Advertisement
Published: March 13th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Someone up there is looking after me. The roads were clear and we made it to the Estancia.
We arrive in the afternoon as the sun is shining, the rain has gone and blue skies are back. Once more tents up, avoiding the anthills, and laze in the glorious sunshine surrounded by green moutains. Relaxing and drinking up the rays we hear a low rumble. Please not rain again. The sound quickly becomes nearer and louder and we all realise it´s not rainclouds but a thunder of hooves. Panic stricken we all stand ready for the impact of the stampede. Fifteen horses gallop through the gate to the house where we have set up camp. They avoid us and make a dash for it behind the house and into the field beyond. At the back of the group we see they are being herded by José, our Gaucho guide for the next two days. The once frightening sight now becomes a glorious one.
Charlie, our English guide who is a volunteer at the Estancia, greets us with tea and biscuits ... how very civilised.
Kevin, an Argentinian who was raised for the most part in England, is our
host and promptly starts the evening with a wine tasting session. Reds and whites are brought to the table and I savour every one. We are even offered cheese and crackers to accompany. I now drink red wine and favourite grapes are Malbec for the red and Torrentes for the white. Wine tasting finished and Kevin leaves us with more bottles of wine for us to enjoy. A great night had by all but it did get a little messy towards the end. I ended up at the swimming pool when I was trying to look for the toilet and when I eventually found the toilet I slid down the hill on my knees. Oh to be graceful and demure.
Nexy day we´re up early for our first days ride. Tigre (Tiger) is my horse and he is absolutely gorgeous. We ride across mountains towards the waterfall where we are to have lunch. The mountainous terrain reminds me of Wales. Unlike Brazil there are no tropical plants or trees, just your standard trees and shrubs. I love Wales so I love this part of Argentina. The paths we travel on are extremely rocky but all the horses are sure
Nice hat !
Me and "Tigre". Spanish for Tiger, gorgeous horse. footed as they were raised within these hills. There were a few scary moments down steep and rocky paths but Tigre never let me down. Egg mayonaise rolls at the waterfall and a relaxing break from the saddle. Afterwards we head back to our campsite via a different route.
That evening we are treated to José ( a different one) singing us some Argentinian songs. Oh, and more free wine. Henry decides he would like to have a sing song and gives us a rendition of a Tenacious D song. Very amusing. Patty translates the song into Spanish and fortunately they find it funny too. (For those of you who don´t know who Tenacious D is they sing rude songs). When that part of the evening is over and we are still being supplied with free wine (oh dear swimming pool here I come), me, Patty, Henry and Pete go into the house to join the gauchos, who supply us with Sangria and some other local drink that blows my head off. Patty and Charlie speak Spanish so we all have conversations through them. Patty is talking about different food of different countries and gets onto the subject of
River crossing
Ok, maybe stream crossing Marmite. She has Marmite in her bag and promptly fetches it. Spread on a piece of bread the gauchos refuse to eat it, can´t blame them it´s hideous. Patty says if they eat it I will give them a kiss on the cheek??? He says he will only eat it if I give him a proper kiss. Being a little drunk I say ok but if you´ll have to eat this bit. I grab a piece of bread and empty nearly half of the contents onto it thinking he would no way under any circumstances eat it. He does. He grabs me and kisses me. Hideous. As you can see from by reaction I was a little stunned and not really enjoying the kiss. It gave everyone a laugh though.
Next day we´re off to the top of the world, the highest point at the Estancia. By now our bottoms are a little sore and we don´t appreciate the horses breaking into a trot every so often. And of course they have given me a horse that likes to be at the front and is constantly trotting to get there.
Back at the campsite we have a lassoing
competition where the only thing I manage to lasso is myself. Fortunately there were worse people than me at it.
That evening, our last night, we have ´Gaucho Grill´. Every kind of meat in abundance, and for me vegetable kebabs. And of course free wine. Great party, great wine, great company, fabulous time had by all. Of course I stay up late again and this time thankfully the marmite stays on the truck and instead we dance. Being a little inebriated from the wine, and Sangria once more, I try to dance and just end up looking like a constipated duck with arms flailing. Then the testosterone kicked in and chin ups and arm wrestling were on the menu.
I am sad to leave but I am sure there are more adventures ahead of me. Until the next installment ...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.091s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 12; qc: 57; dbt: 0.0497s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
soo
non-member comment
Woooah! boy (or stop girl)
Cor! this is better than Eastenders i run to the computer every night to get the next instalment, dont forget to bring back the recipe for Marmite sandwiches i want to cook an authentic Argentinian dish 4 u on your return. Where to next? keep those pictures coming! xxxxx