Riding on the Argentine pampas

When I think of Argentina, I think of steak, wine, tango and gauchos. I had been a little obsessed with the dream of being a cowgirl for a few days and galloping on horseback across the pampas. My inner anthropologist was also interested in the gaucho culture and I wanted to learn more... I've gotta give it to Ged he is definitely following Maddie' s advice and saying yes to all my crazy ideas! :-) best travel companion and husband ever!!

After a bit of research into ranch stays I found a winner. La Margarita in Tapalque. It's an estancia owned by a British guy with gauchos working with the animals. Most importantly, it had lots of horses, was in a beautiful location and we could do a self cater option which suited our budget!

We were met in Tapalque by Mario, a gaucho dressed in the bombachas (traditional loose pants) and topped with a beret. The gaucho culture had been present in Argentina for over 200 years and whilst it had adapted over time it is still very much alive in Tapalque.  The gauchos seemed to have quiet personalities and their skills on horseback, controlling and herding animals were incredible. 

We watched the sunset over the farmland as we made our way over some very bumpy and muddy roads and down the 7 km driveway to the estancia. We were greeted warmly by the volunteers that worked with the horses, shown our cute little room in the original farmhouse from the 1800s and set about making some dinner. We had stocked up on wine from the supermarket before coming - good vino is so cheap (or favorite the Mendoza Malbec retailing at $3) we quickly made friends with Katt and Mathy from Pensilvania :) we shared wine, cards and banter in front of the fire.

I was woken at the respectful time of 8am by the sunrise and a multitude of animal sounds. The farm became a live with chickens, geese, cows, pigs, sheep dogs and HORSES!! Ged was a kid in a candy store and left me sleeping to go exploring. It was the most beautiful day and I was yet again surrounded by nature's beauty. Before we mounted the horses,  Karen taught us about the gaucho saddling which is quite different from English and American saddling (apparently) they have different layers, first a saddle cloth to absorb sweat, a few other layers of cloth and a pelliòn or a sheepskin blanket on top which made the saddle warm and comfortable. All the gaucho tools were traditionally tucked neatly under the layers.

We were introduced to our horses and we were off, riding across the flat pampas that stretched on ad far as the eye could see. It was so so beautiful and a great way to see the county! The first ride was pretty tame,  we got to know our horses and started to learn their personalities - my horse Emma was gentle but stubborn and liked to be at the front and Ged's horse Picasso was the cranky one.  It was cool to watch the dogs chase hares and armadillos and see all kinds of birds including migrating geese, Hawks, Eagles and flapping pheasants.

In the afternoon we had a tour of the estancia and learnt about its history. Everything about the farm is very quaint, one of my favorite parts was a tiny Chapel with a resident pigme owl that looked down on us from the rafters.

The next few days went by very quickly and our rides became more advanced and exhilarating! I was living the dream cantering (slightly out of control) across the fields. Despite many aching body parts I could not wipe the smile off my face!

Before leaving Tapalque we visited the Cultural Museum which had a random collection of dinosaur bones, gaucho paraphernalia and a car from the 1800s. My favorite was an armadillo shell! That one is for you dad!!

After nomming on the best empanadas we've had to date or awesome new American friends gave us a ride to Buenos Aires time to watch the big game: Holand versus Argentina, the semi final of the world cup.

Back to Ged...

Vamos Argentina

Wow!!!! We are sitting on a bus headed to Mendoza having just run from San Martin park in Buenos Aires where we witnessed,  along with thousands of Argentines, our victory over Holand. But more of that in good time...

Our 22 hour trip into Buenos Aires was relatively uneventful except that we can confirm that the buses get better the further south you go - I got a whisky after dinner!

We arrived and took the scenic route to our hostel walking along the Harbour which is home to some pretty cool tall ships. We had our worst meal yet at a restaurant on the water called the French Bulldog - we now know where all the bad meat goes! Our day improved when we arrived at our hostel which was almost a hotel it was so clean and the service so good!

Amoung researching our next adventure we walked to the local flee market to buy some supplies and we bought our first mate set. Basically mate is an incredibly bitter tea that neither of us like but the whole population of South America drinks it and like a teenager who starts smoking I have been sucked in. I will let you know if I ever actually enjoy it.

