San Rafael - Happy And Not So Happy

We got to San Rafael with smiling familiar faces as we arrived at John and Annettes.

Again we were doing the work in exchange for food and accom but more to help them out as we had some space to fill before Clint and Rosie arrived from New Zealand and it is a huge help for them on the finca getting ready for harvest.

IMG_5938 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

With their plum harvest about to hit full swing there was line trimming to be done along the rows and between the trees as they lay the sheeting down on the ground and drop the fruit from the tree.

This needs the weed and stalks knocked flat on the ground and using and industrial grade Stihl line trimmer made very easy work of it making the row extremely tidy in no time.

There are of coarse heavy stalk as well which was too thick for the line trimmer so we took care of with the grubber.

We worked hard, for me it was good exercise and a chance to strengthen the core before hitting the deep south.

The kittens proving lots of entertainment with boundless energy

The second before it hurts

IMG_5950 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

We did go out on a Friday afternoon for a relax and lunch with some of John and Annettes friends which was nice.

IMG_5965 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Although we made great in-ways as days progressed so did the tension.

The tension did come to a head because of differing ideas on what order things should be done, John wanting to get the line trimming done for the main harvest and Annette wanting to pick up some wind fall.

We sat down and made a new game plan which was stuck to for a day when another storm hit bringing down some more fruit, another game plan was then made that the fruit would be picked up on the rows that the line trimming needed to be done on but somewhere in the middle things changed again.

I had set up for line trimming gearing up, getting dressed and sorted for a good clean assault to kick the arse of the weeds only to find the rows were not ready and they were doing their own thing then I was yelled at and talked down too.

For me it was time out, while I have no problem working my arse off I got sick of things being re-disorganized then being talked down to was the last straw for me, we were there to help them not get talked down to and pushed around like a little kids, at our stage of the game this will not happen if someone is wanting help.

Ellen was blamed for starting in the wrong place despite where she was told to start then there was back tracking about what was and wasn’t said.

We had one day up our sleeves before Clint and Rosie were going to arrive then we could hit it south which I was hanging out for, we made a decision to leave the finca from the stress.

Next up, meeting up with Clint and Rosie and the start of the big migration south.