Buenos Aires day 3 - San Antonio de Areco & Gaucho farm

After a late night out at the tango show, we rise at 5:30 on a Sunday. Today we are visiting San Antonio de Areco, a historic gaucho town 2 hours outside of BA. We have opted to take the bus, for around AR60 per person, each way. We hop into a taxi, making sure it is one of the official "Radio taxis" which display their car number on their doors and are less likely to try and rob/scam us. We have no problems with the guy, and arrive at Retiro bus terminal AR45 later.

The bus station is huge, three stories high and with close to 100 platforms. We have no idea where to go, but eventually find a counter on the top floor resembling the company we booked through, and the lady tells us in Spanish to head to platforms 55-62. We also book ur return tickets through a different company, which offers a more preferable timeslot.

At the platform there is no sign of our bus, so we grab a bite to eat: weird thick gelatinous yoghurt, a tiny croissant and bitter cappuccinos for over AR100, ouch. Finally the bus arrives and it's a double decker, we head upstairs to its plush comfort: soft seats which recline quite far back and even have leg rests for sleeping. There are TVs scattered through the bus, but they are not on, instead they are playing soft tango music.

At 8:50 the bus finally arrives at a tiny bus station in San Antonio de Areco, we get off and look around. Nothing. The bus drives away and we wander if we are in the right place, isn't there supposed to be a town here? We spot some petrol stations and head in that direction. A friendly lady who speaks no English at all babbles away in Spanish trying to explain to us how to get to the town centre... We hear that there is supposed to be a tourist info office and hope to find it as we head in the general direction she has pointed. We find the tourist info and this lady gives us a map and some directions: 3 blocks then right, 5 blocks then left, then another 3 blocks... We walk through the sleepy little town, the houses are actually very nice - fairly modern and suburban.



We finally reach the town centre as the church bells are tolling. We walk through the main plaza and decide to grab a cup of tea at a busy looking gaucho bar (el Tokio) on the side of the square. The place is awesome, decorated very traditionally with wood and wagon wheels and old fashioned tables and swing doors. They have a huge selection of ice creams (helado) and Wendy checks it out. We order coffees and try out the mate tea to warm up. It is a very chilly cloudy day and we are wishing we had dressed warmer!


Afterwards we head out back through the town and towards the Areco river, where we are joined by a large pack of dogs from all directions, our wolf pack! They follow us over the river and the iconic bridge, and most of the way to the gaucho museum. We reach the museum at the same time as a number of other tourists and follow them through a door towards the back. A very grumpy looking man comes out and mumbles something to us resembling "we are not open yet" and then pushes past us back to the gate... We don't have much time to get to the gaucho farm, so we decide to leave the museum. Unfortunately Mr Grumpy has locked the gate and we have to jimmy it to get out.


We head to another tourist info, followed again by our wolf pack, and one particularly loyal and aggressive dog who keeps the other dogs at bay. We request a taxi to Estancia El Ombu, the gaucho farm we have booked. We are informed that it will cost AR80 one way. The farm day visit was US$80 each. We wait a while until a small Renault shows up and this seems to be our guy. We hop in but the car is completely filthy - has this guy been transporting more livestock than humans? We say goodbye to our dog and off we go. The trip isn't long but we fear for our lives most of the way. Mr taxi driver drives like his life depends on it and seems to be extremely low on sleep - he keeps almost nodding off and then shaking his head...


Thankfully we pull into Estancia El Ombu a bit after 11:00 and enjoy the beautiful tree lined lane leading us up to the buildings. We go into reception and are met by Pat, a BA local who speaks perfect English and seems to be the owner or something. She shows us around the farm - to the dining area, the lounge and pool table and of course the Ombu - a beautiful huge tree grown from a herb that apparently used to be one of the only tall features on an otherwise featureless and flat land. We park ourselves at a wooden table under the Ombu and snack on delicious home made empanadas and red wine to warm up.


After a while the horses are ready for us, and we meet the gauchos. One of them, Oscar, is an older guy and is totally bent over when we walks, but looks perfectly straight on a horse. He looks like a real weathered old guy and I wonder if he spends more time on horses than his own two feet. We hop on our horses which are generally huge and saddled with nice warm sheepskin saddles. We are joined by some Americans and Germans and head off into the farm. It's a working farm which has beef, sheep, goats and donkeys. We have a nice long leisurely ride and chat to the others while admiring the rather flat scenery.


Back at the ranch :) we have a walk around before heading into the lovely warm dining area to enjoy the log fire before sitting down to possibly the largest barbecue ever... There is bread, three or four salads, sausages, blood sausage, chicken, steak, lamb, ribs... Everything is delicious and washed down with a house malbec. Dessert is a type of ice cream cake topped with nuts and washed down with espresso. Oscar entertains us with his guitar and sings us old gaucho songs.





After lunch we head outside for a show off gaucho "skills". The younger gaucho has his huge horse next to him, and lovingly convinces it to lie right down, then onto its back and allows him to climb over it and give it a kiss. He does other tricks like climbing through its legs, holding its leg and standing on its back, and is even able to get the horse to stand up with him on it.


After this we head out for another ride while the kids enjoy a "sulky" ride on the horse carriage, lead by the dogs, we manage to pick up a bit more speed this time and enjoy trotting around in the fields and the mud. The sun even makes an appearance. I ride the same horse again, his name is "piocho". Wendy's horse is cheeky this time, and after trying to kick the gauchos horse, it tries to kick mine as well! No wonder my poor horse tries to stay away from it!


When finished we relax in the lounge, playing pool and sipping cups of mate and enjoy home made pastries and lemon meringue. The mate is very strong and we don't like it this time, but they way it is served is really nice. They have special cups which they fill with the tea leaves, and then keep topping up with boiling water. Mate is drunk from a communal cup, with a filtered metal straw, unlike anything I have seen elsewhere!


As some of the tourists leave, we really hope our freak taxi driver will come back for us at 6:00 as planned, as the bus departs at 6:45. By 6:10 he is still not there, but eventually we see the little blue car heading down the dusty tree lined lane. He asks us the bus time, and then proceeds to drive even more maniacally to get us there on time. He continues his eye blinking and head shaking and we wonder if there is perhaps something else wrong with him...


We arrive on time for the bus and hop on for the trip back to BA. It's a different bus but equally comfortable, and we all end up completely passing out for the 2 hours trip back. Back in Retiro, we take a taxi home, and don't have any problems other than a cheeky local trying to charge us a "finders fee" for the taxi.


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Location:San Antonio de Areco, Argentina