After a cooked breakfast courtesy of Cook Group 1, we piled three deep into the back of the pickup truck with Lydia at the wheel.
We bounced along the dirt track to the Estancia, at marginally sub-light speeds, to where Kevin waited with his gauchos and 19 cavalry-saddled horses. We lost Shay and Leon on the way as they flipped off the flat-bed and into the road-side thorn bushes.
A few minutes later we sat on the steps of the tack room for Kevin's safety talk.
"Argentina is a land of freedom of choice and I believe in personal responsibility" he said, rolling his red guacho beret between his palms. Then he said something about helmets and falling head first onto specially sharpened rocks that he had sprinkled along the route.
"Some of you will die painfully in the next few hours - but don't let that put you off" he added from over his shoulder as he headed for the gate, while we mounted up and contemplated our stocky Peruvian Paseos.
I stared down from the back of Agapeito (Little Love), a sixteen hand bay gelding with a cropped mane. He was schooled to ride western style - for which, think of a powerful car minus all the conventional controls, and responding only intermittently voice commands - providing you can speak guacho Spanish and whistle at a frequency that only dogs can hear.
The ground looked hard and dry - ideal for snapping collar bones.
We bounced along the dirt track to the Estancia, at marginally sub-light speeds, to where Kevin waited with his gauchos and 19 cavalry-saddled horses. We lost Shay and Leon on the way as they flipped off the flat-bed and into the road-side thorn bushes.
A few minutes later we sat on the steps of the tack room for Kevin's safety talk.
"Argentina is a land of freedom of choice and I believe in personal responsibility" he said, rolling his red guacho beret between his palms. Then he said something about helmets and falling head first onto specially sharpened rocks that he had sprinkled along the route.
"Some of you will die painfully in the next few hours - but don't let that put you off" he added from over his shoulder as he headed for the gate, while we mounted up and contemplated our stocky Peruvian Paseos.
I stared down from the back of Agapeito (Little Love), a sixteen hand bay gelding with a cropped mane. He was schooled to ride western style - for which, think of a powerful car minus all the conventional controls, and responding only intermittently voice commands - providing you can speak guacho Spanish and whistle at a frequency that only dogs can hear.
The ground looked hard and dry - ideal for snapping collar bones.
We were quickly divided into two groups according to experience and while we set off for ‘The Top of the World’, the other group headed for ‘The Waterfall’.
For 2 ½ hours we traced a path across the valley floor before a long, slow climb to the summit, the highest place on the farm. As we rose, the wind increased and despite the layers, the chill set in so that by the time we arrived, we were all stuffing hands into pockets at every opportunity and pulling collars up against the cold.
For 2 ½ hours we traced a path across the valley floor before a long, slow climb to the summit, the highest place on the farm. As we rose, the wind increased and despite the layers, the chill set in so that by the time we arrived, we were all stuffing hands into pockets at every opportunity and pulling collars up against the cold.
The view from the top was Argentina at its best.
The wind scorched pampus grass seethed as the gale bent its stalks and the sun reflected from its dry blades. Below us was the town of Cutci backing onto the reservoir that has seen this area through four years of relentless drought.
The wind howled through our group and we all turned our backs to the gale, as much because the horses wanted to as much as we did. The pampus grass was bleached by the cold, and the brittle sunlight could do nothing to revive it without the much needed rains. Even El Nino which passed this way last year, could do little more than provide a sprinkling and farmers are having a tough time. Hence the need to diversify as Kevin and Lou have done so.
The wind howled through our group and we all turned our backs to the gale, as much because the horses wanted to as much as we did. The pampus grass was bleached by the cold, and the brittle sunlight could do nothing to revive it without the much needed rains. Even El Nino which passed this way last year, could do little more than provide a sprinkling and farmers are having a tough time. Hence the need to diversify as Kevin and Lou have done so.
We snatched lunch in a dusty paddock behind one of the gaucho’s isolated houses and as dust devils wheeled drunkenly around the enclosure, the local dogs came for tit bits and barked ferociously at any attempt to encroach on their territory. Boomer and Delphi, Kevin’s dogs who rode with us, held their ground and snuck off with a piece of bread here and there for their troubles.
The ride back after lunch was a little warmer as we descended back to the 4,000 feet altitude that the farm sits at, packed up the oxygen tanks and began to breath easy for the first time in hours.
After we got back to the Estancia, we dismounted and the gauchos took the horses away to water them as we enjoyed lemon juice brought to us by Patricia, gaucho Daniel’s wife. The Estancia is the top end brand that Kevin has created to compliment the back packer edition that we were experiencing.
The beautiful homesteads with whitewashed adobe walls and mahogany doors and windows were empty today but see regular traffic from the English speaking world of horse lovers for riding and polo. Lydia guided for Kevin and Lou in return for bed and board and as much riding as she could manage in a 5 ½ day week. After three family holidays to the Estancia and a gap from University she was looking for things that Cheltenham could not offer.
After the ride, Cook Group 2 wrangled with the ingredients to create a never to be repeated dish christened ‘Chicken Argentina’. The perils of cooking by committee made themselves plain during the endless kitchen debates about whether to season or not and which order to add ingredients, which raged for most of the afternoon. Eventually Sophie was persuaded to remove my head from the griddle and Tabitha put the knife down and came out of the corner.
In the end the dish was universally acclaimed as a success and we settled down at the hill top El Tambo games room with full glasses and fuller stomachs to listen to a local musician perform a blend of Spanish comedy and regional classics, a combination that worked surprisingly well with a little translation from Ivan and lashings of Malbec from Kevin.
In the end the dish was universally acclaimed as a success and we settled down at the hill top El Tambo games room with full glasses and fuller stomachs to listen to a local musician perform a blend of Spanish comedy and regional classics, a combination that worked surprisingly well with a little translation from Ivan and lashings of Malbec from Kevin.
After a short set that was more Benny Goodman than Ben. E. King, he disappeared with a flourish and I was left to break the ice with the guitar. As it was minus five outside, it would probably have been better if I actually had. That way the guitar would have been in pieces and everyone would have been spared the sing along version of Hotel California.
It was a vain attempt to hide my tuneless croaking but I walked home happy after my first ever public performance, albeit only one song cobbled together without warning on the basis of impromptu improv.
Elliott followed and crooned to the genuine respect of the assembled crowd.
It was a vain attempt to hide my tuneless croaking but I walked home happy after my first ever public performance, albeit only one song cobbled together without warning on the basis of impromptu improv.
Elliott followed and crooned to the genuine respect of the assembled crowd.
By midnight was sub-zero in the tent and even the sweat worked up over the table football had cooled, so we retreated to the dorm where we shivered marginally less until morning.
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