[Duke Main]

(04-14-2019 09:38 AM)Spectrumwalker Wrote:  

Duke, if you're interested in Argentina or rural living in South America I would suggest making an account on workaway.info when the time comes and volunteering on a few farms first. Even at your age it doesnt matter, people are happy to have the help. Rural South America is a whole different ball game. I spent time on farms in western Argentina. Beautiful country, but before committing to buying a plot of land to farm on it would behoove anyone to seriously spend some time and see that side of the culture and all of the idiosyncrasies and strangeness that we as Americans leave us scratching our heads in frustration. I'm talking about work ethics, laziness, treatment of animals (horses in Argentina are great, but instead of being terrified, they're Argiefied, heh) theft, people seeing you as a walking dollar sign, people selling their kids off, trash everywhere, incompetent legal system. And just general incompetence all around. On one farm I was at there was a pretty serious fire, and the local fire department wasn't answering their phones! We had to use buckets of pool water. Siesta culture in the pampas is nice, but not always. I knew an Aussie man in Argentina who naiively bought a small farm without even stepping foot in Argentina beforehand. He said it was the greatest single mistake of his life and as far as I know he's still trapped there because no one wanted to buy it.

But not only can you familiarize yourself with a part of the culture many don't see, you can learn your farming skills in the process and have a retirement adventure and make some priceless memories.

God speed.

*Edit...post theme music.

Thank you for the specific info about western Argentina, and for the theme music LOL. I want to check out some smaller towns around Mendoza. Have you read any of Bill Bonner's material. He has a big ranch in a remote corner of Salta province. It sounds like he has some good workers but the problems stem from the indigenous people who want "their" land back. It seems like you could avoid this by having a smaller property closer to civilization but I'd like to get your opinion. I'll check out the volunteer website you mentioned.