Puppies and horses…what more could a girl want?!

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Another flight with Aerolineas to look forward to had us leaping out of bed and munching through another breakfast buffet before heading to the airport and dropping the rental car. For all our whinging and complaining, and the convoluted process of paying for excess baggage, every flight we’ve had has been on time or early, and this one was no exception.

Landed in Mendoza and we were collected by Mercedes who took us to Estancia El Puesto. A long drive through seemingly endless vineyards before the last 10km of dust and bump before we arrived at the peaceful oasis of the estancia.

At least it was peaceful for a few minutes while we scoffed pastries and delicious empanadas…until we found the puppies…or the puppies found us. First Princess and Oreo and then later Leela kept us entertained with their antics and constant desire for attention and affection.

In fact, it was almost enough to distract us from the horses, saddled and ready to go. Almost but not quite! So off we went along the dusty road, further into the property - Beeb on Oveda, Eloise on Paloma, me on Princessa and Geoff on Rubia. Just a quick ride today as it was still hot…and the puppies!! So we went back to make sure they hadn’t missed us too much, before a cooling soak in the stream. With the dogs…not so much of a soak then, but a riotous muddy washing machine!

Back to the house for some dinner - delicious chicken cooked in a pan over the open fire, with some wine, with the mountains as a backdrop. It was almost enough to put a person to sleep…or maybe that was the game of Uno.

A nice leisurely start to another hot day with breakfast in the garden and then some more sitting, playing with the dogs, relaxing and soaking in the stream. Geoff naturally had to devote a fair portion of the morning supervising the bbq cooking. Oh, look at that, time for lunch!

The impact of lots of meat and a few very small sips of Malbec had me impersonating that horse again. Clearly the effects of the strenuous morning combined with the heat were taking their toll. A short while later (or so it felt) and some coffee and we were all raring to go on a ride.

Back on the horses and up into the foothills for a spectacular view over the plains - hard going for the horses with rocky terrain but beautiful views and a relaxing pace for us.

Back to the estancia to stretch the legs and relieve the aching bum bones before another delicious dinner of pasta, and some more wine…and another bloody game of Uno before bed.

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