By Maggie Johnson, Oberlin College (Team Condor)
In the last week of February, the students of Team Condor spent their first 72 hours apart in over 40 days. We split into pairs and set off to live a few days in the campo up in the mountains surrounding Cochrane, with hopes to practice our Spanish and learn a bit more about life in the area. Alex and I spent our four days and three nights at Colonia Norte, with our new madre Tato, papa Rene, tia Rina, and Don Carlo – a racehorse trainer from Paraguay.
We arrived to our new home in the early afternoon of February 28th, after bumping around for 5 hours on dirt roads and driving through rivers and lakes left over from heavy rains from the night before. Immediately after opening the truck door, we were greeted by Annie and Harris (the Team Aguila students who were staying at this campo for the days before us) who had big smiles and hugs to share with us – I knew at that moment that we were in for a special time with Tato and René. Annie and Harris introduced us to three month-old puppies who lived in a tree trunk near our tent site, showed us where all of the best fruit trees were, and also brought us over to a baby horse who had passed away the night before due to unknown reasons (this sad sight wasn’t totally shocking because we were warned that one of the students who stayed at this campo last year reported that life on the campo can be tough!). It was quite the introduction, and we hadn’t even met the family yet.
Three of the tree puppies. Photo by Maggie Johnson.
We spent the rest of the afternoon getting to know the family over more maté and milk and Milo as rain fell overhead. We quickly learned that life in the campo revolves around rainfall: if it’s too dry out, there’s not sufficient water to hydrate the horses, and the humans themselves rely solely on soda, wine and fruit nectar. On the other hand, when there’s too much rain, René can’t cross the rivers to work with the horses and sheep. I was amazed that this family had chosen to make their campo so far from potable water – but they chose to sacrifice ease of access in order to live on the land that they preferred, in order to raise racehorses, sheep and crops.
Maggie stands in the horse field, taking in the natural world. Photo by Alex Wuestneck.
On our second day we started work on a fence for the family’s sheep to walk through in order to make it into their pen. Together Alex, René, Don Carlo, and I dug 26 holes – each one 2 feet deep and 3 feet apart – over the course of three days. We sunk a pole into each hole and prepared the area for the fence sides that were to go up after our stay. When we weren’t digging, we were playing cards, dancing to the radio, drinking hot milk, and making fried bread and fruit and rhubarb jams. The rain made it hard to do work outside, but it gave us many opportunities to sit around the wood stove and get to know our hosts.
Alex and René work on the fence posts for the sheep. Photo by Maggie Johnson.
The one thing that the rain couldn’t stop us from doing was heading out to the river to collect 80 gallons of water each day. It was in a moment at the river’s edge crouched in the rain, filling a 5 gallon bucket of water that wasn’t even drinkable until it was boiled that I felt the enormous significance that water has in my life. At home I take showers, wash dishes, drink to my satisfaction, and seldom think about where my water is coming from. In the campo, we collect every drop of water that is used by the family and the animals – making it impossible to ignore the importance of the source of our lives.
Maggie washes rhubarb as René collects water, in a river down the road from the campo. Photo by Alex Wuestneck.
I really enjoyed my experience in the campo – it gave me the opportunity to reflect on my time so far in Chile, and to gain a better understanding of this county’s diverse and rich culture and history. We were dropped into someone else’s world and immediately picked up as if we’d been living in our little green tent on the hill for months. Next week, we will be going to the horse race that Seferino is racing in to experience more of the traditions of Chile, and to see how our family has been getting along without us. I hope to stay in touch with Tato and René even after I have left Chile, and to carry the experiences that I had at their campo with me wherever my adventures will take me next.
Family photo! From left to right: René, Tato, Maggie, Rina, Alex. Photo by Adam Spencer.