Making chai and love in Nirvana

This is me Nadedge (chief chai chica) and Fay in our homely little chai bar. Below are a just a few tokens of life at the festival as seen from inside and outside of the chai bar!

Making chai, coffee, tea and hot water for Mate, very important activities in the chai bar, as well as maintaining a constant supply of snacks and sweet breads were also readily available for purchase. Tenemos miel si quieres!

Drum lesson in the peaceful surroundings of the chillout stage zone where the chai bar was conveniently located. Great for quick dancing breaks during our shifts. In addition to this much fun was had dancing whilst inside the chai bar.

Muchos amigos de Chai. A happy haven for people to come and rest their danced out main stage feet and chat to the lovely welcoming chai chicas. We had lots of friends.
Psychedelic colours from the main floor. The stages were constructed of all natural materials like wood and bamboo and decorated with lots of stones, bones, hand crafted decorations and statuettes.

Bar friends, we had friends in all the right places!They made great refreshing smoothies as well as serving artesan beers for post work drinkies.
Firedancing from the opening ceremony of the festival. Everyone has a talent.
The chillout zone stage set in amongst the trees, next to the river and complete with hammocks and chill areas and a great line-up of performers.
A little walk along the river took you to the ´beach´ an area of the river where you could swim and which had a little sandy bank to take a siesta in the shade. Ideal when you needed a break!
We always encouraged dancing and spontaneous playfulness at the chai bar!

my arm smells of goat

Yesterday me and Fay, another wwoofer used our free day to take a trip to the close by Tunuyan landmark of Manzano Historico. We did quite a bit of hiking but also made use of friendly passes by to hitch hike back to the pueblo when we got a bit tired and realised we definitely didnt have enough time to make it back in time for the bus! While back in town, we also bumped into some other wwoofers who had moved on. A spanish couple, Tony and Lia and their cute little naked baby daughter L´Arrel (which means root in Catalan) who are now working at a farm with goats and using the milk to make dulce de leche. We went to see the farm and Tony showed us how to milk which a rather interesting experience and reminded me of the SATC episode when Samantha sprays herself in the face with cow milk haha Anyways tomorrow I am off to another farm close by before Fay and I venture on towards Mendoza where we are going to be volunteering at festival in the mountains called Nirvana. It is focusing on permaculture, sustainable living, natural food, yoga, reiki etc as well as having a large array of music acts ranging from electronic to sci trance to chillout. It is set in a peaceful location in the mountains of Cordoba and is hoping to be a no-trace festival by encouraging people to take all their rubbish, bring plates and glasses (to eliminate throw away utensils), not use any soaps/shampoos (biodegradable and friendly products will be available there), as well as composting toilets. Needless to say i am rather excited! I think we will be working in the restaurant while we are there and maybe also in the Smoothie & Chai Bar, pretty ideal one might say. I´ll let you know how it goes!

¿Porque no?

So here are some photos from where i am currently wwoofing! I have spent most of my time working on this casa de barro, mostly working on the interior walls, which are now nearly all complete with their final layer of a rich clay colour natural paint mix. I have had a great time here in Tunuyan. I spent Christmas with the other volunteers at the next door farm Huerta de Vida where we had a mexican feast including mole, eggnog and sugar biscuits! New years was a big dinner celebration with all the community here where a big table full of family, friends and wwoofers enjoyed a feast of homemade goodness. Ramon, a friend of Jorge and Azu stayed with us at Madre Tierra for a few days and we helped him cook up a great stew of sweetcorn, pumkpin, tomato salsa, garlic, onion and multiple spices called something like Humito, a traditional Inca hotpot! We cooked it up in a huge pan on a parilla afuera and it was perfect for a slightly chilly cloudy day.