South America special: A short drive from Buenos Aires, pull on your cowboy boots
Ride a horse across the pampas - it's one of those essential travel experiences. And you don't need to own an estancia to get in the saddle. There are plenty of farms offering excursions to give you a taste of the wild Argentina style. Chris Moss hits the trail
Sunday, 26 February 2006
Print
Email
Buenos Aires hides the surrounding pampas, its high-rise towers creating an illusion of urban sophistication. As successful as this fantasy is, sometimes you positively ache to see the horizon. My well-heeled friends own small farms and every few weeks they let out a weary sigh of hedonistic overload and announce: "Me voy al campo." I'm off to the country. It's all quite 19th century and very enviable.
For those of us who are not landed, the gaucho way of life can be accessed at dozens of estancias within an hour or two's drive of the city centre. All offer a Dia de Campo (lunch, horse-riding, use of the gardens and usually a pool) and many do overnight stays as well. I spent a day at La Encantada in the pretty town of Capilla del Señor, about 50 miles from Buenos Aires. The house, built in 1856 and once used for cattle auctions, has a plain, colonial façade and is nothing like as flash as some of the historic estancias. But the manageress Marcela Grinberg and her staff lay on a natty combination of several pampas themes.
The day kicks off with an open-air asado or barbecue, expertly prepared by the resident gauchos. Once the aromas of charred meat begin to rise from the grill, you get into the swing of things. Swing here means: idleness, eating, drinking and lots of bucolic chatter. First, there's a vermouth or cocktail. Then empanadas and chorizo sausage sandwiches are handed out, along with glasses of oaky Malbec. I sat down to take on the sweetbreads, black puddings, chinchulines (intestines) and massive cuts of beef, with cattle, sheep and horses looking on and hawks wheeling overhead. It feels utterly organic.
Some people went riding before lunch. I went afterwards. Tipsy enough to delude myself that I was a bit of a cowboy, I climbed on to an admittedly mellow little horse. While trotting round the estancia, I kept an eye on the gaucho's riding style, leaving one arm free, with my back upright, and shouting "dale" and "ugh-ah" sounds.
It's very macho, but it works. My horse weaved politely through the stands of Alamo and cantered down the dirt roads.
There aren't many native trees, so eucalyptus trees provide much of the shade. But at La Encantada and its neighbouring estancias, you can see examples of the awesome Ombu. An icon of the Argentine plains, it's a vast triffid of a bush with impossibly long, tentacular branches that mirror the sprawl of its water-seeking roots. The grassland and lagoons are alive with birds. Until writer and twitcher WH Hudson gave his London lectures in the early 20th century, naturalists thought Latin America was full of squawking parrots. But the pampas are a songbook of ovenbirds, thrushes, chingolo sparrows and great kiskadees.
In the afternoon, I was treated to tea and home-made pastries and jams. Argentines still like to think we ingleses do this every day, but the fact is country folk in the province of Buenos Aires are far more genteel than old-time farmers in Britain. Even the estancias that are close to the city belong to a parallel universe; the rhythm is slower and there's lots of time for reading, reflection and repose.
All serious gauchos respect the rite of the siesta and when the cicadas begin to shriek like chainsaws, it's time to grab a hammock or go inside. La Encantada's main house is decked out in the so-called criollo (as in creole) country style - elegantly rustic, with lots of wood, horseshoes, cowskins and brands. Like most estancias, it was built long before electricity and air-con (some still depend on their own generators), so the small bedrooms are cold, dark and somniferous. By the time I rose again, the sun was low and cooler and it was teatime once more - I joined a round of yerba mate, sipping from the gourd and letting the bitter herb and caffeinated hit gently rouse me.
Ten minutes later, I was told the wind was right for a hot-air balloon ride. As I rose above the house, the light was fading quite fast. I could still make out Argentina's not very wild beasts dotted on the open plains - Herefords, Anguses, milk-loaded Charolaises, flocks of sheep. The dark green was broken by mirrors of crystalline wetlands where the herons and southern screamers hang out. An impossibly pink roseate spoonbill rose towards the balloon, and when the burner was silenced I thought I could hear the beating of stork wings. The landscape took on a new dimension, with its tidy tapestry of corn and soya fields and dead straight roads that seemed to go on and on for ever. A huge orange sun sunk slowly towards Chile.
Unlike most of Argentina's tourist draws, the pampas are unspectacular. There's no jagged glacier, teeming cataract or volcanic cone to photograph, and if you go for two or three days you'll find there's really not much to do. That's the point. The skies are vast, the calm is tangible and substantial, and the planet tilts away whether you are in a balloon or on horseback. In Hudson's famous phrase, it feels very "far away and long ago". Yet the estancias are a short hop from the traffic and turmoil of one of the world's most excitable cities. If peace could be quantified, I suspect they'd all be world heritage sites.