Our first night in BA we tried a restaurant recommended by Bec Nauta (a uni mate of Sarah's) called Desnivel. We now recommend it too! It's a local restaurant with cheap but great tasting food where we made the mistake of ordering vegetables (they take up precious space). From this point on in BA we have our food groups at different meals - cereals and fruit  at breakfast; vegetables at lunch; and meat at dinner.

The next day found us on a walking tour where our tour guides favorite expression was "Argentina cannot have nice things". Buenos Aires has an interesting history in that it started the independence movement after the disappearance of the Spanish monarch in 1808. It took several years before a consensus was reached  by the whole country and several years more before Argentina had a constitution. Since then Argentina has lost democratic rights 6 times with the latest military dictatorship ending in 1983 and the period since then is the longest period of uninterrupted democracy in their history. One of the influences that broke the latest dictatorship was the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo whose sons and daughters had joined the ranks of the "dissapeared". Having being banned from gathering in groups of more than two they found a loop hole in the law and walked in circles which meant they were never accused of "gathering". The last political fact was shortly after hyper inflation started in 2003 the president resigned which started the fortnight where Argentina had 5 presidents.

While the first successful attempt to settle BA was in the 17th century the oldest buildings date much more recently because after independence they placed no value on any of the buildings from the colonial era. The architecture reflects influences from Spain, Italy and France - indeed France's commitment to investment in BA is evident in their gift of an original copy (from the same mould) of Rodin's "The Thinker".

Discovering there was the world's second most beautiful bookshop in BA was an unexpected bonus and indeed it was quite fantastic! It is an old theater that has been converted and the charm and atmosphere was magic, if it were not for rumbling stomachs we would have stayed for hours. On advice from our tour guide our daily intake of meat was at a restaurant "La Brigada" where I had the 3rd best steak of my life. Weighing in at 900g it was also the largest and had the best name "Baby Beef".

Our next adventure was sitting in a local bar while Argentina played Belgium in the quarter finals. Knocking back a couple of long neck Quilmes (beer) and nibbling cheese while cheering, clapping and booing was the (now) second best live sport experience I've had! A quick siesta later I decided I wanted to give salsa a go. We consulted our hostel and received the name and street of tango hot spot just around the corner. An hour later we gave up and decided to renew our instructions. The first girl being unavailable we asked another who having no idea of the first place directed us to a second which after some dodgy back streets and doors we found to be closed. We decided to quit there and then and so the closest we got to tango was a pamphlet.

The next day saw us traveling to La Margarita, an estancia on the pampas (the region), but Sarah will post separately...

We made our way to BA (thanks to a lift with Matt and Cathy) and  had arguably one of the best venues to watch the game (outside Brazil) on a huge outdoor screen surrounded by a sea of blue and white. We became Argentinian - chanting, hissing, cheering, gasping, taunting, clapping, booing, jumping, hugging, kissing (each other) and dancing. Their joy is infectious! Neither of us can help smiling as cars, taxis and our bus all toot in celebration at and with the pedestrians lining the street chanting "Vamos Argentina". A couple of photos and a video (see the YouTube channel) inadequately capture the fever of excitement that runs through this city of 9 mil people where literally every car is flying a flag and tooting horns! We are fairly certain our bus took a circuitous route so he could toot and cheer a little longer.

We leave you now with all our love.

Ged and Sarah

YouTube channel

Hi guys,
We (not Sarah) set up a YouTube channel for our videos. We will upload videos here as we go (4 are there now). Short and sweet. The link is :

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3R6QVLugzvyZrvw3rSyqZw/feed

Love Ged and Rah

Iguazu Falls

We visited Iguazu Falls from both the Argentinian and Brazilian and it was incredible!!!!

The sheer volume of water that roars through the falls at any time is amazing but we were lucky enough to be there at a time when there was thirty times more water than ever recorded in history (not sure when recording started,  it could've been last year) and the falls were deafening! To see a snapshot of our two days at the falls check out our video:

http://youtu.be/XYH5v4wgnns

We could talk for ages about the falls but we will let the photos speak for themselves.

The last thing worth mentioning is dinner. We had the best steak of our lives at El Quincho del Tio Querido and can't wait for more!!! VAMOS ARGENTINA!!!

Also Sarah smells.

Love Ged and Rah