Our next stop was Estancia Santa Cecilia outside of Candelaria, Misiones. We only spent the day at the estancia. It is another lovely and historic place to visit. We started with horseback riding.
The second stop on our adventure was Estancia Santa Inés, just outside of Posadas, Misiones. It was one of our splurges, so I only felt comfortable spending one night there. When I saw Estancia Santa Inés on the Ruta de la Yerba Mate, I thought it looked like a cool place. Once I realized that it was the former home of Pedro Núñez, I decided that we had to visit. Pedro Núñez was a very important figure in early 20th century Argentine yerba mate. A Spanish immigrant, Núñez arrived in Misiones in 1888 when he was 21 years old to work in commerce and the wood and yerba mate industry with his half brother (at this time, yerba mate was harvested from trees in the wild). Núñez was very successful with both shipping and yerba mate. He had important yerba mate processing facilities and bridged both the periods of harvesting wild yerba mate trees and the cultivation of yerba mate on plantations. Getting off the airplane in Posadas, we immediately felt the difference from Buenos Aires. It was very hot, but nowhere near as hot as Phoenix in the summer, and it was really humid. Everyone had warned me about Misiones in the summer so I knew what I was getting into. We arrived in Posadas around 2:00pm, got our car, and made our way to the center to find something to eat for a late lunch. We immediately encountered a major difference from the rest of the places we had visited in Argentina. Everything was closed! All stores and businesses close for siesta, between approximately 12:30 and 4:00 in Misiones. We stopped to eat at the first place we could find: an empty hot dog store. I never eat hot dogs but I willingly decided to do so because I knew that we wouldn't have many options at around 3:00pm and everyone was hungry. The other big difference, especially from Patagonia, was the price. All four of us had hot dogs and drinks for around $10 when in Patagonia we could rarely feed even one of us for $10. We then drove a little over an hour to Gobernador Virasoro, Corrientes to visit Establecimiento Las Marías, the largest yerba mate producer in Argentina. Several months prior, a friend had put me in contact with the author of Caá Porã (a book about yerba mate) who is also a member of the family that owns Establecimiento Las Marías. He invited me to visit the company, so this was the first stop on our trip. Our two days at Establecimiento Las Marías were jammed packed. We had an amazing visit. I am very grateful to the company for being so generous with both their time and information. I had interview after interview with employees and some of the owners, and I toured many different aspects of the production process. The experience was extremely informative. Not only did I learn a lot, our entire family participated in the general tours offered by Establecimiento Las Marías for tourists. If you happen to be in the region, I highly recommend a visit to Establecimiento Las Marías. You'll learn a lot about yerba mate, the company, and have an enjoyable excursion. B and John search for something in our luggage. Packing everything in 2 big duffel bags and 3 backpacks for 6-weeks was a challenge. Sushi folding (rolling each item like a sushi roll - thanks, Jodie) was a help. I also tried to separate the boys' clothes and toys into one duffel and my clothes and research materials into the other duffel. Traveling with our own rental car, and generally staying in one place for about a week, made organization a bit easier. These six weeks in the provinces of Misiones and Corrientes were one of the craziest parts of our crazy year in South America. I use the term "crazy" because my family and I have a very comfortable life in Phoenix and it is crazy to leave all of that behind to move to South America for a year. Arranging for the move (putting everything in storage, renting our home, finding a new home, finding a school, etc.) took a ton of work and time, and then we didn't know how everything would pan out in South America. Fortunately everything worked out really well: we moved into a great apartment, enrolled the boys in a good school, made Argentine friends, and comfortably settled into life in Buenos Aires. Of course, we experienced ups and downs: John travels a lot for work, our apartment needed some repairs, and we missed important events at home (especially of note was the baptism of John's nephew, H). The 6-week trip to Misiones and Corrientes was even more crazy because not only did the boys and I leave our comfortable life in Buenos Aires for the unknown, there was significantly greater risk that things could go wrong. I only had rough plans for my work so my research could fall apart; the boys had no planned activities other than 3-hours of swim camp for 4 days and I wasn't bringing any screens to keep them occupied; my father was planning to join us but he had the potential of being more work than help; and I wasn't sure of the quality of the various places where we would be staying as we traveled throughout the region. Despite the craziness, we took the plunge. Upon arriving in Posadas, I immediately invested a significant amount of money (almost $1,400 for the 6-week car rental). Barring an emergency, there was no turning back.
