Life Surrounded by Mountains in Central Chile
Chirimoyas are wonderful and very nutritious. It is difficult to eat them just at the right time. They should be very juicy, but sometimes they are dry. Here we eat them with orange juice. I imagine that they are expensive, because they probably have to fly them in, because of this problem with getting them to you at the right time. Here they are not cheap either.
I so enjoy reading about your new life in Chile. It's a shame that I only know you from MOL, but I promise to spend any big lottery winnings [the only way we'll ever be able to afford it] on traveling down to see you (and your doggies!).
Musicmz, I would love to have you come visit. If you watch the sales, you can fly down here for a bit over $600. I will pick you up at the airport, and you can stay with me. I am a vegan now, so you would have to buy your own animal products, but in the summer, everything is cheap and sooooo good. I ate nothing but watermelon the entire month of January. I couldn't get enough. If you want to travel, we can share expenses and drive in my car which is cheap.
Musicmz, maybe staying at my house is a bit of a stretch, with your lottery winnings you will be able to afford the cabins at the Reserve that are only $50/day.
Well, we didn't get any numbers in the big lottery. A trip to Chile will have to remain on my bucket list for the time being. No $$ available to spend until after we sell our house; but someday.... I would LOVE to travel with you!
Didn't know that you are a vegan; I have always said that I could be a vegetarian if I didn't enjoy all foods so much. Have lately begun thinking that I should give up meat; especially after reading up on scientific experiments on animal brain activity. And I still enjoy eggs and dairy.
Musicmz, if you reduce the quantity of eggs and dairy, it will help. I have completely cut those two, but I am considering eating one egg white every month. I am taking B12, but I really don't know for sure that I am not deficient, or that I will not become deficient without animal products in the future once I utilize the reserves I have built. I have no problem doing without dairy. I love cheese, but it has more saturated fats than anything else! I am drinking soya, and the only trouble with it, is that here it costs four times more than regular milk. I mix it with fruits into smoothies, and they are delicious. We all need to take care of our health, and the amount of new information available is mind blowing. Above all, I don't want to get Alzheimer's. I plan to take a genetic test soon. Stay well.
My friends at the cafe in town, it's not a pretty place or even that clean, are great; we always get into interesting discussions about what is going on in the area. The owner/manager/cook/barrister/decorator/clean-up crew is the fellow who gave me the lesson on wines from the Aconcagua Region last year. Yesterday I went for a cappuccino, even though it doesn't taste any good, and he said "are you still buying wine from the son of the manager of Seña vineyards?" I said "no, because he sold me too many bottles that were substandard and rejected for sale that I had to give away to someone who liked it". He's been selling us good bottles mixed in with vineyard rejects. So Brian, the cafe owner, tells me that he created a batch of wine. I was suspicious, my expectations were super low, but I asked if I could try it. He said he only had bottles for sale. CLP$5,000 each or US$8.00 which is pricey for homemade wine anywhere and specially in Chile. I asked if he had made the wine in conjunction with his friend Alfredo who has worked with wineries all his adult life, and he said "of course". So he goes on the back and pulls a naked bottle, he goes onto another closet and pulls out a roll of paper, and he peals off the labels and sticks them on the bottle, and he hands me a bottle of red. I had no cash, and he doesn't take cards, so he says I can owe him the money. He only made 200 bottles, and he only had thirty left.
Last night I decide to open the bottle, and to my delight it is the best wine I have ever tasted. It is a blend of 80% cabernet savignon and 20% carmenere. The color is beautiful. It is so smooth it is almost sweet, but not boring or blah. Next year they will make a larger batch, and today I am buying a case when he opens the shop. This wine is a winner. He told me that alfredo gave his company's enologist a naked bottle to evaluate and he had rated it a 6 out of 7.
This wine deserves to make it big, and I hope this story has a happy ending or I will be very disappointed. Life owes me this one.
