To the countryside

Well the card didn't arrive in the post the next day, or the day after.  Bernard and I were both so incredibly grumpy that we decided we needed to get out of BA for a little while.  I've always wanted to go to an estancia, so we stayed at one an hour and a half away for the weekend.  We didn't realise until we arrived that the farm component of the estancia was quite removed from the tourist display we turned up to.  The farm is huge, over 500 hectares, but we saw little of that.  The place was lovely enough - we stayed in the converted stables which was rustic and charming, although saying the bed was a little small for Bernard was somewhat of an understatement.  Every day is the same - people arrive at 11am - they eat empanadas, go for a 15minute horse ride, have a big BBQ lunch and enjoy a 2 hour dancing and music show - then they see an hour of gauchos on horses doing their tricks and stuff.  The evenings we are left on our own, no explanation of what we can do, and where to have dinner, and staff that speak zero English.  We were thankful once again for our basic spanish course. 

We stayed for two nights, so by day 2 I'm eager to go on a proper horse ride (and go faster than walk that's for sure) and Bernard doesn't want to be anywhere near the singing and dancing. We find a happy medium - I am assured I will get a longer ride with a gaucho that afternoon, and Bernard and I can have BBQ in the main house away from the day-trippers.  We also get a room upgrade which ensures we have a better night sleep.  But then things start to unravel when on my horse ride (without a helmet I must add) I try to do English style trot stance and the horse thinks I am wanting to gallop and that's exactly what it does.  For a few moments it canters (fine), then turns a corner and starts to gallop - I have to dodge rather large branches, and all the time I'm screaming to the gaucho to get this horse to stop.  I'm clearly so focused on staying on (which I do successfully, to which the gaucho is clearly thankful) but after five minutes the horse finishes his "track" and takes me back to the start.

I get of the horse unsteadily - I am offered a ride on a slower horse which I take up.  But then the horse is SO slow it doesn't even respond to my or the gaucho's direction.  I give up and go back to the main house frustrated that I haven't been able to articulate my ability better to the Spanish speaking gauchos. I notice that I have a tonne of bruises on my inner right thigh from holding on so tightly. The next day I don't go for a horse ride - we enjoy the music and dancing for the second time (Bernard leaves half way through) and we leave the place wishing that we had better grasp of Spanish.  It wasn't all gloomy - we got away from the busy city for a few days - we did genuinely get some peace and quiet at night and we got as much value out of the all you can eat and drink as possible!!!