Merry Christmases just aren´t so merry when it´s 110F outside. In the shade. Don´t even get me started with happy new years and such. Carols praising men of snow, roasted nuts and tides of yule are not at all applicable in such an oven as the foothills of the Central Andes in the peak of summer. No wonder Santa is a slowly growing phenomenon out here.

When asked by our bossladyfriendmotherfigure Azucena to contribute a cultural tradition towards our upcoming Christmas celebration, egg nogs, bubble breads, sugar cookies and roasts were immediately ruled out for the sheer sake of comfort. And sanity. I´d prefer to start a tradition of mojitos, ice cream and watermelon. With vodka in it. Too bad we can´t drink alcohol on the ol´farm.

We´re going to make our way to a river or into the hills for cool snow melt rivers and plenty of shade for a non-traditional vegetarian barbecue. An asado gone wrong according to most Argentines. Horribly horribly wrong. But throw in friends and family and a hodge podge of volunteers and Christmas won´t be so bad afterall.

Just not the same with my own family. That´s right, it´s lil´Patch´s first Christmas away from mommy and daddy. Time to grow up I suppose. We´ll see how I hold up.

Holiday cheer aside, Sancho Panza and Chuck are doing great. Chuck follows me around like a duckling to it´s ma, squeeking up a storm when I walk too fast. In fact he usually cries whenever I leave him. It´s cute. He´s hurt a foot and limps around everywhere. I can´t find the problem, but it gives us a good excuse to call him Gimpy. He poops everywhere and I´ve recently dubbed a shirt the official Shit Shirt, which acts similarly to a burp bib. I wear it when we relax on the hammock and take naps. Sancho Panza is as fat as ever. His balls reappeared a few days ago and are large and in charge again, dragging around behind him like a heavy sack of, well, nuts. I have a feeling now that the reason they come and go is the heat. But I´m still waiting for imput guys. Testicular menstruation? Magic? I´d like to think Sancho Panza is magic.

I´ve received pictures taken by a fellow volunteer of the farm. I´ll make a picture post.

January I meet up with Spencer and Mama K in Northern Chile, then I´m thinking of hitch hiking down the coast and towards Santiago by February, at which point Spencer comes to volunteer at the farm. Ma and Pops come on the 16th. Brux sometime in February or March, maybe with Robin and Eleanor in March to Mendoza then to the farm. Still waiting on donations towards our vehicular excursion.

´Tis the season, ¿no?



jus´ keep on keepin on