So I went to pay my debt and to pick up another bottle, and I told him how I had been blown away by his wine. He told me that he and Alfredo had also been surprised by how good it had turned out. He added, "you didn't expect much, did you?" I agreed, and he said, "I like to surprise people."
I told him how much I liked that it is smooth, yet it has personality. He said that it is due to the fact that they didn't add anything to assist or accelerate the fermentation process. It is simply the taste of fermented grapes, and that is why it is so clean.
I asked him if I could tell my friends about the wine, and he said no, because he doesn't have the capacity to meet the demand.
I asked if it could be kept for a couple of years, and he said "no", because the cork is not good enough. I will have to drink it all in the next few months or oxygen will seep into the mini holes in the cork. This will not take place next year.
Folks, if you want to taste this wine, you have to come to the wine tasting at the cafe next year. Get your tickets now.
And you may wonder why I am so excited about the creation of yet another great wine. It's because it wasn't there before, it's a new creation, like a new born or a memorable poem or a photograph that freezes a moment forever.
I ran into Alfredo yesterday at the Cafe; it had been a long time since I saw him last. I congratulated him, and he pretended not to know what I was talking about. He didn't want to let me know that he liked that I liked what he created. He kept it hidden. And it was then that I realized that Brian had accepted the complement, and shared his delight at my delight. So I discovered that i have a new friend.
I am rereading Haruki Murakami's short stories again, and I realized that my Spanish has improved. I don't stumble so much with vocabulary or the insecurity that I may not be getting the full meaning of what is being said. I read much faster, and I am able to get more joy from what I read. And when I discover a word that I haven't seen in forty or fifty years, I am happy that I have recovered that which I once knew. I have reconnected with what I once was. I am not the same person as I was when I was twelve, fifty one years in the US will never be erased from me, but I am recovering something that was once torn from me.
A month ago I noticed that there was water accumulated near the septic tank, so I called a service to check if it needed cleaning. They came, they pumped it out, and less than a month later it was overflowing once again. When they returned and pumped it out once again, they discovered that it was full of roots. I am very concerned about how those roots managed to enter a space that is supposed to be sealed in concrete, and I still don't have an answer.
I have never had a septic tank, I always lived in cities with a sewer system. In the Reserve everyone must have a septic tank, and I hope that we never tear up the environment to install one. Uncovering the piping to clean out the tree roots from the drainage system uncovered that these waters were leaking into the soil in a manner that is not responsible. Interestingly the leaks are next to a beautiful, mature fig tree which is full of fruit which most likely cannot be eaten by humans. Next time I see Alfredo I will ask if they are eatable; he's an agricultural engineer specializing in grapes.
Getting help with this problem is the nasty part of living in Chile. The contractors know that you are in trouble, and they come in for the feeding. The first engineer who came to assess the situation wanted to install a vertical well approximately 2.5 m deep. The manufacturer of the supplies for the drainage system recommended 25 m and the designer of the drainage system said 10 m the workman who says he has installed many drainage systems in the Reserve says 6 m in a horizontal drainage system. All these folks are supposed to be letting me know what the ordinances require. The contractors charge US$1500 for the drainage alone, and if they discover new problems such as large rocks in the location of the drainage, it is extra.
Yesterday my new friend Brian said that he got one of the workmen to do it for him by hand instead of hiring a digging machine which will destroy the garden and continue to cause me frustration when they say they will show up, and then they don't. He's right. I am only excavating 10 meters. I am also thinking of constructing an artificial wetland to process the water from the laundry room, so that the water released into the environment will not create nearly as much harm. Cool stuff I am learning.
