had been clinging to so we could step back into our lives with clarity and intention. We are greatful to have had the space and time to do this, to be going home to another springtime and the next season of our lives.