Eco Yoga Park (week 2), AR

Week Two at the Park proceeded very much like Week One, with much the same routine of early mornings, chores, meals and yoga. Our main chore became varnishing the monks’ house, which we found somewhat less back-breaking than garden work, but a lot messier – both of us left stained garments behind, bequeathed to future painters. Having departed, we know that our stay there will form one of our fondest memories of our time in Argentina – possibly all of South America. I will discourse on that at length, but first will review some of the highlights of our week.

Last weekend we were flooded with guests from General Rodriguez and Buenos Aires. They came from several yoga schools affiliated with the Park, and had joined classes culminating in the certification of some of the students with their yoga instructor credentials.

It was interesting to have so many guests, and Christina and I offered our morning on Sunday to help prepare and serve breakfast. She was a little chagrined at having to give up our one sleep-in day, but it felt like the right move. Later in the day we got to see some yoga demonstrations from the different schools. This mostly looked like “synchronized yoga” choreographed and set to music, which was pleasing to watch, though I won’t look for it in the Olympics any time soon.

Another day we paid a visit to The Gaucho, spoken of privately, in whispered voices and code-words, since this is the bar (or closest local option, anyway) where illicit meats and beverages may be consumed. We walked over with Andy & Jo and guided by Mirko, another volunteer who had been previously, so knew the drill. It’s just a few doors down from Eco Yoga Park, but since we’re in rural country that makes it about a 20 minute walk through pasture and dirt road. The entry looks like that of every other farm, but Mirko assured us that it was the place, so we walked on in, and rang the bell. The “bar” is an informal affair. A concrete table is placed outside the door of the house in a clear patch, surrounded by derelict machinery and equipment of a type very familiar to me, since most of it would look right at home at the folks’ place back in Canada.

Presently a woman appeared, and (thanks to the linguistic abilities of Jo) we were able to place an order for meat, cheese, bread, and a couple of litres of beer. The Guacho himself appeard before our repast, but was too busy to join us. Instead he mounted up on his horse, and spent the duration of our visit rounding up some other animals in the field beyond the house. It felt quite nice to be “cheating” on our vegetarian/semi-vegan diet, and the beer was a welcome refreshment. I’m only sorry that we didn’t get to visit twice.

One more highlight of the week was our visit to Luján, a nearby town somewhat larger than General Rodríguez and with better services.

There we had a fantastic meal at a small spot recommended by a local, checked out the huge and impressively pretty Basílica de Nuestra Señora, and treated ourselves to some delicious coffee and ice cream.

On the way back the taxi driver took advantage of our unfamiliarity with the area to jack up the rate a bit, and when it came time to pay Diana took it up with him in a pretty warm exchange of Spanish. We still paid full price, but the dialog was fun to watch.

During the week we had a flurry of short-term volunteers rolling through – so many that I can’t even remember their names – and found that as the group we started with (or rather, those who were present at the time of our arrival) began to depart they have been steadily replaced with a new crop of people that changes the dynamic of the team.

While this is not a bad thing, it did incline us to the feeling that we were leaving at an appropriate time. Since we haven’t learned much Spanish during our time here so far, and since most of the new folks are at least trying to speak Spanish it might have been educational to extend our stay, but there’s more out there to see.

During our last night Ashley put together a trivia quiz game, which was much more fun than our traditional post-dinner movie, and we had a great time mixing with some of the newer people.

As we left today, shaking hands and exchanging emails with our friends, it is easy to get sentimental about the frustration of meeting great people on the road, only to leave them so quickly. On the other hand it is encouraging to experience new friendships where we did not immediately notice much common ground. Before our own departure we were left by Ben from America, Thomas, Vanessa and Jess from Australia, Diana from Brazil, Mirko from Germany, and Jo & Andy from England and New Zealand respectively. Some of them we hope to see again during our brief stay in Buenos Aires where we will plan our next move. We leave behind the American Contingent: Matas, Holly, Anna, PJ, and Tiffany; Emily from Australia; Laurissa from Germany; Anna “2” from France; Frank and Fergus from South Africa;

the monks: Abay, Hari, Takor (whose name I could never remember, and have probably misspelled), and the Swami; the mothers, none of whose names I ever got straight, and who twisted us all into so many strange shapes; the wonderful dogs Rocky and Trixi, and the incorrigable Sanka;

and of course, Ashley, our fearless leader, who kept us on the path and hard at work (until 10:45 or so each day, anyway). Without Ashley I’m not sure what we would have done, but it certainly wouldn’t have been as organized or as much fun.

We had a wonderful stay, and are sorry to go. Argentina is a big country though, and we’re just taking a quick swipe at it as things are, so it’s time to get back on the road!