¡Chao Argentina!



 ¡Chao Argentina!


Hello all!

What a whirlwind the last few weeks have been. As we wrapped up our stay on the farm in San Juan, Argentina, we enjoyed some memorable experiences. We are so grateful for a time focused on being engulfed in the culture and language and sharing time with friends our age. We learned so so much about chickens/roosters and plants/the garden from our host that we can't wait to apply in the future (for example: not owning roosters if we ever want to sleep or any peace and quiet lol). 

For one memorable experience, we completed our first hitchhiking adventure. To paint the picture, Connor, Marco (the Italian volunteer), and I wanted to go to the fruit and veggie store on a Saturday morning. It was about a 3-4 mile walk so we decided to try and catch the local bus. Well, buses don't really like to stick to the schedule on weekends and after waiting for about 30 minutes, we opted for an alternative option. Looking for a person with a truck, we decided to try and stick our thumb out on the corner of the street and see what happened. On the FIRST car we tried, a man and female in the front seat pulled over and asked where we needed to go. We felt it was a sign because the man was none other than...a PRIEST! Father priest was very kind to allow 3 foreigners into his car and dropped us off at the market. What an experience - hitchhiking with a priest!

We had the pleasure of experiencing some late Argentinian nights, primarily getting to practice our dance moves we had learned thus far in our host's kitchen on countless other nights. On Marco's last night at the house with some friends, we made empanadas, had some wine/Fernet, and danced until 4am. Wow...WHAT?! All good - we are young and can bounce back. But little did we know that the next night was a cousin's birthday party that would end in the same way. Dancing until 4am. Two nights in a row...who are we? Let's just say we are still recovering. But, we truly appreciate how engrained dancing and music is in this culture. I think we need more dancing in our future. 

Currently, we are in Mendoza, Argentina (just south of San Juan) for about a week for a little time "off" to ourselves. This location is quite beautiful, sitting at the foothills of the Andes mountain range with a large park and downtown. It has been lovely to get to walk more, do some hiking, eat as many eggs as we want, and catch up on sleep. We went to one of the wineries (Mendoza is a very popular wine region) and ended up in a Spanish-speaking tour and tasting. It was one of the many situations we have found ourselves in just laughing and asking ourselves "How did we end up here?" - but loving every second of it! 

We cannot believe how fast time has been moving... we are just ending 4 months in Argentina and 6 months total since starting our adventure. We are looking forward to our next experience in... PERU! We will be heading to a small town near Cusco in the Sacred Valley to do another volunteer exchange. Starting there for one month and seeing where that takes us. 


We miss you all so much! Until next time :) 


Con amor, 

Abby y Connor 




Sheep love eating wood


Neighbor’s olive tree farm


Our host incubating peacock eggs!



Homemade banana bread - 
Mama Wirth’s recipe, they were a hit!

Asado/lunch at the neighbors

Marco the Italian teaching us how to make pizza


Patti loves her cerveza 




Post-hike mate with the neighbors 


Post-hike pizza and beer 


Using the laser to measure the water reservoir 

Getting ready to finally place the nylon in the hole!


That is some heavy stuff 

Went well all things considered - 
then a huge wind/dirt storm hit and we had to weigh it down so it didn’t fly away

Empanada night!!!



Peep the time on the watch…

Cousin’s birthday party 

No plates, silverware needed… just cake and dancing

One of the baby chicks started to lay blue eggs!

We extended the garden and added lots of new planter beds!

Saying bye to all the baby seedlings

Patti sad we are leaving…

Chao Ana! 

Arrived in Mendoza - 
it is approaching summer now down 
here and things are heating up. I finally purchased a 
short sleeve shirt and shorts here. 

Connor’s favorite aisle at the store - MATE!


Some wine at the park? Why not!





Our winery experience


The tasting room

Matcha latte…was excited, 
but doesn’t compete with Slow Bloom (if you know, you know.)






Comments

  1. Mama WirthOctober 14, 2025 at 9:14 AM

    Love, love, love all of the photos! So many adventures! The people and animals that will forever be in your memories. Sweet Patti! And the dancing until 4am! What a blast! Yum to the banana bread making the blog! Love and miss you!!❤️

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousOctober 24, 2025 at 12:21 PM

    we are proud of you two ! hurry home ! love you , grams & gramps zanoni

    ReplyDelete

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