Ten places to play cowboy
1 La Encantada , Capilla del Señor
WHY GO? As well as all the food and horse riding on offer, you can have a massage and take a 50-minute balloon flight. Charming, laid-back and it still feels very authentic. Occasionally hosts open-air music concerts.
HOW FAR FROM BUENOS AIRES? 50 miles
PRICES: day out $18 (£10), full board $52
CONTACT: 00 54 2323 492063, posadalaencantada.com.ar
2 Bella Vista de Guerrero, Castelli
WHY GO? The main house is a regal mansion surrounded by lawns cut with scissors. Some 150 years ago Castelli marked the limit of government control over the plains, and the estancia's history embodies that of conquest and colonisation - grim but fascinating.
HOW FAR FROM BA?
104 miles
PRICES: day out $70, full board $173
CONTACT: 00 54 2245 481234, bellavistadeguerrero.com
3 Dos Talas, Dolores
WHY GO? Ideal for a long weekend, the elegant mansion of Sara and Luis de Elizalde is on the highway to the beach at Mar del Plata. The lovely parkland was landscaped in 1908 by Frenchman Charles Thays, who did many of BA's parks.
HOW FAR FROM BA? 124 miles
PRICES: day out $50, full board $125
CONTACT: 00 54 2245 443020, dostalas.com.ar
4 El Ombu de Areco, San Antonio de Areco
WHY GO? It's a great place for a lively lunch. The main house has nine country-style rooms. They will lend you binoculars, teach you how to milk cows or charter you a light aircraft. The best time to visit is the Dia de la Tradicion (10 November) when the gauchos have a massive roast.
HOW FAR FROM BA? 70 miles.
PRICES: day out $45, full board $110
CONTACT: 00 54 2326 492080; estanciaelombu.com
5 El Rocio, San Miguel del Monte
WHY GO? It's a serious horse ranch with a beautiful, vibrantly coloured main house. Does polo clinics and exhibitions of pato, Argentina's national sport. Owners Patrice and Macarena can arrange carriage rides, golf, parachuting and hang-gliding.
HOW FAR FROM BA? 64 miles
PRICES: day out $100, full board $175
CONTACT: 00 54 2271 420 488, estanciaelrocio.com
6 La Alameda, Chascomus
WHY GO? Preened lawns, air-con throughout and the bucolic lagoon setting have made this the recommended out-of-town excursion for the guests of the palatial Hotel Alvear Palace. The folk dance show is touristy, but the town of Chascomus nearby is charming.
HOW FAR FROM BA? 75miles
PRICES: day out $49
CONTACT: 00 54 11 4326 2022, estancialaalameda.com
7 La Candelaria, Lobos
WHY GO? It's the most ostentatious of the castles built by Argentine aristocrats in the 19th century, packed with antiques and surrounded by magnificent gardens. Lobos, west of BA, is famous for its gaucho bars and lagoon.
HOW FAR FROM BA? 71 miles
PRICES: day out $33, full board $52
CONTACT: 00 54 2227 424404; lacandelariapolo.com
8 La Martina, Vicente Casares
WHY GO? Run by polo superstar Adolfo Cambiaso, there are three full-size polo fields, tennis courts and a pool spread out over 400 acres of lawns.
HOW FAR FROM BA? 31 miles
PRICES: day out $80, full board $160
CONTACT: 00 54 2226 430777, lamartinapolo.com.ar
9 Los 25 Ombúes, Berazategui
WHY GO? No food, no beds, no luxury. But this is the birthplace of naturalist and twitcher WH Hudson, described by Conrad as a " supernatural" writer. Here's where the dreamy, little boy first fell in love with the local birds. Worth a visit if heading south out of town.
HOW FAR FROM BA? 15 miles
PRICE: free entry (donations welcome)
CONTACT: 00 54 11 4291 5942
10 San Ceferino, Lujan
WHY GO? It had to happen - the spa has reached the pampas. This posh, modern ranch has tennis courts, football pitches and a lake. Nearby Lujan is Argentina's religious capital, a mix of religious paraphernalia, devotion and Blackpool-style fun.
HOW FAR FROM BA? 43 miles
PRICES: day out $55, b&b $80
CONTACT: 00 54 2323 441500, estanciasanceferino.com.ar
Take an armchair trip to some of the world's most interesting places with Simon Calder
