Weekend exploring the countryside and pineapple crops.

Hello friends, this is my first post here to tell you how my weekend was and what activities I did. This weekend I traveled to the countryside for a short vacation, I had been wanting to visit my family here for months and I was able to do it before the year is over.
Among some of the activities I did were visiting a pineapple plantation (my cousin is the owner), a hike to a mountain where there are two lagoons that join together and they call them twin lagoons, plus going deep into the mountains in a National Park.

My plans here started with a motorcycle ride to the place where I would be staying, on the way it took me about 1h and 10 min. from the city to there, since there was no traffic at all.

Although I think I was able to record part of the ride, and photograph a little more of the road, I was a little afraid to do so, since I was still a long way from arriving. I got off at specific places to rest my legs a bit and check that the bike was in good shape.

When we went to the pineapple plantation in the afternoon I was very excited because I had been told that the crop was new, that is, it was the first fruit of the plant and my cousin had to add a ripener to them to be able to cut 700 fruits the following week.
The crop looked really cool from afar and we got here by motorcycle, as vehicles cannot climb this mountain, so it is a plus to have a motorcycle.

When we arrived I made sure to ask everything regarding this crop, how long it had, how much fruit I was aiming to cut weekly, how many plants had been planted and how the plants should be cared for. Of course my cousin knows that I am studying Agricultural Engineering and decided to explain the whole process to me.
He told me that the alleys must be kept clean of weeds and the edges of the pineapple plants are cut to be able to walk more easily, they are also fertilized twice with 15-15-15 formula before their first harvest, and they try not to use insecticides to avoid contaminating the environment and the soil.

This plantation needs 1 year to be able to cut fruits and this plant can survive up to 5-7 years depending on the care given. It withstands the extreme drought of the area and is the least expensive crop to grow.
I took some pictures here and helped my cousin with his work, although he is much faster.

Just before it got dark we decided to go to the twin lagoons on top of a mountain, since the rainy season had passed and all the flora here greens up, this area is semi-arid and seeing the lagoons full of water is something that only happens once a year.
The hike was not very long, maybe 40-50 min approximately as we were going at a fast pace due to it being very late in the afternoon.

On the way we took tostones (pieces of fried green plantain), to eat at any time and to make the way faster, they say that the mind is distracted when you talk or chew something and you get there faster.

The mountain was getting steeper and steeper and we could see the whole environment from above, everything was a mountain range, there was great vegetation and some animals in the area. I recognize that before reaching the site we got lost 2 times, because we took a wrong path and had to walk through the brush, and literally climb and cross other mountains.

We returned with the sunset because it was getting late trying to get out of this little jungle, so we arrived home at night. That night I slept like a baby, my whole body ached from all the things I did on Saturday, I felt like I had fallen off those mountains and rolled around for hours.

On Sunday I got up early again to finish visiting other places, we went to a part of the Cerro Saroche National Park and returned early, although I wanted to visit other places and go to the goat corrals that my family has, it was not enough time for the whole weekend.
I had to return in the afternoon but with the company of family, we went on two different motorcycles but on another road, in which we went around a small dam, it was literally beautiful and we were able to cross several crops.

I finally took the road to the city and back, I need to come back here to visit my family's tomato, onion and paprika crops, so I am planning to come back soon. Although on Saturday 24/12 I will go to another field with my family, for reunion reasons since my grandmother's birthday, we will start with the preparations right away.
See you next time.