My dog Jake who I adopted from the Brooklyn shelter six years ago is no longer able to go for walks with us anymore. His back legs shake, and he tries, but doesn't get very far. Rachel must be about twelve now, and she is from the JAC. She walks every day, but mostly she sleeps. I found what she always wanted: a playmate. Jeremy Lin, so named because he beat dystemper alone as a street pup that left him with central nervous system damage that makes him bob up and down, also doesn't walk. He runs with his tail moving like the rotating blades of a helicopter and his long, floppy ears flap like a bird taking flight. He also jumps like a fox after pray and slides like a baseball player. He is a handful, and he adores Rachel. He kisses her, gets jealous if I kiss her, he likes her ears and paws which still cause her discomfort. But what he does that is most endearing is to pay fight with her non-stop. If she is awake, they are play fighting. She has never caused him any harm, I check, but he has left scratch marks on her beautiful nose. They always play fight when I am around, not when I am not supervising. She barks when he gets too rough, and sometimes he does too. I shout for them to stop, and they do, they look at me for reassurance, and they continue their game.
Can you use root killer to deal with the root problem? Reapplication every six months should keep the roots at bay.
Sorry to learn of the progression of Jake's illness. I still remember the way he dragged me across your lawn in Maplewood.
Thanks. I'll see if they sell it here. I can always import it.
Yes, I wish he could still drag me, but he is soooo sweet, he gots tons of love. I do all I can to make his life as pleasurable as possible. You know he loves to eat: it's avocado salad, tomato salad, homemade soups, etc.. I can't move in the kitchen area without his coming to find out what I am doing.
During our evening walk Jeremy went into the corral where five horses were looking at us. Jeremy began barking and the horses turned toward him; he began to run and continued to bark, and all five horses chased him. Horses are fast, but they can’t change directions like Jeremy can, and when they got too close he jumped between the railings of the fence multiple times preventing the horses from following him into the periphery of the parking lot. I was scared that he would get hurt, but a neighbor who was watching said they were all playing. When I finally managed to place a leash on him all the horses looked at us and returned to looking bored. It was thrilling to watch, and scary too. Jeremy is a handful, and everyone seems to love him.
Perfection from my garden; I am thrilled. The birds are already at the trees, I see eaten figs (brevas) on the ground, but I have hundreds if not a thousand or more brevas, so I should have the opportunity to enjoy more than enough of them.
2017 is leaving with a bang, hope the same for you. Happy New Year!
Happy 2018!
I see your brevas are what we call 'white' figs, not the 'black' or deep purple figs. Both are delicious, very sweet. The black have very delicate skin, though, I find the 'white' skin is a little more thicker.
If you have a dehydrator you can dry your own fruit and veg in season, and save $$$, which is handy as a vegan. My vegan locavore friends grow several kinds of mushrooms in peat boxes (bought online) and dry the mushrooms, too. (Mushrooms are rich in B12, tomatoes are rich in lysine and other things good for the brain; don't forget your tofu)
We used to hang old CDs up in our fig and stone-fruit (plum, apricot and nectarine) trees, to keep the birds away from most of the fruit. The possums still took what they wanted!
Thank you. I have tons of cds that I never look at, but I am afraid that I will need them someday. Of course it's been so many years since I looked at them, that I stored them in the bodega where I have all the treasures that I never look at. It's like a storage vault without a key. You know it's really safe, because there's no key. I'll see what I can do to safeguard my figs.
About three months ago I noticed that the pit for the septic tank was wet. I think that I saw this before, but I assumed it was rain water, but it's been months since it rained and I realized that it might indicate a problem. So I called the guys who clean the tank, and they reluctantly came. Not even a month had passed and it was wet again, so I called them again. They had to crawl into the tank to find out what the problem was, and there were large numbers of tree roots inside. Before leaving they let me know that my problem was not solved, because the drain was clogged, and they don't do that part of the job. How complicated can that be? In Maplewood I called the plumber when my mom plugged the toilet, and they had to snake the pipes all the way to Valley Street to unclog it. I thought that they would do the same.
So I called my helper, and he excavates the pipes, because he says that the roots are probably also clogging the drain pipe. When he dug out the pipes, we discovered that there was a curb on the drain, and that joint did not have a connection to bridge the two pipes of the drain system. The sludge was basically all draining into the ground right under the fig tree. In the process of fixing the problem which required to excavate an entire new drainage field of about 30 meters, the fig tree quadrupled in size.
