I made the trip back to Tigre again this past weekend. But it ended up in a weird mish-mash of communication as a big group of us were originally planning to go, then Leo said he couldn't make it, and then Helena said that if he wasn't going then she wasn't, and so the others were coming because of her... I was still going though and in the end Leo decided he was going to be able to make it... Yeah, see where this is going?
And it may have been for the best as it turns out the rain from last week was still hanging around on the ground and making a mess of things. But, that didn't stop us from getting stuff done! First things first though... we had a new guest in the village. Svenja is from Germany and randomly saw our post up on Couchsurfing.com and decided to come visit with us for the weekend. Sweet! New friends rock!
We needed to have someone watch over us for good luck. Actually, I figure that we needed someone to make sure we kept working and kept a good attitude while at it... So why not Budda! (I think the thing next to him is our super-secret Dharma Initiative Decoder ring.)
Well, we wasted no time this weekend. One of the hard things about sustainable living is fresh water. At current we have to purchase water at the little store on the island or carry it in on the boat from the mainland. Not too cost effective and it gets really annoying lugging that stuff around. And even when you are conscious about your usage and go with the bare minimum you still use a lot! Oi! So, our first major project was to set up the water-collection system, cistern, and get it hooked up to the house. There was previously a pump bringing water up from the river, but it burned out and the setup wasn't quite as good as it should have been. As a result, a lot of things from the back end such as plumbing inside the house and the elevated tank were already set up for us. Our plan was to set up a collection unit on the roof, filter it, and have it piped into the 1000 L cistern that Leo just so happened to have lying around the place. Of course, sounds much easier than it ended up being!
The roof was covered in corrugated tin and has only one slope, so our placement was pretty much chosen for us. But the sheet metal actually did us some good and made our job easier. Cutting down the length of a 3" (I have no clue what size it is in metric) PVC pipe allowed us to spread it enough that it "bit" the edge of the roof and the corrugations made natural openings for the water. We then used the tops of a 1.5L soda bottle for each end and used some mesh to filter out any large debris that makes it into the gutter. Hmm... just realized that there aren't any close ups. Just close shots of my feet.
Me taking a break while Leo takes his time doing something down below...
Trying to get the tank down to the river to wash it out (Remember: we don't have running water yet...)
Slacker making us do all the work...
HA! Your turn now!
Fran y Svenja
It turns out that we had run out of gas for the stove so Leo went to the store and lugged a new one back. Of course after all of that he was unable to get the plug out so it was up to me to get it out with mallet and screwdriver.
(Insert photo of mass explosion and letters being sent off to weeping families.)
Randomly good shot of me explaining some idea or another...
While leo and I were working outside, the ladies used their powers of design and good taste to brighten up the house a bit. Don't ask me where he got them from but Leo had brough a massive bag of random bottles of nail polish. And not just your normal, "appropriate for work" colors but rather your "Lola's getting herself a man!" type of colors. Their canvas: the bathroom door. Their subject: a Swan/Peacock thingy.
And of course, after a long, hard day of work, we needed to refuel. Leo wanted pizza, but I haven't seen a Pizza Hut, Dominos, Papa John's or even a Little Caesars since I came here! Now problem though, Campfire pizza! We made up some quick bread, let it rise, threw it in some circular pans Leo happened to have, cooked them up, sautéed some veggies, added some tomato sauce, and threw in some cheese to melt. Once everything was ready:
YUM! A great end to a long day. But Leo had more ideas in mind... Tomorrow: Cleaning up all of the bottles and trash under the house! *Sigh* No rest for the weary...
Monday, November 15, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Tigre
It turns out that one of our new friends, Leo, here in Baires (new to me) has some land in Tigre, an island suburb north of the city. He's been working on the place and said that we could come stay for the weekend if we would help him out with some things. Score!
In order to get to our destination we need to take the Subte to Retiro station, the train from there to Tigre, and then the shuttle Ferry to the island where Leo's place is. We meet up with him and another friend, Fran, outside the train station up there, get our tickets, and jump on the boat.
The weather was better than perfect (sorry you guys, "winter" down here is the best time of year!) and while the ride was about an hour long, it was plenty enjoyable.
There was a fair or some sort of amusement park on the side of the water... we didn't get too good a shot of it. Sorry. But you can also see that there are a lot of old, run down ships just sitting out there in the water. Go ahead and grab one!
