Argentina Cattle

Argentina is big into beef production. We had the opportunity to be at a beef producers place to watch him work some of his Red Angus cattle through the chute. He was applying an insecticide to cattle for the treatment of insects. After we were done we then went to his ranch house for a delicious meal and an after lunch rest in a shady hammock.

We also toured the largest cattle auction in Argentina. The day we were there they were selling 270 kg. grass fattened steers ready for slaughter. They slaughter their animals a lot smaller than we do because of the lack of feed and if they grew them out to full size you would not be able to chew the meat. Our calves are heavier than that in the fall when we wean them from the cow and then we feed them to a market weight of 500-600 kg. Because we give our cattle lots of good feed they grow faster and are more tender.

We also visited a leather coat factory that made real nice custom leather coats. Elna and her friend Evelyn both bought new jackets. We stopped at the factory at about 6:30 Saturday eve. at which time they measured everyone purchasing jackets. At 2:00 pm. Monday afternoon they arrived a our hotel with about 25 new hand made jackets custom fit for people on our tour. Considering that they don't work on Sunday and that we were not the only group buying coats that evening that seemed to be an impressive feat. Shelley also ordered one but they got the measurements wrong and immediately refunded her money back to her. If it wasn't that we were heading off to the airport in about an hour they would of just made her a new one that same day.

Argentina Soybeans

Soybeans are the biggest field crop in Argentina. One of reasons for this is the Argentinian government has a "cheap food policy" and politically forces down the price of any crop grown for human or cattle feed. This means if they grow wheat they don't get paid much, probably near or below the cost of production.

Soybeans are an export crop so they are sold on the Chicago Stock exchange at the world price. The government does tax the farmer 35% of his crop before regular taxes. Even so they still grow soybeans. These beans are all GMO soybeans and also require fewer crop inputs than other crops. This cheap food policy is why they have no feed for their cattle as they can't make money growing feed grain.

The downside with this whole program is it skews the supply and demand cycle and even though there is demand for wheat hardly anyone grows wheat.

Also they ending up flooding the world market with cheap soybeans especially during their harvest period when all the farmers are selling as they need the money.

Concepcion to Santiago

After our day at the No Till School we loaded on our tour bus and head back to Santiago the capital city of Chile.

After leaving Carlo's farm yesterday we drove by a grain field that was cut and put into stooks similar to what my Great Grandfather did in the early 1900's. The only difference was these were all done by hand and my Great Grandfather had a binder that was pulled by a team of horses. This field had recently been taken out of the forest and still had 2 foot tree stumps spread throughout the field so I am sure this was why everything was done by hand. It is interesting to see the vast differences in production methods in this country.

On our way back we stopped at a John Deere dealership. It was quite a change to see nice new shiny tractors, as we sure hadn't seen any in the country. The one thing we noticed was the lack of used equipment at the dealership meaning once they sell an item it goes to the farm and stays there.

No Till School

After some long days on the bus today we have a short one hour drive to a farm operated by Carlos Crovetto and his brother. Carlos has been a very strong advocate of no till farming. He has spoken all over the world and was in Edmonton just a couple of years ago. He even has a classroom set up right on his farm complete with thank you plaques from no-till associations all over the world.

Upon arrival Carlos insisted on meeting each one of us individually and introducing himself to us.

We spent the entire day on the farm in the classroom and in the field. We even took our brand new bus out to the field much to the drivers dismay.

One of stops was at his brothers farm who has a collection of Mercedes Benz cars. He probably has 20 or 30 of all vintages and styles, all stored in a beautiful building.

We went to one of his other farms where they were combining. We even got a chance to get grain dust down our necks while watching the combines work.

After the tour we went to Concepcion for the night, before the long drive the next day back to Santiago.

Santiago to Chilean

Up at 6:15 and drove all day with the exception of a few rest stops on the way to Chilean. Finally got to our hotel by 9:00 PM. After getting into our hotel decided to go to a grocery store, check out the produce and buy some bottled water. We had not eaten dinner yet so we went to the local pizzeria. The place was right full of customers and we were tired so the 6 of us just ordered the pizza to go and ate it in one of our rooms.

When visiting with other people in our group they were asking if we had felt the earthquake tremor of about 4.5. We were in the grocery store at the time and hadn't felt a thing. The locals were unconcerned but for an Alberta boy this was something new.

**Note. This is the same town that the on the 27 of February, 2010 had a very devastating 8.8 earthquake that has killed 700+ people. We also stayed a night in the city of Concepcion, toured the port of Valparaiso and spent a few nights in Santiago. All these places were badly effected by this earthquake. So tragic for all those people and their families.

