Day 6: Tuesday, March 25, 2025
By Jason and Nolan
I (Jason) woke everyone up at around 6:45 a.m. Like yesterday, breakfast was served at around 8:00 a.m. Breakfast consisted of many things, including some toasted white bread, jams, juices, water, beautifully scrambled eggs, some cereals, and a variety of fruits. Personally, I ate 5 slices of bread, some cereal, and some scrambled eggs.
After breakfast, we had a brief Meeting for Worship (MFW) for 15 minutes starting at 8:48. The query was, “In what ways have you seen Quaker values or traditions in practice in Argentina?” Following the MFW, the team leaders of the day (Aashi, Kieran, and Sophia) led the AMPing up session, involving preparation for the day to come. After the AMPing up, we packed and left on our bus at 9:20, planning on driving to and visiting a Mapuche community close to El Bolsón.
The bus ride took approximately 20-30 minutes, with another 30-40 minutes of walking on a path uphill to finally reach the community. The first thing that let us know we had arrived at the Mapuche community was the sound of bleating goats and sheep. As we crested the ridge of the path, we finally got our first look. There were a few buildings, a garden, and cleared land for pasturing.
We met Fernando, the local community/area leader. As our instructor Jeremy said, “If you want to get anywhere or do anything, be a friend of Fernando.” Fernando used to be a park ranger when he was younger and transitioned to sustenance/local farming and livestock management in 2011. That year, he started building his home, garden, and pasture. The land he built on has been in his family since the late 1800s, and Fernando himself is the third generation of his family. Fernando proudly told us that the entire community in the area of over 40 families over 1200 hectares of land were all descendants of 8 original people.
Fernando went into much detail about what he did and the background behind it. For most families in the region, sustenance farming was their staple up until the 1970s, when logging and forest management become increasingly popular. Now, it is a backbone for income. Fernando specified that the wood sold was usually used as either firewood or specialized smoking wood meant for the smoking of fish or for making jerky. This wood, along with other wares such as berries, wool, manure, and meat, are brought down the mountain to be sold in El Bolsón. Additionally, this opportunity allows the Mapuche to buy items in town. Another source of income that no longer is done was small scale mining for limestone. A fun fact Fernando provide was that the limestone plastering of the oldest building in El Bolsón (the post office) was mined at their old small-scale limestone mine.
After talking about himself, his community, and their history, we had the opportunity to ask questions. I asked about how the Dirty War had affected Fernando’s community. Fernando had been young and in boarding school in El Bolsón when the dictatorship was established and the Dirty War started. He said that while his Mapuche community specifically wasn’t affected, he knew people in town who had been affected. Additionally, because he went to boarding school in town, all public institutions were affected, no matter how far from the dictatorship they were.
Another question that was asked was from Jaya, asking about the effects of the recent (2017, 2021) forest fires and climate change. Fernando noticed that in the last 10 years, the plants he has been growing have needed more water to survive, mainly because the soil dries up faster and can’t hold as much water as before. Additionally, the hottest summer day used to be in the 70s-80s range of degrees, but now an average summer day can go as high as 90 degrees and hotter days exceed 100 degrees. This had all led to an increase in thunderstorms, leading to an increase in forest fires.
Nolan asked about the causes of forest fires, to which Fernando responded that climate change induced thunder storms, human negligence, and possible intentional lighting. Fernando mentioned the possibility of people intentionally lighting fires because there has been increased economic interest in the area and Patagonia in general. The way protected forest designation works in Argentina is that if a protected native forest burns down, the land loses its protected status. There is a possibility people are burning forests down to eliminate the protected status and get the land up for sale, however this is just a theory to be taken with a grain of salt.
After all questions were asked, the group went on a hike for around an hour and a half, stopping at two different viewpoints. One viewpoint gave a view of the valley, where both healthy and burned forest were visible. For most in the group, this was the first real good look of Patagonia they got. Many people sunbathed and took pictures. The next viewpoint gave a view of El Bolsón, which looked a lot smaller than views of Bariloche, but that may have just been because you could only see a portion of the city.
After the hike, we said our goodbyes to Fernando and his community, walked back to the bus, and left for the hostel by around 1:30 p.m. We arrived and had lunch at the hostel at around 2:10 p.m. Lunch included whole wheat bread, roasted and seasoned zucchini, Hake Milanesa fish (similar to cod, a very common fish meal in Argentina), and mashed potatoes.
At 3:10 p.m., once lunch was finished, we took the bus to Tierra Viva, and we arrived there at 3:30 p.m. Tierra Viva used to be a farm from around 1940-1960, but was eventually abandoned and became a rural living project to prevent and fight forest fires as well as support those affected by them that may have lost their homes. This community effort featured various projects, including the construction of many homes, the growing and selling of vegetables like tomatoes, the usage of medicinal plants, and the creation of an “alternative school” for young children.
Our guide Jeremy and his partner Lina were major contributors to Tierra Viva, and we talked with them about a recent fire that had occurred on January 30 this year that had devastated the forest and crossed the river onto the paved road. Unfortunately, this had caused the destruction of many of the new homes that were being built as well as the alternative school. Then, Jeremy gave us a tour of the living projects going on to restore these places, where we saw the houses being built, the garden, the beehive, and the school playground. We also talked to a few of the people working on these projects and munched on some delicious apples that had fallen from a tree.
At 6:00 p.m., we commenced on an activity to make “seed bombs” that would be used to protect seeds from detrimental factors such as wind, fire, and animals that may eat them. When it rains, the seeds would germinate. To make these, we mixed clay and earth with various types of seeds like cypress seeds, getting our hands very dirty in the process. Once these seed balls were formed, we walked to a burnt area in the forest and placed them on the ground separately as the sun set.
Eventually, we said our goodbyes to the Tierra Viva community and took the bus back to the hostel, arriving at 7:40 p.m. We relaxed for the night, eating dinner, holding our daily “anchor” session, playing games, and enjoying ourselves around the campfire. At 11:15 p.m., we went to bed.