Today was a little different from the last couple months. For one thing, it rained all afternoon yesterday and all night, and then when we woke up it was freezing. Not really literally freezing, but it was a few more meters up the mountain. On the cold wet walk down the mountain we looked up and the whole range was covered in snow! We hadn't seen it like that since we got here in the winter. Supposedly it is summer now, but everyone I talked to today is worried about crops because it snowed at such a strange time. There was snow on the ground in La Paz yesterday they said and my friends who were out in the Altiplano earlier this week said it snowed a few inches (they were quite a bit higher in elevation, but still, it's summer time). Anyways, so on this cold, snow-capped morn I was to go on a field trip with my class to an organic dairy farm. I only wore a long-sleeved t-shirt because I knew it would warm up and I didn't want to carry layers of clothing around all day on a farm, but when I got to school everyone else of course was bundled up from head to toe. What I didn't know was that the dairy farm was a little higher up than the city. And then to top it off we walk over to the garage to get in (what I thought would be) the van, and it was a pickup truck. Extended cab, so 7 squeazed in front, but the other 8 of us had to get in the back, and it was not a full sized bed, it was one of those really short beds, so there was not even room to sit down. Probably one of the scariest rides of my life, 30 minutes first through the city and then flying down the highway, potholes and all, standing up with nothing to hang on to but the person next to me and they were sitting on top of the tailgate. It was also probably the coldest I have been in a long time. We did arrive though, and the tour was great. Of course I never even thought to bring a camera, but Rodolfo promised to email me the pictures he took. The highlight for me was petting a 1 ton bull (There was a wall between us or I never would have got near him. Cows scare me for some reason which I am working on getting over.) and really just the whole thing was fun. It was a lot different from the tour of Mayfield. They grow all the food they feed the cows, including the medicinal plants they use to cure them and keep them healthy, and it is all done organically. They use the waste (liquid and solid) from the cows to help grow the crops. And they even produce their own seeds from their crops. So it is a completely closed system. It was really cool. They even designed the stables according to the cows' own carictaristics and did everything they could to make them as comfortable as posible. They have free housing for the workers and their families and include heath and life insurance. I was ready to apply for a job.
Today was also the first day I got to drink milk straight from the cow. Not at the dairy though. Back at school they brought out a couple of the cows and we had a drink they call ambrosia. It is fresh squirted cow milk mixed with a little bit of sugar and a drop of singani, which is like a grape brandy that they produce here. It was pretty good. I got over the fear of drinking raw milk and touching a cow today. That is good progress if I want to have a farm. Next I'll have to try the donkey milk. People drink it here fresh from the donkey in little shot glasses. They say it has medicinal value. Or maybe I don't have to go that far to be a farmer.