National Election day in Chile

National election day in Chile today. Every person of eligible voting age is required to vote in this country or you are assessed a monetary fine. If you don't pay your fine you can't cash your pay check, register your car, renew your drivers license, or a myriad of other inconveniences. Needless to say every one that is registered has to vote, although there are a few unregistered citizens. Can you imagine how that system would be in Canada or the United States.

Today we did a city bus tour and then we walked down to a local park for a while. Because of the election all the stores were closed, a lot of the town square was closed and as a result the city was quite quiet.

This evening we went to a fancy restaurant for dinner. On election day no alcohol can be sold or served, but because this was a private function and we are not Chilean citizens we were allowed to have wine with our dinner. Weren't we lucky!!

Planes Trains and Automobiles Today

Got to sleep in till 6:15 today as we have another overnight flight to Chile tonight. Caught the train for breakfast and a nice 2 hour ride down the Sacred Valley to the nearest road that a tour bus could navigate.

We then bused up to the top of the valley (12,300 feet elevation) and drove through highland agriculture fields. Most everything is done by hand or oxen although there are a few small tractors, which are not common.

We saw a lot of animals on our trip with most of them being tethered rather than having the expense of a fence. As we drove by a dairy farm the farmer and his family were out in the pasture milking cows by hand with pails and stools.

After our bus ride back to Cuzco we caught an evening flight back to Lima. We then caught a night flight to Santiago, Chile. After a grueling immigration (I don't think they like tourists) we arrived at our hotel at 4:20 AM. Thank goodness our wake up call isn't till 10:30 AM.

**Note: Just 1 week after we did our train ride in and out of Machu Picchu the rain came down and the mud slides started which washed out the train tracks. The Military had to use helicopters to fly food in and some 2000+ stranded people out of Machu Picchu. Weren't we lucky!!!

Machu Picchu

Up at 5:30 AM, after breakfast took a 3 hour train ride down the river valley to Machu Picchu
Spent the day touring this 14 th century site. It is hard to believe what they did back then without any equipment, only their bare hands and a few crude tools.

It is interesting that the reason they built this huge infrastructure was to feed themselves as it rained up in the mountains but not down at the coast. On top of each of the terraces was soil brought in from somewhere as there is no soil like this anywhere close. Today the only way in is by train, back then they had to hike up the mountain trails with a basket of soil on their back.

Cusco and John's Birthday

After a long drive yesterday, a late night last night and an early wake up call at 5:15, breakfast,bags packed, and on the bus by 6:45. Today we head back to the airport for a short flight to Cusco.

We have been taking altitude sickness pills for a couple of days as it is very high here 11,500 feet.
Once in Cusco we arrive at our hotel for a local Inca traditional show while waiting for our rooms to be ready. The altitude sure makes you feel weak so we rested before our afternoon of touring the city.

I spoke to the tour director and asked him if he could do something for John's birthday. That evening we went to a lovely buffet meal that served all sorts of local delicacies. There was a live band singing and playing local instruments. Between songs they announced that it was Johns birthday and the waiters brought him a large birthday cake to share with everyone on the tour (41 of us). They have a custom in Peru that at the end of the happy birthday song the waiter drops 4 or 5 metal pizza plates on the floor right behind John. Needless to say it scared the tar out of him.

Touring Peru Asparagus Fields

Up this morning for breakfast at the hotel. On the bus at 7:45 and off to tour the countryside.

The big reason for Elna and I going on this tour was that we were going to tour an asparagus farm and today was our lucky day.

After a few hours of driving we finally got to the farm. The farm is surrounded by a tall wall and a thorny hedge row to keep people out. After waiting at the gate for a short while, a vehicle escort lead us through the fields up to the owners residence.

The owner pictured with us above was the former Minister of Agriculture of Peru. He was very well spoken with very good English, which is much better than getting the interpreter's version of the question or answer.

The owners met us as we arrived and were very cordial and invited us in to their yard by the pool which sits just outside a large and very nice home. They offered us cool Peruvian drinks and appetisers. The owner then spoke about his farm. He soon figured out that we were asparagus growers from Canada and was very forthcoming with information of how they produce their asparagus.

We did ask him a lot of questions and received a lot of answers. Some of the interesting facts were that they harvest 3 times in 2 years, the wages they pay their staff are $8.00 to $10.00 for a long day of work.

They do air freight some asparagus to Los Angeles, but because of the cost they usually ship by boat. He was quite pleased with the fact that he could get his product from the packing plant to Los Angeles in 13 to 14 days. After that it is trucked to the final destination even if it is Calgary Alberta. Certainly different than on our farm, if our product is 3 days old we are panicking and making it into pickles, soup or some other way of preserving the crop.

