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The hassle of sitting in the nasty Retiro bus station for 5 hours was worth it to get to the estancia, wow, what a fantastic place! Met off the bus at Olavarria by Maria and Jorge, the owners, and then a 20 minute drive into the pampas to their home. A superb 1920´s Anglo-French style building in the heart of their 500 hectar ranch. The 5 star treatment started immediately as we were greeted with a glass of fine red wine by the house staff, and the energetic German Shepherd Simone (we told Jorge this was a girls name in English, so he took to calling the dog Simon for the rest of our stay!). We were shown our room, the Emma Thompson wing of the mansion (if its good enough for her, its good enough for us!!). Over a fantstic 3 course dinner we realised we were the only guests and were told to treat their home as our own. Going to bed we found the maid had turned our bed down, left chocolates and water by the bedside and an oil lamp had been lit in the bathroom ahead of the generator being turned off at midnight.
After breakfast of fresh fruit, cakes, toast and homemade jams, Jorge showed us to our horses - Jona upon Poncho and Emma upon Guacho. With Simon literally running rings around us we headed off into the pampas to check on some cattle. Jorge´s love for his land was clear as he proudly showed off hundreds of Aberdeen Angus and Hereford cows, even passing by a newly born calf, standing shakily on his legs, only an hour old.
Back at the Estancia, Daniel (one of the resident guachos) had the asado on the go. The sight of all the cute little calves certainly hadn´t put us off our steak as we devoured at least half a cow between us along with empanadas, salads and pudding. Siesta time for Jona while Emma made good use of the lovely swimming pool. A couple more hours in the saddle during the afternoon and Jona finally managed to get his horse into a canter instead of being jostled about at a trot!
Back to the house for some high tea and an early evening swim before eating another fabulous 3 course meal with Maria and Jorge, which was of course accompanied by several bottles of fine wine. We were literally stuffed, testiment to that was Jona could only lie on his back going to sleep as any other position was too uncomfortable!
Early start to meet the guachos upon our trusty steeds to watch them at work. We were impressed with their horsemanship skills as they separated 2 dozen cows from their calves in about 2 minutes flat. The confused calves were chanelled into a small pen as their distressed mothers made one hell of a noise, they must have known what was coming. We watched with morbid fascination as one by one the calves were trapped, vaccinated, tagged and castrated, but it was all over wihtin minutes. The guachos were impressed that Emma didn´t faint (some tourists have, even grown men!). Feeling inaugerated as proper guachos now, we galloped alongside the whooping and hollering cowboys and helped them herd the cows and calves back to their field. A truely unique and exciting experience.
A celebratory shot of some guacho liquor back at the ranch and a wander around the grounds before a dip in the pool. Then yet another massive, superb lunch. Our final ride out into the pampas was a long canter along the river with Jorge keeping an eye out for any cattle in distress. We soothed our aching muscles in the pool, relaxed on the veranda in the sun and took a final stroll around the grounds before enjoying our last dinner with Jorge and Maria.
The following morning Maria didn´t want us to leave on an empty stomach, so we were given a final lunch at 11.30am before catching the bus back to Buenos Aires.
We had an amazing 3 days on the beautiful La Isolina Estancia and felt like minor Royalty with the treatment and welcome we received. We were both genuinely sad to say goodbye to Maria and Jorge and will definitely return if we are ever in that neck of the pampas again.
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