(After I discovered I got kind of car sick on bumpy South American roads, I spent a lot of time sitting near the front of Amber, staring out this front window. Whoever I stole this pic from, nice photo!)
Date: July 15-19, 2009.
Where: B.A. to an estancia near Cordoba, Argentina.
Info: We met Amber at 6:45 AM. She was waiting for us across from the hotel in the dark. I don't what I had been expecting but she was huge! And crazy awesome. I was so excited, I threw my bag in the back and climbed in.
We all found seats and soon we were driving down the street and turning onto the huge Av. 9 de Julio (Abby and I were impressed!) and we were off! We passed the obelisco and waved goodbye to Buenos Aires. A while later we stopped for a break and Jayson explained how Amber worked and told us our jobs and cook groups,etc. I was put on recycling/hand sanitizer duty, which I later found out was the 'old person' job. Thanks a lot Jayson. (Although, I did get in a bit of trouble later in the trip due to not emptying the recycling bins....and I might have tried to blame it on Tania....heeheeheeooops! Love ya Tania!).
We found out that the other truck ('Cindy') would be leaving the next day and there would be a bbq (asado) that night to celebrate our arrival and their departure. Abby and I set up the Hoff in a field full of other Drago tents and horse crap. We wandered back to the farmhouse, where the owner explained what would be happening over the next two days. Abby declared he was 'mad as a box of frogs' (!!)(Abby, you rock!) and I felt like we'd stepped back in time when farm employees in aprons started handing us cups of tea. Bizarre.
After a night of beef, booze and more extremely loud snorers, we woke up to find the field beside the tents full of horses. The Cindy people packed up their stuff and left while we were having breakfast. Later we were each assigned a horse and the owner gave us a quick lesson on how to handle the horses. My horse was named Sal (Salt) and he pretty much followed in behind the other horses. The countryside was beautiful and I was amazed how the horses were able to pick their way through the rocky hillsides.
That night the estancia owner provided a wine tasting of local wines. We learned about Argentinean wine, beef and how his family came to own the land. I don't actually remember any of this information...perhaps due to the amount of wine we consumed that night. After dinner we continued drinking and Fred, Johan, Sebastian and Tania tried to teach me how to play poker. Somehow with Abby's colour strategy (2 reds = bet high) I managed to win. We slept on the floor of the kitchen that night. It was too cold to sleep in the tents!
The next day was our long ride. I was given a different horse (I guess Sal needed a rest). Floppy (ha!) was apparently one of the nicest horses to ride on the estancia (I was just hoping we wouldn't go flying down any more hillsides!). We rode across fields and down rocky hills. We stopped beside a stream for lunch and then continued up the mountain to the top. What a view.
We returned to the farmhouse by pickup to find that Amber and Mick were gone. He'd taken her to town to get the brakes fixed (always a good idea). Unfortunately, dinner was in the fridge on the truck so we did the smart thing and started drinking. A local singer came to perform and Jayson couldn't resist borrowing his guitar and serenading us with a bit of Wonderwall. After the performance, the night kind of deteriorated into a mess of red wine and drinking games (I never need to play Ring of Fire again, thanks).
(Here she is folks! Meet Amber, my home for 6 weeks this summer. Even though she had a few issues, she still rocked.)
(Gas station lunch. We must have been quite a sight - 12 people jump off a big orange truck, pull out stools and tables and make lunch!)
At about noon we pulled over and found out that Amber was having some (alternator??) problems . Us passengers were dropped off at a gas station restaurant and Jayson took Amber to be fixed. For the next two hours we drank coffee, talked, watched early 90's music videos (Take That!) and looked at Mick's travel videos. When Jayson returned, we were off again and stopped a little while later at a supermercado. My cook group was on duty that night. Woohoo. The Girl Guide Leader (one of the other Canadians) took control and decided on chicken with rice for dinner. Johan and Freddie weren't thrilled with this and since they'd been on the truck since Rio, I felt they knew more about shopping in South American supermarkets than the rest of our group....That wasn't our last supermercado battle with the GGL...
(Johan has some mean meat arranging skills.)
Jayson and Mick found us a campsite that night so we didn't have to 'bush camp' (aka camping behind a gas station, which would have killed my parents to hear about). The campsite was pretty empty and kind of sketchy. After a tent demo, Abby and I got to putting up the Hoff. Yes, that's right - our tent was named David Hasselhoff (others included George Clooney, Tom Selleck, Johnny Depp). Later, Katja and I went for a shower only to be horrified when we found them (see picture below). They reminded me of the movie 'Saw' and were falling apart and gross. I somehow showered, while trying to avoid a huge spider and afterwards put on every single piece of warm clothing I had brought with me since it was FREEZING.
