Arriving at Ranquilco

We´ve been at Ranquilco now for almost 2 weeks and Im writing a blog entry now to transcribe later so it isnt too overwhelming.

First - our arrival! We took two buses back to back to get from Bariloche to our launching off town of Zapala. The kids were super psyched that our second bus was a double decker a

nd our seats were on top. They showed cheezy early 90s rock videos on the tvs the whole time which was rather surreal. After anight in Zapala we shopped with Ashley (the owner of the ranch) to resupply the ranch and then since there wasnt room in Ashley´s truck we took a 2 hour taxi ride to literally the middle of nowhere. Here´s a photo of the ¨taxi stand¨a shack in a lunar landscape with goat skins and no people, trees, water - nada! We then had to walk 7 kms on a faint dirt track to the ranch´s lower pasture Buta Mallin to meet up with Ashely, 3 others and our horses. We left for the ranch on horseback at 5pm for the 3 hr ride. The kids rode with us and were great sports even though it was pretty uncomfortable for them. At the top of a desolate windy pass we could finally look down on our home for the enxt month. A river winds through the canyons and poplars and willws starting to turn yellow mark the ranch headquarters. The last obstacle was a river crossing that wet our boots then an uphill slog and we were there just as dark falls. The other ranch volunteers welcomed us into our 2 bedroom house and had goat dinner underway for us but the kids fell asleep exhausted before they could eat!!