Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 BUENOS AIRES Wednesday, 9 December. Today we were taking an excursion to an estancia (ranch) in the Pampas not far from Buenos Aires. Unfortunately, hundreds of others from our ship were doing the same thing, so it would be a tourist event with little authenticity. In 1996 we had scheduled a visit to an estancia near Salta (northwest Argentina) where we would have been the only guests, but unfortunately we had to cancel at the last minute. So this tourist event was the best we could do. At least it was a beautiful day for it, sunny and warm.
Our bus left the dock at 8:15 and headed north along the Rio del Plata. We passed Newbery Aeroparque, the local airport from which we'd flown to Iguazu and Salta in 1996. A short time later we passed Tigre, where we'd started our tour of the Delta on that visit. The bus turned west toward Pilar. After a rest stop along the way, we arrived at the Estancia Santa Susana at 10:30. Gauchos and senoritas in period dress greeted us with empanadas and wine. The gaucho show was already underway, so we walked over to watch that. The gauchos were herding horses back and forth in front of a small covered stand. After a time they began a "jousting" demonstration in which one, two or three riders at a time tried, usually successfully, to put a pencil-size rod through a ring suspended from a wire while riding at a full gallop.
From there we wandered over to the horse drawn-wagons
and took a bumpy ride on a dirt trail. Then we went to the corral where riding
horses were waiting. Jane wasn't up to riding so I went alone. Not really
alone, though, because there were at least 20 in each of several groups who
went on the 15 minute rides, guided by four gauchos. There was some excitement
when the man just ahead of me started screaming that he was falling off. And
fall off he did, before any of the gauchos could come to his aid. Apparently
his saddle was not properly cinched, and it just slid sideways on the horse.
It was more than an hour before 1:30, the time we were told to gather for lunch, so we sat in the shade talking to another couple while others drifted into the dining hall. When we finally did the same around 1:00, we found the hall filled, the meal well under way, and no seats available. They added a table for us and hastily set it but, even after we sat down, much of the food never came our way. We sat next to a young German couple.
This was supposed to be the famous asado,
the magnificent Argentine barbeque of many meats, but especially beef. We were
offered sausages, then blood sausages, then chicken. I kept turning it down
because, thinking of the marvelous barbeque in Rio, I wanted to save room for
the good stuff. I finally got a small piece of fairly tough beef. Very few side
dishes got to us, either. Really, though, I didn't miss having more. After all,
this was lunch. We'd already had a couple of empanadas, and we would have an
ample dinner on the ship that evening. However, I was disappointed that the
Argentines were put to shame by the Brazilians.
The meal was followed by a show with singing, dancing, instumentals, and bolos. During the show a very large gaucho passed a basket for tips and wouldn't take no for an answer.
Our bus left the estancia at 3:30 and we were back at the ship by 5:00. The ship wouldn't sail for another four hours, but we weren't about to venture out again. We had dinner at 6:30 and went to the 8:00 show, featuring Juan and Eileen Santillan, doing the tango and other dances. Juan also performed with the bolos. The ship sailed at 9:25, headed for Montevideo, Uruguay. Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
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