(a day in the country side)
before my family arrived, i started to do some research on estancias (places you can go for the day or the weekend. estancias are in the country and generally include bbq, horseback riding and entertainment). anyway, there are a bajillion estancias surrounding the city of buenos aires. i began clicking on all the websites, but i was too overwhelmed. so, i sought out some professional help....
i contacted sandra at http://www.batravelguide.com. she helped me narrow down my search depending what day i wanted to go and what activities i was looking for. once i chose an estancia, we met over coffee to chat. i paid her directly and she gave me a voucher and arranged the transportation (which was included in the cost). it was so much easier than planning it myself.
the shuttle, that drove us to the estancia, picked us up at 8:45am. we were the first to get on the 20 passenger tour bus. the bus was clean and it had an informational cd playing. we drove into centro to pick up more people, who weren't ready, so we circled the block. we did a lot of circling, but my family got to see the center of the city.
next we drove out to the famous metal flower that opens and closes. a new guide got on our shuttle. the microphone system she used nearly knocked out my ear drum. over the ringing in my ear she gave some more history on the city and landmarks we were passing by.
half way to the estancia and the shuttle bus pulled over at a gas station with just one expensive tourist shop. they told us we had a half hour to shop. (i think the shuttle service has a deal with the store owner. the stop wasn't necessary)nevertheless we arrived at "Don Silvano" safely, around 11:15am.
as soon as we walked into the estancia we were offered an empanada and something to drink. other groups were already there, enjoying the activities.(photo below: our first activity. horse drawn carriage ride with a gaucho. i forget if we determined that he was my future husband or my future brother-in-law)
(photo below: next activity, horseback riding. it was just a short loop around a field and back)
(photo below: after the activities, they served us food and put on a show for us. the food was ok. it was simple. of course there was a ton of beef. there was also a small salad, some potato salad and beer and wine. two men played traditional argentine songs and they had dancers too.)
(photo below: after lunch there was a gaucho show. pictured below is my future husband or brother-in-law putting his gaucho knife through a ring that is tied to the pole.)
(photo below: talented gauchos)
we got one more horseback ride in before we got back on the shuttle bus. we left around 5pm and we were back in the city around 6pm.(photo below: after we arrived home we went to the near by bakery to buy virtually one of each of these delicious treats)
1 comment:
woah! dudes standing on horses!
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