Day at the Estancia - Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2009

Hurrah!! It wasn't raining when we woke up. The sky looked pretty clear with only some high clouds that didn't look very threatening, and the sun was starting to shine. Our trip to the Estancia was on!

We could have slept in a half hour or even an hour because we didn't have to leave the house until 9:15, but we were up at our usual hour of 6:00. It was good, though, because we did our scripture reading, washed a load of white shirts, vacuumed the floor, and Rich took our sheets and towels over to the laundry across the street.

We took a remise to the mission home and arrived there at 9:30 to begin our days activities. Sister Argyle had to take the President and the van full of mail and supplies to the zone conference and drop him off because we needed two cars to get our group of nine people to the Estancia. He and the assistants would take a remise home.

Rich and I and Sister Argyle's father went in one car (it only had three seats in it) and Sister Argyle, her mother, and the four children would occupy the other car. We followed them closely because the address was not in the GPS. It took us about an hour to get there.

On the way, Rich looked down at the gas gauge and we were pretty close to empty. We didn't think to check it before we left. So I called the other car on my cell phone and told them we were low on gas. We had just passed a gas station and didn't know if there was another one in the area or not. Sister Argyle then looked at her gas gauge and was surprised that she was almost on empty too. So we turned around and drove a couple of miles back to the station to fill up. She was glad for the call. She said that just as she pulled into the station, her warning light came on telling her that the gas was low. It's a good thing Rich noticed it because Brother Baker and I were too busy talking.

We arrived at the Estancia Don Silvano which is a Gaucho ranch that has been preserved and turned into a tourist attraction. There are several out in the campos and they all do about the same thing. An entrance fee is paid that covers horseback riding, a carriage ride, a horse show, dinner, and a program. There is a gift shop and all kinds of things to see while walking around the ranch.

This is a brick oven that was either built to show what they used to use, or an old one that has been refurbished.

All kinds of old farm equipment were on display around the grounds. The wooden structure in the background is an old train car which has been turned into a gift shop.

They had a few animals penned up for public viewing and one was this gorgeous peacock. We were lucky to have him fan his tail so we could capture it in a picture.

The horse stables had been turned into guest rooms. The Argyles came here last December and stayed overnight in one of them. She said they were pretty plain and simple rooms -- not too fancy. But the hallway with rooms on either side was decorated with pictures and memorabilia in an artistic way. It was very quaint.

The ranch offered horseback riding, and this Gaucho led the way. Some were rather stubborn, however, as a couple of the horses kept turning around and headed back to the coral. The riders obviously had no riding experience, and didn't know how to handle the horses and show them who was boss.

A carriage ride circled the property so we decided to hop on and see where it went. It was beginning to sprinkle a little as we took our turn. Our clear skies clouded over quickly. Being prepared, I had my umbrella in my purse -- just in case. When it was more than I could handle, I popped up my umbrella and Rich said I looked like Mary Poppins.

We made it through our carriage ride just in time, because then it really started to rain. People were running for cover fast. Most of us came into the banquet hall for refuge. It wasn't time to eat, but was needed shelter.

We were seated at a table by the reservations we made. Left to right around the table are Brother and Sister Baker, Seth, Sister Argyle, Austin, Sister Kroff, Anika, and Quinn. Elder Kroff is taking the picture. Bowls of baguette bread were on the tables, and also bowls of green salad with oil and vinegar for the dressing, and bottles of wine. We had the waiter bring Fanta orange and water for our drink.

A waiter then came around and put a Chorizo sausage (good) and a Morcilla (blood) sausage (yuk) on our plates. The blood sausage is actually made of cows blood with a filler to thicken it up. It was disgusting to look at let alone eat. Rich decided to at least try a bite, and in cutting into it all this gross looking filling oozed out. He said it had a pretty good flavor, but decided not to eat it because it could make him sick because his stomach is not used to eating it. It's kind of like the water here. We don't drink it because our bodies are not used to tolerating all the impurities in the water. But the Argentines eat these blood sausages all the time. They love them.

Next came a piece of chicken, and then came some beef which was very good and tender. So dinner was just salad, meat, and bread with dulce de leche (caramel) ice cream.

Then, we were entertained by a Gaucho singer that had a marvelous voice and his partner who played the accordian, flutes, and various other instruments. Mr. Gaucho sang while the dancers performed and carried on some dialog in between numbers. He spoke English, also, and would announce things in Spanish and English. There were people there from Germany, Italy, Romania, Spain, Mexico, U.S., a Scandinavian country, and other places.

There was audience participation in coming on stage to play drums, or dance with the artists etc. We were glad we were not on the front rows. We were towards the back wall and glad of it.

They would play music from all the states in Argentina, and he sang a song from each country represented.

The dancing couple were multi talented. Here they are playing drums, but they could do a routine of swinging balls on the end of ropes, plus other displays of unusual talents.

I thought their best talent was doing the Tango. They were excellent!!! We have seen the Tango danced by others in the street or on programs, but these two were perfect in my opinion. She was fast and exact and cute as can be. He complimented her and she him.


Wish we would have taken a movie of it. But, I'm through with this entry now, and it would have still been downloading.

After dinner, we were to watch the gauchos entertain us with their horsemanship routines, but it was too wet and soggy outside, and had begun to rain again as we left.