A Tribute to Nestor

Nestor is the rooster we slaughtered yesterday morning. (Warning: some may not want to read this first section). A bit about his life first: Nestor was born at Mama Roja farm and attacked by another animal when he was very young, leaving him blind in one eye and particularly aggressive towards the other chickens. He was nursed and tenderly cared for by Kimberly but because of his aggression, had been kept in a cage, separate from the other chickens. Thus, Nestor was picked out of the 23 chickens and 4 roosters to go. We fasted him all day Wednesday, and got him drunk on cheap whiskey Thursday morning. Hannah was quick with the knife while Marcelo held him down against the board. He flapped terribly, but reportedly much less than when chickens are hung up to have their neck slit without being held. I was glad Hannah was interested in actually doing the cut, as I was afraid I would be timid and then hurt him more, since I have never seen or participated in the slaughter of an animal before, though I eat meat regularly. She appeared very fast and decisive but later showed me her raw, bloody finger from where the knife handle cut her skin from pressing down so hard, worried as she was for the same reason. I assisted in the immediate postmortem plucking, which is easy to do while their body is still warm. Some folks will immerse the chicken in hot water but this must smell terrible because they have a really foul, odor-producing glad on their tail. The dogs and cats circled with excitement, smelling fresh blood. Afterwards, Marcelo showed us how to clean out the body and identified all the organs. It was interesting to note the vibrant yellow of Nestor´s fat, reflecting his super healthy diet...it also made me think about the pale, greasy fat of the chicken I buy in the store...even organic chickens. The air felt heavy all the while as we contemplated what we were doing, recognizing the change in energy as well. It felt clinically interesting and simultaneously like a violation to be seeing all of these things inside his body even though the process of caring for and killing him felt particularly respectful. My lesson is still brewing.

I ate chicken liver and hardboiled eggs for lunch, ala Emily Holt, and was transported back to being 10 years old. Hannah, Maggie and Kim all tried it and declared it tasty. We made chicken soup for dinner, saved feathers for decoration and fed the dogs the innards after cleaning them well. We gave many thanks to Nestor yesterday.

I do not have a picture of Nestor yet, so I will share with you, Hubert, the kitchen toad:

That being said, our long-drop toilet is coming along well, we have almost finished the walls, which is SUPER exciting! I am hoping to get to see the completion of the main part of the structure before I leave next week. NEXT WEEK.

Endlessly sifting subsoil to make mortar:


Below is a picture of the earth bag base before we started building the brick walls:


Sasha, a new intern, came this week, after having to get her tonsils out and being waylaid a few weeks. We have been getting to know each other in new configurations and spending more time with Marcos, the Misiones local who is interning as well. Yesterday he took us to his family´s home where they grow maté and tobacco. He showed us how they dry tobacco and we met his ancient abuelo. His mother came out and looked at us in wonder, then said ¨Marcos, tenés TANTO compañeras!¨which means, ¨Marcos, you have so many female companions!!¨ He chuckled (he´s about 19, has never been out of the Misiones province, and already thinks the five of us are about as nutty as they come), then took us to the river where we danced and splashed and all tried to speak Spanish. In the afternoon we gathered eucalyptus leaves to add to the infusion we are currently making for a new insect repellant that has citronella, pennyroyal and eucalyptus. All of these things are so simple when you have access to the bounty of the jungle!

It´s so humid today, the internet cafe is a welcome respite from the feeling of sweat dripping down the backs of my legs. We are, however, going to go explore a local bird sanctuary and reptile center to learn about the fauna in the area. This week Kim saw a 2-meter long snake on the path to the waterfall, which definitely piqued my interest in learning who we´ve got in this area and how they behave. There is a bat that lives near my tent and my wolf-spider still crawls up under the rainfly to catch trapped moths at night. Luckily he has been staying OUTSIDE the tent, so we coexist peacefully. Once of the most bizarrely beautiful things I have seen happens when you shine a light (usually cj´s headlamp) onto the grass at night and you see dozens of glittering blue gems that, on closer inspection, reveal themselves to be the eyes of spiders! It´s really lovely. Hannah stumbled across one that had way more sparkles than usual and realized that it´s back was completely covered with babies! Little sparkly-eyed spider babies.

This is the town of Obéra, where I sit typing:

Most farm days are still full of building, planting seeds in the garden, reading, swimming, cooking, chatting, and swinging in the hammock. This week we made lemoncello (italian lemon liquor), banana bread, olive and sundried tomato bread, and many, many terérés. Teréré is the maté drink of Northern Argentina and Paraguay, and it´s COLD. Oh yumyumyum. Instead of just pouring water over it, we pour fresh squeezed orange juice. It´s awesome.

All photo credit goes to Hannah, who diligently uploads her pictures to her laptop and allows me to borrow them for this blog, as my camera still refuses to play nice with Argentinian computers. Thank you, Hannah. More pictures to come!

I love you guys.