My vision for the trip was two part. First, it was a research trip. This year I am on a sabbatical from Arizona State University to research yerba mate for a book project. In Argentina, yerba mate grows in Misiones and Corrientes and is processed there. Even though I am a historian and my project does not deal directly with yerba mate in the present, I don't feel that a yerba mate research project would be complete without spending some time in the region where yerba mate is produced. I hoped to learn more about the history of yerba mate, but also to see firsthand how yerba mate is grown, harvested, processed, and packaged. I wanted to meet with yerba mate companies, yerba mate growers, yerba mate laborers, and government officials who work with yerba mate. I brought my kids on the trip because I wanted them know more about my research and to learn about yerba mate with me. Before arriving in Misiones/Corrientes, I had made vague arrangements to meet with some people. I hoped that everything would work out. It was a bit risky because my visit was during summer vacation when many people were on holidays. My second goal for the research trip was personal. I wanted to get out of the city, experience another part of Argentina, have some adventure, and do all of this with my kids. Buenos Aires is an incredible place and it will always be a special place for me but our life here is one of privilege and isn't representative of all of Argentina. I'm familiar with Paraguay (which borders Misiones, and shares many similarities) because of the two years that John and I spent there as Peace Corps volunteers, and I wanted to share some of that experience with my boys. For those of you who haven't visited the province of Misiones, the scenery is beautiful. The land is called tierra colorada (red soil), and indeed, the dirt is red. The abundant, lush greenery contrasts with the red red soil. It would be hot (it's the middle of summer) and humid. The frequent rainstorms would be loud and violent. We would spend just over a week in the capital city of Posadas, and the rest of our time would be in smaller towns. There wouldn't be all of the conveniences of Buenos Aires in Misiones/Corrientes (even in Posadas). Life would be slower and the culture would be different. When the rental car attendant in Posadas explained why the region is called "tierra colorada" to F, she said that the term "colorada" is used instead of "roja" because Misiones has more in common with Brazil or Paraguay than the rest of Argentina. I wanted the boys to experiences these differences, and to deal with discomfort, and to adapt. I wanted the boys to have unscheduled time - no summer camp - and to figure out ways entertain themselves. The biggest risk was that I wasn't taking an I-pad, computer, or X-box. They wouldn't be able to use video games as an escape when they were bored and I wouldn't be able to bribe them with screen time. I knew John supported me with this research project but his participation would be limited. He couldn't work from rural Misiones/Corrientes - the Internet connections would be too slow and unreliable - and he had already taken about 3 weeks of vacation in southern Argentina. I also doubt that he was very interested in 6-weeks of adventure. I planned for him to join us for only about a week, and for some of the most comfortable parts of the adventure. Traveling with the boys would be a challenge but fortunately I wasn't alone. When I started planning this trip months in advance, my 75 year-old father (Gramps) expressed interest in joining us. Until he bought his ticket, I wasn't sure if Gramps would actually make the trip. I was quite happy that he did. Not only could he serve as the boys' guardian while I was away working, he would be our traveling companion. It would be a great opportunity for all of us to spend quality time together, and the boys would hopefully develop a relationship with him. We don't have many extended family members (my mother died a couple years ago and I don't have any siblings; John's family lives far away) and we don't see them that often. While Gramps's participation had the potential to be great, there was also the risk that it could go wrong: my kids can be a challenge and my dad is unique too. As you'll see from the rest of my posts about the trip, it was largely a success. I gathered a ton of great research material; the boys learned a lot about yerba mate (and they drink it, too); we experienced a different part of Argentina and adapted; the boys entertained themselves and survived without video games for most of the 6-weeks; our relationship with Gramps grew; and we survived without getting dengue! On the downside, the boys watched more television than I would have liked (and, they learned how to change the language on the cartoons from Spanish to English); we spent more time indoors than I would have liked; and Gramps got pneumonia. |
Corrientes & Misiones - Jan./Feb. 2016
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