Fire and a Dead Cow

Today was a pretty normal day until around 4 in the afternoon when I looked out the kitchen window and saw everyone running around and franticly throwing things into the back of Sebastián’s truck. I went outside and they told me there was a fire up near the condors and we had to go put it out. I grabbed my work gloves (like they’ll protect me from fire!) and hopped in the truck with Taryn, Maddy, David, Marcelo and Sebastián. We drove extremely fast up the landslide which they call a road and when we arrived at the end of the road, we ran to the edge of the cliff to see where the fire was. Thankfully, the fire was actually on the other side of the canyon from the condors and since it was technically within the park boundaries, we didn’t have to do anything. We sat on the edge of the cliff and watched the oddly beautiful fire engulf lonely trees and eventually die when it reached the edge of the cliff.

When we returned to the farm, Sebastián informed us that a neighbor (as in 30 minute drive away) had a cow that had died and we were going to go pick it up to feed to the condors and bear. Once again I grabbed my gloves and loaded into the truck. The cow had fallen down a hill covered with trees so David climbed up and cut down the brush so the cow could roll down the hill and hit the road with a thud. David and Marcelo heaved the cow into the back of the truck as we stood there and tried to keep Selena (7 years old) from kicking it. We arrived at the farm and had to quickly drag it to the back since it was getting dark. The next hour was spent in the dark skinning the cow. This was incredibly different from the alpaca since cows have much more fat. Just for an image, none of us were wearing gloves, even David whose hands were covered in blood. Wearing gloves means you’re a sissy. After the fire and cow fiasco, we all scrubbed our hands in the river and then scrubbed them with boiling water and then used half a bottle of hand sanitizer all over hands and arms. Then we crashed in bed… like always.

We also caught a trout.

And killed and plucked a chicken.