Life At The Ranch

Main entrance

Dining room

January 30, 2010
Saturday
Since being at the ranch in Chufquen, I’ve eased into the routine here. The atmosphere at meal time is very formal. When it comes to meal time, we sit down in the large formal dining room, the table set with real silverware in the way of a five star restaurant. Knives and forks for the Entre, others for the main dish and yet others for desert. Glass for wine, others for water or other beverage. My Aunt has a full time cook that has worked for her for more than forty years. Elena (Nena as we call her) has worked here almost a life time, and is the best cook I’ve ever met, she’s more like one of the family. She would have no problem being top chef in any top restaurant in the world. Once at the table, you are waited on by the housekeeper, Rodrigo, who serves all the meals, sometimes in formal white jacket. It’s just something you have to get used to when you’re here; it’s always been this way. Kinda like home, right Sharon?
The rest of the day is one of finding something to keep you entertained. Since we are far from any city or town, you don’t just jump on the bike and head to the mall. You take walks around the main house or you go down to watch the workers unload the wheat in the warehouses, since this is harvest time and the busiest time of the year. We have WiFi here, but I find that my little Netbook will not pick up a signal up here at the main house. I have to go to the office 500 feet away to log on. The computer though is a good thing to have to pass the time processing pictures or writing my blog in Word and later uploading it to the Internet.