1000 Places to See Before You Die 14 - Estancia Stay in Argentina



In Argentina you absolutely have to experience the life of the gaucho (South American cowboy). Well, it probably won’t resemble the actual life of an actual gaucho that much, but it will smack of it. I went to Argentina in 2014 on a group tour, and during this trip we stayed on an estancia (farm) for 2 nights. During the day we went horseback riding in the mountains and in the evening we had a barbecue dinner. The last night the estancia crew cooked a traditional asado (barbecue buffet) for us, complete with local wine. 



Appetizer. The meal was very much meat based...

Manning the barbecue
The Beast


The area we stayed in was pretty hilly. I don’t know if it was actual mountains or it just seemed that way for a flatlander like me! I had expected flat prairie-like surroundings for riding, but it was proper off-road trekking, if you can call it that. I am an absolute beginner when it comes to riding horses, and seeing the terrain, I was a little bit concerned, but it turned out to be fine. It was definitely more challenging that I had anticipated, but I actually like that. Sometimes, riding horses as a tourist can seem like the horse is just focused on getting through the circuit and back to its feed bag. But this actually involved some active participation on your part to steer your horse and keep it in line. Which was fun and not at all above a beginner’s abilities. And we got to see some stunning views along the way. 






The second day we also got to try our hand at lassoing. I was ready to fail miserably, and I did, but I had fun doing it. The crew were super nice and helpful and showed their skills in a mini show, so we could see how it was really done! 


Showing us how it's supposed to be done!

An estancia stay can be a nice break between the city-hopping that often goes on on these longer trips, and it was nice to get out and see a bit of greenery, after being stuck in a bus taking us from city center to city center. Even if your trip involves more countryside stops than ours did, an estancia stay can be a nice way to calm down and take a few deep breaths after hustling and bustling around the continent. 

There are a number of estancias you can stay in, so make sure to have a good look around and see what the options are. Remember to check how much time on horseback you will have, if food and drink is included and what other activities they can offer. We stayed at a place that also offered polo sessions, but I do believe that was for another budget. We stayed in our own tents by the main house and cooked our own food apart from the last day when the crew provided a picnic lunch and the barbecue dinner. I don’t know if they do similar budget trips for individuals/couples, as our stay was booked through the tour company and we had a group of about 18 people, I believe. I will leave the link below, so you can check it out. Otherwise there are other options, and I am sure you can find one to suit your needs! Be sure to check how far you will be from town as most of these places will likely be pretty solitary. Plan accordingly with food and activities for some down time, e.g. books and board games or a deck of cards. And then sit back an enjoy the starry nights and wonderful calm of the countryside with a glass of wine in hand. 




The Estancia where we stayed: The estancia

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1000 Places to See Before You Die 20 - Acropolis, Athens, Greece

Image
You cannot go to Athens and not go to the Acropolis. It is a staple on any sightseeing tour and is likely to be crawling with tourists at any given point in time. Still, it is definitely worth it to brave the masses and see the fortified citadel above the city of Athens for yourself.   The word acropolis means the highest point of the city, and there are a number of these acropoleis scattered throughout Greece, but the one in Athens is so well known that it is simply called “The Acropolis”.  There is evidence that the area on the rocky outcropping overlooking the city was inhabited already in the 4th millennium BC, but it was Pericles who started construction on the many famous buildings in the 5th century BC. These famous buildings include the Parthenon, probably the most iconic of the buildings, the Propylaea, the Erechtheion and the Temple of Athena Nike. These buildings were all seriously damaged in 1687 AD when the Venetians had sieged the city and used th
Read more

Reading the classics: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The book The book first appeared in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine in 1890, and the year after it was released as a book in a revised edition. As I am working on this post, I discover that the book is not necessarily considered a classic….great choice for the kick-off post for the series then! However, in my experience, it does usually appear on “classics” lists, so I am going to count it! At the time of the first publication in 1890 it was considered immoral, by a lot of people, but Wilde took offense to that and defended his story. When it was published in book form though, he had changed some things and added a preface, that stated that books cannot be moral or immoral, only well written or badly written.  The author Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was Wilde’s full name, but he later changed it to Oscar Wilde because, as he said, the name was too long for someone who was going to be famous. He was born on October 16th 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. He went to Trinity Co
Read more

Review: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Image
This is the first book in a series, but I have no intention of continuing on with this series. The plot evolves around two young people, Amy and Elder. They live on a spaceship that has left Earth to find a new planet to populate. Amy was part of the cryogeniccaly frozen people on board, meant to be woken up upon arrival and using their skill set to populate the new planet. Elder, meanwhile, is part of the population that has been keeping the ship running whilst it travels towards its destination.  One day Amy is woken up from her frozen sleep and now she must learn to live on this spaceship, without her parents, slowly learning the culture and the secrets of this ship. It turns out there is an abundance of mysteries on board this ship, like who is waking up (and killing) the frozen people, who is the mysterious deceased Elder, what is the current Eldest up to and what’s with the “crazy” people and their medication.  Eventually all these mysteries are solved, but is
Read more