When we were planning this trip, one of the requests Jayne made was to ride with Gauchos.
So if you don’t know, a Gaucho is a South American Cowboy of the Pampas (grassy) regions. Well I looked up all sorts of experiences but they were way off our budget. However while I was researching Patagonia I happened on another blogger who’s advice was really good and much of it I followed with respect to hiring cars and what we could do without a guide/tour etc. He mentioned that he had wished he had stayed for more than one night at the next place so I booked it, Estancia Nibepo Aike.
An Estancia is a ranch and this one farms cattle and sheep in Los Glacieres National Park.
We were collected by minibus and for the next couple of hours drove along unmade roads into the hills. The Estancia looks very small in the landscape but we received a warm welcome and arrived just in time for lunch. The food here was OK but not with a great deal of variety or many vegetables….. again. The selection didn’t vary much over the next four days. That was probably the only thing that could be improved. The rest was amazing!
We had a walk in the afternoon and we kept seeing hares that were too far or too fast for Jayne to photograph. Later I felt dreadful, the cold had really hit me so I went to bed and Jayne went riding for an hour or so. When she came back, she was energised having loved the experience. I was feeling somewhat better and the next day I was able to participate in the activities on offer.
We had a tour of the farm which is family owned, the name of the farm Nibepo is a Mish- mash of names. Aike is the indigenous word for camp or stopping place and many Estancias have this as part of their name. I think they said it was the only farm within the National park.
We saw real gauchos doing their thing. There were a few pretend gauchos, who showed us around and took us riding etc. Jayne absolutely loving the guy in his leather chaps (sort of trousers) and the girl with gaucho hat.
We saw sheep shearing as it was done traditionally, it was surprisingly gentle and the sheep seemed very chilled!
We went riding every day. Sometimes on the evening rides we round up the sheep to put them in pens for the night. These pens were guarded from pumas by dogs on long chains. Apparently just the scent of the dogs was enough to put them off.
I took myself off walking up the hill behind the farm one afternoon and got some spectacular views
Not far from this spot is the Chilean border in the Andes about 15 km away and completely inaccessible as the crow flies.
This stay was a really lovely experience.
When I booked this stay I had made some late amendments to it and I knew we would have to pay a bit extra. I asked twice about paying this additional cost and they never charged for it. I thought that was a really nice gesture on their part.
Anyway we are near the end now and next….back to Buenos Aires for one last hurrah before home.
The Travelling Bee 