As the bus ride is about 14 hours, we decided for Hero's sake (mainly!) to go in the most expensive class of travel "cama suite". This is where the seats recline to 180 deg, so effectively you get a sleeper. It was real fancy pants stuff, but made the trip quite bearable (costing AU$150 return per seat compared with $100 for a 'normal' semi-cama 60 deg reclinable seat).
Misiones is sub-tropical and is famed for its ubiquitous orange-brown earth. It has vast tea, yerba (mate - pronounced "ma - te"), and timber plantations that are gradually encroaching on the wilderness. We were heading into the warmer part of the year with lots of rain and insects.
We went to stay two weeks on the Aguapey farm having made arrangements through the WOOF (worldwide organisation of organic farms) network, but really didn't have much idea what kind of work we'd be doing or where we were going except that it was going to be pretty rudimentary. We'd gone to some pains to borrow a tent, buy impermeables, wellies, an inflatable mattress, a sleeping bag, insect repellant, etc, as we'd been told to come prepared for camping! And camping it was!
The farm is a 35 ha property located 4 km down a muddy track on the edge of a regional park. The owners are a young couple, Gol and Andrea, who arrived about a year and half ago with their 3 year old daughter Jara, to try and start up a small self-sufficient ecological farm demonstrating low cost 'appropriate' technologies. Basically trying to show the world that 'another way is possible' to contrast with the highly damaging commercial model of development that reigns supreme in the province. It's not a very economical venture as of yet, so that's where WOOFers come in to help (including a small daily $ contribution towards food, which is technically not part of the WOOF concept, but on seeing the situation, no-one minds). Andrea also goes off to Buenas Aires for part of the year to make some money!
We were very impressed with how hard working, visionary and genial Gol and Andrea are. They are certainly 'living the dream', despite that dream being pretty dispiriting and lonely sometimes.
We helped out tending to the food gardens, doing some mud construction work, preparing food and cleaning, and preparing materials for a rural development workshop that was run for two days at the farm at the end of our stay. Hero hung out with her new found friend Jara. They had great times with much whooping and laughter, and lots of fights too (mainly over territory and things).
Turns out that 'Jara' means "mother of the waters" in the language of the local indigenous people (who also traditionally lived in Brasil), the Guarani. We had been told that 'Indiara' means "water lady" in one of the indigenous languages of Brasil. So looks like these two pumpkins have the same name - go figure! 
Dan's lumpy brow had about 20 mozzie and 'mbariwei' (midges) bites by the end of the stay.
Dan's lumpy brow had about 20 mozzie and 'mbariwei' (midges) bites by the end of the stay.
No its not a low cost satellite dish! It's a very cool solar heater. At midday it takes only a few minutes to boil a kettle of water. Clean and easy energy - very cool! 
A wood-fueled 90 L water heater as used throughout the region. Taking a shower involved first hand pumping water from the spring into storage tanks, then lighting the stove. A little bit involved, but you sure did enjoy the wash! The circular bathroom is made from mud, concrete & straw and boasts a real bath.
The composting toilet - suprising how little of a smell there was. Very nice design.
The outdoor laundry located near to the spring. The strange-looking tower is a water pump. A rope with small plastic cups positioned every 30 cms is drawn into the spring then up through the pipe, where the water is poured out, and then back down again. The water column and venturi effect cause water to be moved along the supply pipe into a storage tank.
Old style wood heaters as we have seen used all through rural Chile and Argentina.
A two-ox power natural machine towing the broken-down 1 tonne ute up the hill!
After a few days of beautiful sunshine, we got our fair share of rain! Hurrah!
Everyone gets a turn on the mate cup. It gets filled with a bit of hot water then passed to someone who sips it until its finished before passing the cup back to start over again!
Dan and the 'chicas de la selva'
Hero making bread...
On the 10th & 11th October a 'Water Issues' awareness and training workshop was hosted by Gol and Andrea. It was the first one they have done, and so they worked very hard to make it a success. The funding came (at the last minute) from the provincial government and helped pay for the two main presentors to attend - a 'appropriate technology' expert from Buenos Aires, and a medical doctor from a neighbouring town. It was advertised by radio and through various personal networks and about 15 people ended up attending. What a great weekend! It revolved around making a simple but highly effective water filter using easy to obtain materials and some 'aguapey' water lilies. This species of lilies was selected by NASA for its space station research as a key part of a closed bio system (filtering water and supplying oxygen). Most of the attendees themselves ran small 'organic' farms or worked with conservation groups and were very content to be together. It was like a weekend with a bunch of people talking about changing the world in 48 hours. For Dan it was pretty stimulating as he *loves* this kind of thing and has always thought about doing this in the Pacific islands.
Dr Juan leading a session on Gaia and the water cycle run in a small clearing in the forest. He later gave a presentation on the healthiness of drinking one's own urine... thoughtful but, we weren't convinced!
Very impressive technology guru Antonio Urdiales Cano and his water filter.
All in all, we had a very rewarding time on the Aguapey farm. The manual work was relaxing and gave room for much reflection. As did the discussions with Gol and Andrea and the great workshop with all the special bods from around Misiones. And did i mention it was all vegetarian!
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