Firstly, apologies for the delay in getting this and our
previous blog out on time, but there has been a problem with the internet at El
Puesto and despite numerous promises by the local provider (Claro Telecom), we
still have no connection after 5 days!
Back to the plot: we
left La Constancia late – but on a high.
Our transport to El Puesto was meant to arrive at 10:30am and the driver (who
happened to be the ranch owner, Maximo) had planned that on our way to the estancia, we
would stop off at the Che Guevara museum – total drive time of around 3.5
hours. He got held up however following
a traffic accident (not his) and we consequently managed to get in another
excellent BBQ lunch at La Constancia, eventually leaving, after a few tears, at 2:15pm.
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| Max changing tyre |
We still had just enough time to visit the museum, until, that is, we got a puncture 40 minutes into the
drive! Half an hour later, wheel changed, we were on
our way again….but then had to stop to have the (now spare) wheel repaired –
didn’t fancy crossing the small mountain range with no spare! 3.5 hours later, at around 8pm, we finally
arrived.
El Puesto is a little cottage in the grounds of Maximo’s estate (La Defensa) – a 400 hectare arable farm which grows
corn and soya. (Maximo made his money in transportation and logistics in Buenos Aires, but hated the life there, and so a few years ago, in his late 30's) gave it all up and moved out here to run the family farm.) The cottage is in the most idyllic
setting, surrounded on all sides by cornfields and totally secluded. It is very simple but immensely charming and well equipped, with most comfortable beds and beautiful linen. A middle-aged cook comes each morning to make us breakfast and lunch; she doesn't speak a word of english and so we have limited conversation but she makes up for that by talking to herself the whole time, much to Jemima's amusement. The place is nothing short of fabulous, and again, we LOVE it.
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| lunch in the shade |
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| OUR place! |
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| Max |
When we arrived, we were surprised to discover that
we were the only guests at the estancia, but Maxi explained that his philosophy was that he could only properly look after one family or small group at a time. Boy, was that a luxury - he was truly available to come with us, help us, entertain us for as many hours in the day as we wanted! His wife lived with their child an hour away in La Cumbre, and so his day was focussed on us and he seemed genuinely to hugely enjoy it. It suited the girls down to the ground, since he looks like the archetypal, good looking, black-haired Argentinian polo player and Jemima and Pip clearly both adored him.
In the evening, instead of having supper in our cottage, we dined at a restaurant in the grounds of his estancia. When we first heard this, we were a bit surprised, but Max downplays everything and he indicated nothing of the quality of the food. It was phenomenal! It was 100 yards away (but he insisted on driving and picking us up each night), and is run by the most delightful French couple – Julie and Martin - who used to run a very successful restaurant in BA but who became entangled with bureaucracy and legislation that wore them down. They fought for over a year, then willingly accepted Max's invitation to set up shop in one of his out-buildings. The result is food to die for – and we get to eat there every night!
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| Transport to "the beach" |
After our morning rides, we tend
to end up at the main house where Max lives. The house is a really beautiful,
relatively recently built villa. Here we
have freshly made lemonade, salami, some white wine and a few nibbles. On our first day this was followed by a BBQ
down by the river, which borders the estate.
Here we met his charming sisters, Pilar and Louisa and nephew, Stevie (Estephan).
There is a lot more wildlife here, principally in the form of birds: again, the green parrots, but also a number of birds of prey including Hote, Condors, the odd vulture and a plethora of pigeons.
Whilst Max doesn’t allow shooting on the
estate, he thought it might be entertaining to take me out one evening with his
Grandfather’s shotgun. What he gave me
came as a surprise and was extremely challenging to use!
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| Make my day! |
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| Yet another class |
Jemima's education continues apace (mainly slowly) with Philippa concentrating on Maths (Jemima's worst subject) and Spanish, whilst I attempt to teach History (Romans in Britain and also a bit about Argentina), Geography (Argentina) and Science (the change in state from liquid to gas, or indeed solid (chocolate) to liquid (mess) is easily demonstrated in this heat!)
On our second evening we were taken to the local town, Jesus
(pronounced Hezooss) Maria to see the Rodeo.
This is a regional competition with people coming from as far afield as
Buenos Aires - 400 miles away. The town and stadium was
heaving. The air was thick with smoke
from grills and many of the men were dressed in their finest Gaucho outfits. The entertainment however was a little
repetitive and Jemima was outraged that horses could be treated in this way, being made physically
uncomfortable in order to make them buck and throw off their intrepid rider. After a few minutes she became very tearful and would no longer look, and so, in short order, we
left.
Half way through our stay at El Puesto, we took 2 days out
to visit a cottage in the hills outside La Cumbre – a town of about 15,000, 1.5
hours North of Jesus Maria.
Maxi drove us to
La Cumbre, where we met with a delightful couple: Tristan and Antonia, who have just
had their first child a week ago.
La Cumbre is a
well known town occupied by a fair number of UK expats. Antonia's great great great great grandparents
had moved there to help build the railways in the
19
th Century.
Her mother, Veronica, moved there from the UK about 40 years ago after a visit to her grandmother when she was 23, and
has remained there ever since.
Antonia
likewise, after a UK based education (was studying for a Phd in Genetics at
Oxford) decided to move there with her boyfriend, now husband, Tristan, 8 years
ago.
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| Tristan and Bongo |
The cottage known as "Anto's Cottage" is a 2 hour walk into the hills where there is no other sign of civilisation in sight. It was built by Veronica – Antonia’s delightfully forthright mother, has no electricity, hot water provided by a log-burning boiler, all cooking done over a gas canister – everything very Heath-Robinson, but all very functional and comfortable, although we felt the beds left a bit to be desired.
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| First view of Anto's cottage |
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| Our source of hot water - logs go in the bottom |
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| Pip & Jemima |
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| A thoroughly modern kitchen? |
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| Homework continues! (Please noter Ms P0 |
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| Jem and Tristan at breakfast |
We had a lovely, back-to-nature style overnight stay , including a sumptuous dinner and full English breakfast. After that, we needed the walk home!
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| Philippa in awe of the scenery |
On returning to Tristan and Antonias house, we met Max’s beautiful wife Jacqueline who, like both Agustin and Luis’s wives (from La Constancia), is also pregnant again – definitely something in the water around here. Either that or too many power cuts!
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| Tea at "the beach" |
We are now just about to wrap up at El Puesto. The weather for the last few days has been
baking (33 in the shade), so we ride early and then go to “the beach” – a manmade
pool area build on the banks of the river in the shade of the woods.
It is a welcome relief from the heat.
Tonight we take Max and his sisters for
dinner at his restaurant! We will be sad
to go since we have had a truly magical time here, and all come to be extremely fond of Max who is one of life's truly good people who is interesting, intelligent, always happy, and for whom nothing is too much trouble. However of course we must look forward to the next adventure.... Pampa Grande here we come!
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