The climate in Peru is quite warm, but it hardly ever rains so all the water, fertilizer, and even pesticides are fed to the plant through the irrigation. The other thing is they have warm nights which allows the asparagus to grow all night where ours stops growing in the cool nights and instead forms sugars in the plants, hence a sweeter product.

During our stay in Peru we did have asparagus at several of our meals (even asparagus pizza), but maybe we are biased but we felt ours was much superior.

We did learn a lot, now we know why ours is better.

This farm among other crops produces table grapes. There was a crew doing a final picking or cleanup of the vineyard and we did get a chance to pick and eat fresh table grapes and I have to admit they were better than the ones transported to Canada from Peru.

Arriving in Peru

Very nice flight on LAN airlines. It was certainly a change from the US airline we last flew on. We were allowed carry-ons, were served an evening meal and breakfast. Complementary wine in a glass wine glass. The cutlery was real metal, not cheap plastic, and a very accommodating staff. Even all our bags made it to Peru with us.

We arrived in Lima Peru at 5:30 AM, got our bags, went through immigration, and loaded on our tour bus. This was a brand new bus with only 2000 or 3000 km. on it, it even still smelled new.


We then did a city tour, went for a nice buffet breakfast, before getting to our hotel at 11:30 AM.
Our rooms weren't ready so they were offering complimentary drinks while we waited. Once we got our rooms we could freshen up. We then caught our bus for the ride to the National University. This university has an extensive agriculture program so we were lectured on potatoes, grain crops and assorted other ag. topics.

Once leaving the university we went one of the most prestigious Gastronomy schools in South America for a short cooking class, a tour of the facilities, and for a dinner cooked by the chefs and students of the school.

Back to the hotel by 11:15. Wake up call tomorrow at 6:15, so off to bed we go.

Touring Florida

Up early this morn for the continental breakfast at the hotel.

The big news on the television this morning was the freezing temperatures they were experiencing in Florida. It was freezing the citrus crops, and many of the vegetables.

Our plane doesn't leave till 11:30 tonight, so we plan on seeing the state of Florida today. (should be no problem as it's not near as big as Alberta)

After breakfast the 6 of us drove west of the city into the everglades where we took a 45 minute everglade tour on an air boat. It was a little cool but we were used to it.

We then drove around the outskirts of Miami till we found a fruit stand, U-pick operation. We stopped bought some fruit, picked some frozen strawberries, and toured other vegetable crops.

Next we drove down to the Florida keys to see what they we all about. We stopped at a seafood restaurant for late lunch and then headed back to the city. Elna and I knew of a neat fruit stand out in the country that we found last year, so we stopped there on the way back. They were doing a live TV report about the frost when we got there.

We then headed back to the hotel for our bags as we had checked out before we left this morn. We then drove to a Mexican restaurant where we met a friend of Rod and Shelly's for supper.

Then off to the airport to pick up my suitcase, which had just came in from Houston. I opened it to get a few things out of it, including my laptop and my carry on bag. (See yesterdays picture)

We then checked in and met up with the rest of our new friends.

Our flight leaves at 11:30 PM tonight, so if we want to sleep tonight it has to be on the plane.

Off to South America

Today we left for our 2 week farm tour to South America. At 9 AM our neighbors and good friends Rod and Shelly Bradshaw stopped by the farm to give a ride to the airport. They are 2 of the 6 of us from Innisfail that are going to tour South America for the next 2 weeks. Also touring with us were our friends and neighbors John and Corry Buyks.

With the recent bomb scares happening down east airport security was extremely tight. This meant no carry on bags. They even refused Shelley to board the plane because her purse was too big. Luckily she had a large wallet that could serve as a purse and she was allowed to put her purse in her suitcase. Elna had a small purse and had no trouble. Rod and John had small little packs (razor case and small bag) that they took. I thought I was smarter than the rest and checked everything in my suitcase.

We eventually left Calgary and after a quick connection in Houston Texas we arrived in Miami at 10:30 PM. This is great, grab our suitcases, go to the rental car agency to get our car, drive to the hotel, have supper and the day will be done.

Only one small detail, my suitcase was still in Houston, and I was in Miami. The airline promised me it would arrive around noon tomorrow. The joke was I was going to have to borrow Elna's toothbrush and sleep in the nude.

After getting the rental car and getting to the Hotel we were checking in and right in front of us was our friends from Edmonton that we knew were coming on the tour but didn't know where they were staying or when where they were staying. What a small world!!

After going for supper and back to the hotel for bed at 2:00 AM. Miami time.