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→Understanding the Hosts
These rough men are normally happy to get a visit. If you speak Spanish and engage in a conversation you will often be offered a seat next to the fire and it will not take long till you are offered to share some Mate with them. If you are lucky they have some fresh bread or "tortas" (the shortened word for "tortas fritas" which is in hot fat fried bread). When we pass a puesto we share at least some words; we explain what we are doing, ask for the trail condition and exchange some friendly gossip i.e. whom we meet before and ask whom we will meet further down out way. If it is late and time to camp we try to sense if we are welcome to stay night what is normally the case.
Nobody knows the area around the puesto better than they do. They do not move only along the trails but to any place where their animals are grazing. But their expertise often reaches only to certain point. They might go for 20 years to the same puesto and know every tree and boulder on the entrusted land but they might not know what is behind a certain pass in the next valley. So asking them for directions can very revealing and exceptional helpful but it requires purposeful questions and a wise interpretation of the answers. Don't ask for the walking time, but always ask how long it takes them on horse. Then double the value to estimate your walking time.
Only if the person is trunk than better move on quickly. Filled with alcohols these normally friendly men can become pretty annoying and even harassing with women.
'''Indigenous Population'''