Las Pampas
Trip Start
Apr 29, 2005
1
8
10
Trip End
May 08, 2005
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San Antonio de Areco,
Argentina
Thursday, May 5, 2005
We are confirmed La Bamba estancia, which is located near the typical gaucho town of San Antonio de Areco, a UNESCO World Heritage site. On the way out of town, I take the wrong turning and I soon realize are headed back towards the International airport at Ezeiza. We eventually are able to do a "U" turn and return through Central Buenos Aires and enter the right motorway. I guess we lose about 20 minutes on this jaunt.
We are scheduled to arrive at the estancia by lunch time, and even with the diversion, we arrive at San Antonio on time, and proceed down the wide dirt road to the farm.
Having seen the photos, and remembering the film, we perceive the red buildings in the distance. Entering a lovely avenue of ancient trees, we are welcomed by Magdalena and shown our little house on the prairie.
It is indeed a little house separate from the main building, with two bedrooms and a living room. The estancia is surrounded by huge trees and green lawns with a rather frigid looking swimming pool to one side. The oldest building was set up in 1830 as a post house on the Royal Road from Peru, Bolivia and the north of Argentina that passed through San Antonio. The style is colonial, painted in a warm russet pink and white.
01. Estancia La Bamba. Our casita
The rooms seem original, and somewhat rustic, which adds to the charm.An further welcome is provided by the resident dogs, a friendlier tribe would be hard to find. In fact, a beagle spent the night on the couch in Cecilia and Bryan's room.
The lunch table is already laid outside on the lawn and our hunger (!) is assuaged by plentiful baskets of exquisite hot empanadas. There is plenty of excellent wine and even whisky for those with more exotic tastes. We are to share the table with a family of Germans, and Isabel Aldao, whose family owns the farm, presides.
Lunch consists of a memorable parillada barbeque with all the meats one can imagine, helped down by a fresh salad and copious wine and spirits.
The German family tells us that they flew to Bariloche, and then rented a van, and have driven all along the foothills of the Andes to Cordoba. They plan to visit Iguazu and Uruguay before dropping off the vehicle in Buenos Aires. Europeans are so lucky. They have holidays you can actually do something in, rather than our measly couple of weeks.
After lunch we are taken to the corral where we select our horses, and go riding off into the sunset. Not quite of course, but riding strong gaucho steeds over the pampas is a unique and wonderful experience.
Later in the afternoon Margarita has arranged that we be met in San Antonio de Areco by a local guide. We find our lady guide at Plaza Ruiz de Arellano, and we all squeeze into the small car to drive around the historical town. It's not that old, being established in the late 18th. century, but it has held on to its traditions fare more that most other pampas towns, and today is considered the "Gaucho Capital". We visit a museum, stop at a shop selling handmade gaucho arts and crafts. The owner, who looks like everyone's idea of a true gaucho, poses with us in his shop. We visit a local wine bodega, where I find one wine made in the world's highest and another made in the southernmost vineyards. We end up in a little shop just like the one in "Chocolat", where we enjoy a drink of hot homemade chocolate. What a difference when you travel with a guide, who can tell you all the gossip of the town and take you to places you may not have found on your own. All in all it was an extremely enjoyable afternoon.
We drive back to the farm through lowering black storm clouds. The road between La Bamba and San Antonio usually floods in heavy storms, but fortunately the clouds pass us by, travelling deeper into the pampas, leaving us in a great mood for an elegant banquet in the stately dining room, furnished with beautiful antiques and illuminated by a gorgeous chandelier.
