Hello! Did you all have a lovely Christmas?! We're still in Dolores, but very unwillingly about to leave on a bus back to Buenos Aires... after a wonderful three nights at the very lovely Estancia Dos Talas. Hopefully the photos will begin to show you just what a beautiful place it is. Luis de Elizalde is the great great grandson of the original founder and now (in his fifties?) runs the estancia with his wife, Sara, and their four children - a lovely family who made us feel so wlecome.

In the early 1800s, a Spanish man owned the land and agreed to pay Don Pedro Luro (from the French Basque region) per tree that he planted while he returned to Spain. When he came back, Pedro Luro had planted so many trees that the owner was obliged to sign over the title deeds to the property to him, and so the estancia passed into the hands of the present family. It used to be 70,000 hectares(!), but is now 1500 (still huge!). Much of the land is rented to another farmer, but Luis has 700 cows, some of which he slaughters to serve up the best meat we've ever tasted, and selling the remainder off to be fattened. Otherwise they survive off tourism.

There are so many buildings in the grounds and it's an on-going renovation project for the family. We stayed in the main house, where the family still live upstairs and the guests stay downstairs. It's beautiful and full off European antique furniture, paintings, books and old photographs of the family. It felt like going back in time. The family nearly lost the estancia a couple of times, and Luis has thrown his whole self into it, heart and soul. He loves it, and it's not hard to see why. It's quite a shock to now be in this internet café, people around me playing computer games, music blaring and traffic noisily going past outside, after three days of total peace and quiet. And they have that all the time! They work really hard, but they're passionate about it, and really happy.

It was a good decision to spend Christmas there. We've loved it... just walking and cycling around the grounds, among all the different trees (the layout of the grounds were designed by Charles Thays, who also designed the Botanical Gardens in Buenos Aires) and along the tree-lined avenues... and then riding horses every day beyond the grounds on the pampas where the land seems endless. Beautiful.

One funny moment was meeting the other couple staying there at the same time - Fiona and Drew, presently living in Buenos Aires for 6 months to learn Spanish, but normally from Newcastle!! Mad! When we weren't wandering around the grounds, we were eating and drinking red wine. Every lunchtime, Luis would prepare an asado - a barbecue - among the trees in front of the house, when we would eat his wonderful homegrown beef and Sara's delicious cooking. It's been a respite in lots of ways - from bus journeys, cities, hostel beds and restaurant food. We wish we could stay another couple of weeks!!

We are, however, getting back on the road, back briefly north to Buenos Aires for two nights from today, and then an overnight bus journey south to Puerto Madryn where we'll be for new year - a peninsula and area famous for its whales, wildlife and Welsh villages and teashops! Can't wait!

Happy New Year! Hope it's a good one! xxxx