I am told that the figs are safe to eat, because what goes up the tree sap does not contain pathogens.
So this new drainage system cost me US$2000 which I did not have, so I decided I have to get a job to pay the credit card. I will teach English. I took two online courses, and I called myself an ESL teacher. I have mentioned that I live in the most agriculturally rich area of Chile, and on my way to town to do my shopping there are multiple exporters of produce, mostly avocados but also walnuts, seeds, etc.. We are an hour from the nearest city where English is taught, so I have no competition. I am in the country; this is not Santiago where everyone speaks English. I went to a directory of businesses online, I dressed up in my bank-broker interview attire but without the pumps and I began to visit these businesses.
Th doormen are so cordial; it's amazing. They give me the name of the HR directors, their phone numbers, and the best time to call. Great. The night before I make my visits, I make my plan, and I spend the day going from plantation to plantation.
These haciendas are remote. No one who is not from the area would ever find them. There are no phone numbers, they literally don't have addresses so they are not in any map, and the phone numbers listed on the web don't answer, because people are in working on the fields and not by the phone. Yesterday I went to police dept to get directions, and they didn't know where the places were. So I went to the "post office" which is not really a post office, but simply a small general store where they get the mail for this vast area. He knows the location of these businesses, and he tells me where they are. No directions, just reference points.
The owners of these haciendas have home next to their fields, and some are palacial. They look like movie sets: some are regal others look very quaint and all are remote, anachronisms or visions from a Graham Greene novel about the life in the tropics, and I am dressed as if it's another day at TD Bank.
When I find a business close to my home where the owner has a very famous last name and his home looks like a set from Dallas, the tv show, or perhaps a five-star resort the caretaker tells me that they don't do much agriculture anymore, that I should go to their neighbor who has seven of farms as well as another very famous last name. I tell him that I tried already, but no one answered the phone call on their speaker system that lets you into the farm. He tells me the administrator works in another town that is even closer to where I live, and to go there. Later a friend tells me that the farm is up for sale for forty-one million dollars.
This time I do get someone to pick up the call, security, and he tells me that the administrator is out to lunch and I should come back at three. Lunch in Chile is from 2-3 which makes sense, because it is hot at that hour; they work late. I do as he suggests, and the administrator who answers the phone wants me to tell him what I want from him through the speaker. I ask if I may have five minutes in his office, and he buzzes me in. When I get there with my gray hair and outfit, he offers me coffee and tea. I decline. I ask him if the company needs to train his employees in English. He says that he is the accountant, and he only deals with the expenses of the farm, and that I have to go to the corporate office on Monday to speak to the HR director. But now he doesn't want me to leave, because he says that he is by himself all day and getting visitors is a nice distraction. The manager of the fields joins us, and he says that he needs to learn English, because all his instructions are in English and he only has google to help him with the translations. The place is huge, and I am locked in. I want to leave. The administrator asks me "do you need two minutes to get to the gate?" I don't know what he is talking about at first, and then I realize he is talking about the electric gate. I say that I will be fine with two minutes, and I am out of there.
We are always surrounded by adventures if only we are open to them.
Six weeks ago I contacted a very prestigious language school in Chile to ask if they would be interested in being a platform for me to teach English to employees of an exporter of avocados. I have the client, I have an English teaching certificate, and lots of experience in sales. They gave me a battery of tests and answered yes. I can now say that I represent this school when introducing myself, and this opens the doors, literally and figuratively.
I am finally caught up in reading about your adventures. You are being quite the entrepreneur! Hope that 2018 brings you interesting clients and financial success! 
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Your dogs look so happy and smart. Yesterday I tasted a delicious fruit that they are selling in our local Stop and Shop. It's cherimoya and comes from Chile. Here it is very expensive but perhaps it is a local fruit where you live.