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One of our favorite experiences thus far. We highly recommend to anyone who loves being outdoors.
After 4 lazy days in Tacarembo we were ready for some work on the estancia, which translates to "ranch" for our english speakers. We met Juan (the ranch owner) at the bus station, picked up 2 other travelers and drove about 1 hour outside of Tacarembo where the spanish style farm house was nestled in between enormous pine and palm trees in an otherwise rocky farmland. The estancia is a 4th generation family estancia where Juan was born and raised that continues to operate in the same way that you would imagine it originally did. There was no electricity, a limited water supply, outdoor mud brick ovens and a cast iron wood stove in the kitchen. This kitchen stove also provided hot water for showering. 😉 It felt wonderful after a long days work.
We had 5 days of incredible homemade meals, a cold beer every day with lunch, siestas and perfect candle lit ambience each evening on the large stone back porch where family, travel and life stories were shared.
The estancia schedule was organized so that you could be as
involved in the daily work as you wanted. We both tried to jump in where ever possible. The estancia had cattle and sheep grazing on 7 different fields on its 2000 acres. We helped herd the animals to corrals in different areas of the estancia. The cattle were checked for pregnancies and separated. The sheep were herded so they could be checked for bot flies AND the little gentlemen (young male sheep) were wrestled and rubber banded for castration... poor guys. We normally worked until around noon and then returned to the ranch house, unsaddled the horses, and had an asado (bbq) of one or more meats prepared in the traditional outdoor oven along with fresh fruits and vegtables. The meals were always excellent and it wasn´t uncommon to have lamb or filet mignon!
Other highlights included the visiting family who told outrageous stories (Hernand,Christine and their two daughters), Balinga (Juans right hand man), badmiton tournament (unfinished buisiness), feeding the orphaned lambs, social kitty, horse shopping, seeing an armadillo, the morning & evening birds, Juan removing a 15 inch branch from a horses inner thigh, wearing traditional gaucho boots and using unfamiliar saddles and bridles. It was oh so
marvelous!!
The most impressive part about the entire experience was our host Juan. We have never met anyone so welcoming. His patience and gentlemanly mannerism was quite supernatural considering all the gringos w/out experience he had to provide guidance to.
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Iratxe
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Loved the sign ;)))
And loved all those pictures of you guys doing the Gaucho!!!! My favourite, the one entitled "Azul is butcher" ;))))