WWOOF it in Northern Patagonia, Chile

My new friend Ricardo fishing along the river in El Tranquilo region

Waddle Walk Onto Octupi Feet. Whisk White Oreos On Frosting. Whisper When Old Onomatopoeia Farts

Or… World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.  

We arrived to a city that doesn't even appear on most Chilean maps. Palena, Chile. 2 hours by bus from Futalefu, one of the world's greatest rafting rivers. And Palena? Quietly famous to some millionaires for fly fishing.

In only a few days, I've learned so much about fish (from some scientists/locals/pescadores that my head is about to explode and all I want to eat is trout and salmon.

• Did you know that rainbow trout, trucha arcoiris, are a non-native species of fish? They should only be in tributaries from the Pacific in parts of N. America and Asia. Yet, they are found around the world for sport. 

• Rainbow trout kill out native fish. Only ever caught trout? They've killed off any other fish that should be there!

But I'm here to WWOOF it. After 2 whole days on the river watching fly fishing, crossing rivers with little rapids and big rocks, and taking (and eating) fresh plums from any plum tree I see, I finally WWOOFed today. 

Mom, you'd be SO proud. I was taking weeds, malas hierbas, out for 2 or 3 hours in an organic garden. BUT. Earwigs were everywhere. They are like the cockroaches of Patagonia. EWE. Ugh. I think they are crawling all over me when I go to bed. They aren't. I imagine them creeping up on me. 

Sarah brushed one off my neck. Thank YOU. 

I learned about letting a plant "go to seed" and taking its seeds, to plant next season. Tia and I took some legume seeds today and then… I learned how to plant lettuce. Planted about 10 fragile seedlings today with Sarah, Monica and Tia. Baby lettuce is so cute. 

Being in the garden, getting my hands dirty and working where I am doing my free "grocery shopping" was marvelous. Everyone should have a garden. Why not?

If watermelon can grow in the harsh weather of Patagonia, YOU can figure out how to plant ___?___.