Friday, February 4, 2011

On Always Being a Guest: Days and Nights in Rio Serrano


Should I wipe of off the table?  I ask myself.  Or sweep the floor? 

Adita, the house grandmother, continues to sandpaper the top surface of an old wood-burning stove without looking up.  There are dishes in the sink, I could wash a few dishes, I think to myself.  Settling on dishwashing, I attack the pile in the sink, scrub sheep grease off dirty plates with hot water and soap, and leave the steaming pile to air-dry.  Maybe it doesn’t matter to her if I help with any of it, but as a constant semi-guest in the house, I feel obligated to look for small ways to continually be helping out.

It is interesting living up at Rio Serrano.  Interesting is the best, though rather non-descript, word I can find to contain the complexities of life up here.  An explanation of the dynamics must be preceded with the characters in this play:

Me (Andria): visitor/part-time horse guide and English-speaking representative
Aniseto Astorga: husband of Adita, 70+ yro., illiterate, grew up in the “campo” - countryside
Adita Astorga: wife of Aniseto; went to school until age 12, has lived in Rio Serrano since
Holmen: oldest son of Aniseto and Adita and has two children: Holmen Jr. and Bastian
Gonzalo: second son; married to Victoria
Victoria (Vicky): from England, wife of Gonzalo; they met 5 years ago when she came on vacation for a horse riding trip and Gonzalo was one of the gauchos
Holmen Jr. (“Gordo”): 11 year old son of Holmen, up in Rio Serrano now for summer vacation
Nicolas: 10 year old nephew of Gonzalo/Holmen; cousin to Holmen Jr.
Bastian (“Bastie”): 4 year old son of Holmen
The Neighbors:  anyone ranging for cousins to visitors in the nearby hotels
The Passengers (“Los Pax”): people who come for horse rides or are camping
Miscellaneous House Guests (2-6 at a time): random family and friends that show up unannounced that stay for varied periods of time

Horses (~30): mix of Criollo/Thoroughbred/Percheran/Quarter Horse crosses that make up a herd of tourist horses, working horses, and a few foals and youngsters yet to be trained
Sheep (~40):  a band of nearly 40 ewes, with fewer and fewer lambs every week as the corderos are eaten for asados (barbecued lamb)
Cattle (~150): Hereford/Angus crosses for meat
Dogs (20+?): assorted collection of mutts that help on occasion to move the cattle
Cats (3):  scavenge food, fight with the dogs and the chickens
Kittens (8?): they are hard to count, always hiding under the house)
Chickens + 1 Rooster: ~13, depending on how many the dogs have killed recently

A mixture of Chilean hospitality, very informal job expectations, and landing up with a family that communicates very informally (family time often consists of sitting silently on the couch and staring out the window, or sitting on the same couch and using binoculars to spy on the neighbors, inspect the new truck from Hotel Rio Serrano, or simply see who is coming up and down the main road) had made for a rather interesting time up in Rio Serrano.  Before I start in any deeper on this, you my reader must know that I have been and really am enjoying my time in Rio Serrano with the Astorga family.  The scenery is spectacular, unlike anything you’ve ever seen.  I’ve had the opportunity to travel many places in the backcountry by horseback, places I wouldn’t have had access to otherwise.  The family has been very hospitable to me, accepting me as one of them, and appreciating having someone else here to help cover the rides so they can work more with their small transportation business and with their livestock.  However, at the same time I am in the constant position as “guest” which leaves me in a position of not quite having a position.  It’s not like I was hired to do a job with a job description, expectations, rules and norms, and also an expectation of what my employer is also obligated to do.  It’s not that I’d rather have that situation, but the fact remains that living constantly in between can also be quite complex.  The blog entries that follow in the following days will contain short stories to shed light on life up here.

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