from our group left, Simon and Steve from Flash Seeds set off to Rio to meet some business people and hang out with the Rio girls. Alex and his family returned to Buenos Aires.
Laura and Juan invited me to come with them and their children to a small place along the coast of Uruguay, north of Montevideo, which was a few hours in a local bus to this rather magical place, Santa Isabel de Feirera.
Six years ago Carla and Diego arrived there, built a house for themselves and stayed. Friends came and also built houses and now there are about fifteen families living there. Their homes were built with adobe, wood and anything else available. No restrictions from construction laws, just the freedom to build. People grew their own vegetables and their own marijuana plants together, looking so wonderfully healthy, completely organic. The houses were scattered over a few square miles, with woods all around and a low cliff leading down to Moon Valley, dunes and the sea.
Headed down there on my own, on my second day, I looked to the left, no one as far as the eye could see, looked to the right, no one there either, a completely empty sandy beach. So I tore off my clothes and jumped in.
For nine wonderful days I stayed in that little settlement, lay in a hammock and ate freshly baked djepattis, bread and pizzas. Everyone had ovens and big barbecues. We had three great barbecue fish for lunch one day, sitting outdoors at a huge wooden table. We visited several guerrilla gardens, the plants well hidden among the shrubbery and I helped build part of a wall, adobe style. This was a dream come true. I had always liked the adobe style of building and now, for the first time, I had the chance to get my hands into mud, squelching it nicely while mixing in the sand and dried grass. Mud, mud, glorious mud!
Quite often in the evenings we made hash together. Laura had brought a set of bags, and even though the results were meager, the trim being some leftover leaf from the last season, everyone was just so happy to learn how to make hash!
At Christmas we all had a great dinner together.
In the meantime, emails had started arriving from Rosario, in Argentina asking if we could we please be there by the twenty-eighth of December. They were having a big get-together and would love it if we could be there.
So, on the morning of the twenty-sixth, we caught the bus to Montevideo and then the boat to Buenos Aires where we were picked up by Alex and driven out to a hacienda.
What a place! It belonged to a Columbian, living in London, who had Scarface as his guru. That was obvious, since there were posters of him everywhere. The place had a gym full of pumping machines, a Jacuzzi for fifteen, saunas, a bar and the usual barbecue, but large enough for half a cow. There was a swimming pool, disco hall, cinema, football field, tennis courts and even a little church all on ten acres of immaculate lawn. Alex’ s mother was there and she loved to cook for fifteen, even twenty people. The more the merrier! She and Alex were both mostly to be found in that kitchen, preparing great breakfasts, salads, salmon or sides of beef.
By noon of the twenty-eighth we were driving the five hundred kilometers to Rosario.
We arrived to a party-night, with lots of food and people waiting for us. Simon and I gave our presentations, discussions followed and it turned into a lively evening. We stayed for one more day, taking a boat across the river to an island. The next day we drove back to the hacienda, just in time for the New Year’ s Eve party.
Some very pretty girls arrived from Buenos Aires, more guests and soon we started dancing. I was in the full swing of things when suddenly, thwack, my calf felt as if it had been hit with a whip, and that’ s what it was … whiplash.( Not all-bad news. That night the three most handsome guys there carried me to bed, not bad for a sixty-eight-year-old lady!) But that whiplash did have me hobbling about for the next ten days.
In the meanwhile Simon and I had decided to continue our tour in Santiago, Chile. Therefore, on the third of January we got on a plane. Even though we arrived late at night people were waiting for us and we were driven off to Paulo’ s house in a 60’ s style Volkswagen van, flowers on the ceiling and all. Paulo( ADC, Amigos Del Cannabis)
and his family welcomed us into their home and were just delightful. Not having any hash, but having a Shaker to put in the freezer, I was able to make some hash for myself, which was pretty good!
A meeting was organized and a whole group of people showed up, all activists, all happy to see us there. Our presentations were always good to get everyone talking. It was a nice evening, a relaxed outdoor affair where Simon met Geraldine, a sweet girl, who would join us later in Mendoza.
We also visited Germinia, the first grow shop in SouthAmerica. They were all very busy mixing a new batch of soil; Bio Bizz is working with them. Next, Soma Coffeeshop, in the center of town, a very modern place where you could buy a hemp lassi. We sat out on the terrace. Seeds are permitted to be sold here but not to be grown.
For our last day, Paolo and his friends planned a camping trip in the Andes. Tents, sleeping bags etc. were brought along. Six cars made it up the mountain and we pitched camp in a breathtaking place. We were way up at just over two thousand meters and surrounded by high mountains with snowy peaks at the end of the valley. Just gorgeous! There we met up with Vincente who had prepared a“ Green Dragon” drink for the occasion, which is very strong alcohol steeped with plenty of buds! I took a few sips only but that was
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