Day 6.. the ranch

Today I went to a ranch about 1 hr outside of Buenos Aires called the Don Silvano Ranch. The tour picked me up at my hotel and we drove through BA to pick up other guests. They apologized for the delays, but I had to let them know.. its fine. This is like sight seeing for me. I sat right at the front of the bus and took photos of the traffic madness.

On the way to the ranch we passed through 3 or 4 tolls on the highway. I guess it must pay for something. I was quite suprised at how far reaching BA is and that I am in the province of Buenos Aires as well. 3 million people live in the main city and 10 million live in the outlining area. The guide was very good to talk about the gaucho heritage of Argentina and the type of dress, dance and music. We were served Mate as well.. which was really nice. You cant buy Mate in the cafes as it´s meant to be shared amongst friends, so you have it at people´s homes. If you dont know what Mate is, its a plant that is steep like tea in a special cup and you drink it through a metal straw with a filter. (I´ve been on the lookout for a mate cup to bring back with me)

When we got to the ranch.. it was a beautiful blue adobe house and many other buildings on the property.
I wandered into a building that could have been a converted horse shed with it´s long hall the length of the building and rooms on either side. It was all decorated with antiques and really lovely. One of the doors was opened and it was a beautiful wrought iron bed with small table & chair. I think it must have been a retreat or a B&B.. but I cant imagine staying there for days.. what would you do? There wasn´t anyhting appealing nearby that I could tell. There were wrought iron tables and chairs under all these trees in the large yard. It was like a Victorian Tea Party.. slightly rusted and overgrown under this giant canope of leaves. I bet it´s incredible in the sunmmer.

We were served Empinandes and wine or coke and then left to do as we wanted for an hour or so. You could take the horse drawn carriage ride or ride horses (later, I saw them handing out photos for sale that they had taken while you were doing such things and then coming back to collect the money.. sneaky..). There were various building and lots of animals.. peacocks, tiny hens, ducks, roosters, dogs, flamingoes and sadly.. no kittens. I wandered around. Riding horses just makes your clothes dirty and smelly. Laundry is something I do by hand so I stayed away.

We gathered in a long hall with tables set for lunch. Bowls of bread, salad, cold potatoes and shredded carrot with cooked egg. They served wine, or pop and brought out steaming plates of chorizo & blood sausage (which I turned down) and then chicken and finally roasted beef. It was incredible (but didn´t surpass the Cuban ranch I went to where I had the most succulent roast pork of my entire life). During dinner, someone sang traditional Argentina songs and 2 others performed cultural dances (yes.. the tango too). The most impressive was the one with the bolos..I found a video of the person who performed when I was there.

Afterwards there was a show of cowboy skills. It was a good trip.. Not sure if it was entirely worth the 250 Argentine Peso, but it was interesting and the food was good and lots of it. I think the last photo is really funny.