(TERRIFYING!)
Dinner was interesting and a bit stressful. Girl Guide Leader was freaking out about how the boys were chopping vegetables and meat in a variety of sizes and I had no idea how to make rice for 12 people. The stir-fry turned into a kind of stew but I don't think anyone minded. It was freezing so after cleaning up we pretty much all went to bed. The tent was comfortable but someone nearby was snoring SO LOUDLY that Abby and I couldn't stop laughing. Around 2AM a train went by right beside the campsite, lighting up the tent and shaking the ground. I was so cold I hid inside my sleeping bag and tried to get some sleep.
After a breakfast of watery oatmeal (sorry people, I also don't know how to make oatmeal for 12!) we were back on the road. The extremely flat scenery started to change and we started driving up into rolling hills. At some point, Mick honked the horn as another Dragoman truck drove by us in the opposite direction. We followed them steeper and steeper and finally turned off onto a narrow dirt road towards the estancia. The road was seriously narrow and I had visions of us rolling down the side of the hill, which would not have been a good start to my overlanding experience.
(one of the estancia dogs making himself at home on Sebastian's tent)
(The estancia farmhouse. We ended up sleeping in here after the first night because it was so frickin' cold.)
We found out that the other truck ('Cindy') would be leaving the next day and there would be a bbq (asado) that night to celebrate our arrival and their departure. Abby and I set up the Hoff in a field full of other Drago tents and horse crap. We wandered back to the farmhouse, where the owner explained what would be happening over the next two days. Abby declared he was 'mad as a box of frogs' (!!)(Abby, you rock!) and I felt like we'd stepped back in time when farm employees in aprons started handing us cups of tea. Bizarre.
(estancia owners)
(Argentinean bbq = Lots and lots of beef.)
(Amber and Cindy. Cindy people were kind of crazy. I'll bite my tongue and not write anything else about them!)
(Mick on the roof. I don't know why. Taking care of serious Dragoman business, obviously.)
(Dinner was delicious. Got to talk to some people who'd already been to the places we were headed. There was also a lot of wine)
After a night of beef, booze and more extremely loud snorers, we woke up to find the field beside the tents full of horses. The Cindy people packed up their stuff and left while we were having breakfast. Later we were each assigned a horse and the owner gave us a quick lesson on how to handle the horses. My horse was named Sal (Salt) and he pretty much followed in behind the other horses. The countryside was beautiful and I was amazed how the horses were able to pick their way through the rocky hillsides.
(Abby's darling horse, affectionately nicknamed Cow)
(Estancia owner giving us a lesson on how to ride a horse)
Oh Sal...how you didn't want to go on this ride. Apparently he'd been out the day before and just didn't want to cooperate. At one point he stopped and refused to continue down a hill. One of the riding instructors came by and gave him a slap on the butt. He immediately bolted down the hill with me holding on for dear life! Fun times...
(moo)
That night the estancia owner provided a wine tasting of local wines. We learned about Argentinean wine, beef and how his family came to own the land. I don't actually remember any of this information...perhaps due to the amount of wine we consumed that night. After dinner we continued drinking and Fred, Johan, Sebastian and Tania tried to teach me how to play poker. Somehow with Abby's colour strategy (2 reds = bet high) I managed to win. We slept on the floor of the kitchen that night. It was too cold to sleep in the tents!
The next day was our long ride. I was given a different horse (I guess Sal needed a rest). Floppy (ha!) was apparently one of the nicest horses to ride on the estancia (I was just hoping we wouldn't go flying down any more hillsides!). We rode across fields and down rocky hills. We stopped beside a stream for lunch and then continued up the mountain to the top. What a view.
(ride leader)
(Jayson looking all serious on his steed)
(I forced them to all look in the same direction before I took the photo)
At the end of the ride we ended up at the estancia's guest house (so gorgeous) where we were greeted with hot chocolate by the staff (again, weird). After a look around we were given a lassoing lesson and let loose on a group of poor little calves. I almost lassoed the practice tree trunk but got no where near the calves. Tania ended up lassoing a hoof and was declared the champion!
(Johan, Abby and Tania being all gaucho)
(A very happy Abby and a very intoxicated Sebastian. Tabarnac!)
(An example of what you find on your camera when you accidentally leave it in Jayson's safe keeping)
The next morning we woke up to discover that Mick had returned with Amber at 2AM. Abby and I packed up the Hoff and we all piled into the truck. It was a long day of driving to our next campsite (the infamous chicken-dog-campsite!)
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