Once we got out of the main waterway though things were starting to look much more peaceful and it actually reminded me of where I used to live in Venice, FL mixed with more nature. Already loving this place!
So, yeah, those pictures do the area no justice. How can you portray that feeling of pure relaxation? After the dock we walked a little ways through the trees to where his land actually sits. Turns out that the island has a lot of houses that people rent out to vacationers for weekend and the such. But Leo has a little bit of a different idea. Let me show you...
As you can see this is not your normal weekend getaway! Leo is a bit of an 'Eco-nerd' and has the idea to create a sustainable community on his land where people can come to work and learn strategies for sustainable management. Staying there is totally free, he just asks the participants to contribute to the community either through donations (money, equipment, supplies, knowledge) and/or by working on the property while there. At current it is still in the development stages but it turns out that was one of the reasons he wanted us to come up... to see if we could get things kick started. And boy, did we! We got the camp site under control, did a bunch of work on both the inside and outside of the house, and laid down plans for future trips back such as trails and clearings in the back pasture, an organic garden, compost pile, rainwater collection unit and cistern, solar water heating unit, and more... all using recycled materials! Leo has a great many very cool ideas for this place...
(This is our improvised door handle...)
The cabin itself is quite small, but when you are looking to get off the grid, small is good!
Along with the ideas that he has for the property, Leo is wanting to network with other likeminded groups and help to spread the ideas and knowledge of sustainability as far as possible so please check out his blog: echo-village.blogspot.com (much of it is in Spanish, but there is some in English and you'll find some great information) or check out the Facebook group "Echo-Village." I am headed back there in just a few minutes to spend another weekend of relaxing work. I hope that everyone else can help do there little part for the planet and this project in any small way possible... even if it is just to send us some 'kudos' or share ideas and information.
Remember kids: 1 Life - Live it, 1 Planet - Love it.
Jumpn2nsanity
In order to get to our destination we need to take the Subte to Retiro station, the train from there to Tigre, and then the shuttle Ferry to the island where Leo's place is. We meet up with him and another friend, Fran, outside the train station up there, get our tickets, and jump on the boat.
The weather was better than perfect (sorry you guys, "winter" down here is the best time of year!) and while the ride was about an hour long, it was plenty enjoyable.
There was a fair or some sort of amusement park on the side of the water... we didn't get too good a shot of it. Sorry. But you can also see that there are a lot of old, run down ships just sitting out there in the water. Go ahead and grab one!
Once we got out of the main waterway though things were starting to look much more peaceful and it actually reminded me of where I used to live in Venice, FL mixed with more nature. Already loving this place!
So, yeah, those pictures do the area no justice. How can you portray that feeling of pure relaxation? After the dock we walked a little ways through the trees to where his land actually sits. Turns out that the island has a lot of houses that people rent out to vacationers for weekend and the such. But Leo has a little bit of a different idea. Let me show you...
As you can see this is not your normal weekend getaway! Leo is a bit of an 'Eco-nerd' and has the idea to create a sustainable community on his land where people can come to work and learn strategies for sustainable management. Staying there is totally free, he just asks the participants to contribute to the community either through donations (money, equipment, supplies, knowledge) and/or by working on the property while there. At current it is still in the development stages but it turns out that was one of the reasons he wanted us to come up... to see if we could get things kick started. And boy, did we! We got the camp site under control, did a bunch of work on both the inside and outside of the house, and laid down plans for future trips back such as trails and clearings in the back pasture, an organic garden, compost pile, rainwater collection unit and cistern, solar water heating unit, and more... all using recycled materials! Leo has a great many very cool ideas for this place...
(This is our improvised door handle...)
The cabin itself is quite small, but when you are looking to get off the grid, small is good!
Along with the ideas that he has for the property, Leo is wanting to network with other likeminded groups and help to spread the ideas and knowledge of sustainability as far as possible so please check out his blog: echo-village.blogspot.com (much of it is in Spanish, but there is some in English and you'll find some great information) or check out the Facebook group "Echo-Village." I am headed back there in just a few minutes to spend another weekend of relaxing work. I hope that everyone else can help do there little part for the planet and this project in any small way possible... even if it is just to send us some 'kudos' or share ideas and information.
Remember kids: 1 Life - Live it, 1 Planet - Love it.
Jumpn2nsanity
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