Weekend in the mountains

¡Hola todos!

At some point, this will show up on the Voyager's website, but since there is so much lag time, I'll just post it here as well.

              This past weekend was my first free weekend, so my family took me up to la cabaña (the cabin), and it was amazing. Mamá inherited the cabin from her mom, and it is one of her favorite places to be. I really can’t blame her, the cabin is made of wood and corrugated tin and is a wonderful place to relax and listen to nature.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the outside, but I did remember to at least take a picture from the doorway before we left.

The cabin is amazing and very simple. All of the water is stored in a big tank, and the “spouts” are pipes. The coolest part is that everything is cooked on a wood stove.

In order to reach the cabin, we have to do a lot of off road driving through a cow pasture. The property is fenced off in the middle of the pasture, so there are cows practically in the front yard. According to Tío, one of the cows is pregnant.

Soon after we arrived, it started to rain, but once it stopped, I went on a hike with Mamá, Papá, Abuelo, and Santiago. We stopped at a waterfall, and Mamá took my picture. An interesting aspect of the hike was that Papá used a machete to clear the path of overgrown weeds as well as a fallen tree. Santiago carried a thin stick that he used like a machete.

After our hike, Santi and I searched for worms, and found lots! (look at the leaf)

During dinner Saturday night we were visited by Lobo (Wolf), a local dog who knows that Mamá will feed him. Lobo got a couple of the soup bones as well as the meat from our bowls. Light was provided for the picture by Santiago’s giant flashlight.

  

              Saturday night, I learned that it gets really dark really fast in the mountains. It was pitch black by 6:30, and we ate dinner with the small amount of light provided by the battery to see by. After dinner, we had a campfire and roasted marshmallows, but didn’t make s’mores, I might have to buy some graham crackers and chocolate next time we go to the cabin.

When I woke up Sunday morning, I quickly realized that I had forgotten to put bug spray on my hands before going to bed.  My right hand wasn’t as bad since I used it to rub the bug spray in, but it still got eaten.  At least I put bug spray on my legs, arms, and neck!

Sunday was really rainy, but we were visited by a rooster named Gallina (chicken)

 who ended up coming home with us.

                        

And a blue morpho butterfly, this was the first time I’ve seen one outside of a butterfly garden!

Shortly before we left, Ashley returned from a walk with a friend.

              Sunday afternoon, I had a very new experience, I caught a chicken. This was really big for me because I don’t particularly like live chickens (I prefer them cooked and on my dinner plate). Originally, I was just going to watch Ashley and her friend Allison catch Gallina, but they were having a hard time, and neither particularly wanted to touch him. So I grabbed the bag he would eventually be put in, and used it like a giant glove to catch him, I managed to grab him and then carried him inside, where Abuelo picked him up while I opened the bag. I really wish I had a picture of me holding Gallina, but we had to move quickly, so no photos. We brought Gallina home with us, and Mamá gave him to her sister. Having a chicken in the car was interesting, especially when he tried to escape.

This weekend was amazing, and I can’t wait to go back on my next free weekend!

Hasta luego,

Caylyn Anne