As mentioned in my last post, I spent the last week studying for my Spanish examination. When I signed up for this course at the University of Buenos Aires I did not expect to have an examination; all I wanted to do was to learn a bit of Spanish so that I did not feel totally lost as I travel around Latin America. I am sure that it was not a requirement that I do the exam, but the old competitive spirit has not left me and if everyone else in my class (see photo) was taking the exam then I sure wasn't going to be left behind! So I studied hard and did very well--95% on the written and 80% on the oral.
I hesitated before writing that down, not from modesty let me assure you, but because I am very afraid that some of you who really do speak Spanish are going to put me to the test and I know I will have forgotten everything and will be tongue tied. However now I have written that down maybe I will be feel shamed into keeping it up and learning more!
However, this week I am in an English speaking environment since I have now left Buenos Aires and am at an Anglo-Argentine estancia near Cordoba in central Argentina which is run by and caters to English speakers. It seems strange to be able to converse without thinking hard about it first and without looking up all the words before opening my mouth. I shall have to make myself talk to the gauchos, but being by nature solitary horsemen they are not into light conversation I'm afraid.
Flying here from Buenos Aires you pass over hundreds of miles of flat farm and ranch land, squared out into huge fields. Just as you descend into Cordoba however you see the dark shapes of mountains and realise that Cordoba --like Denver, Colorado or Calgary, Alberta-- is situated at the foot of a range mountains. This is called the Sierra Chicas and is the oldest range in South America. Being an old range, the mountains are worn down by the milennia and are not all that high--not like the Rockies, or the Andes which lie further west.
This makes it ideal hiking and riding country though. The area was the centre of Jesuit missions in the 1600s and the order were huge land owners. There are some very old Jesuit estancias and I hope to visit some of them later in the week. This estancia dates from 1649 and originally bred mules for the silver mines in Peru and Bolivia. Old fieldstone walls cross the hills and valleys--like mini-Hadrian's Walls , some of the 300 years old dating from the time when the mules were bred here. Apparently the name which means "the enclosures" dates from those days.
The estancia has been in the same Anglo-Argentine family of 4 or 5 generations. During that time all the children were sent back to England to boarding school so the current owner speaks with a fine English accent although born in Argentina.
The estancia now concentrates on raising Aberdeen Angus cattle and horses (Criollos and Pasa Peruanas)---and of course entertaining tourists like me. There are 50 riding horses and polo ponies. We go out riding twice a day--about 5 hours a day. I survived this morning's ride. This being Sunday there is a polo match and I watched some of the tourists who ride well play polo this morning---I am not going to get to that stage in 6 days, but I do hope to make some progress.
The countryside is quite beautiful--the hills are bare of trees and stony but support wonderful wild-flowers, butterflies and birds and in the valleys are a fine variety of trees beside small streams. The closest similar terrain might be the escarpments surrounding the Yorkshire dales.
The estancia buildings are mostly 18th and early 19th century--single story , whitewashed stone and adobe with red roofs and shady porches. The dining room and sitting room of the main building are the oldest with thick cool wallLovely antique furniture --not bought in an antique store!
My fellow guests are a congenial bunch--Americans and English--and a lot of importance is attached to good conversation over good food and wine, which one can feel virtuous about after riding over the hills throughout the day!
Here are a few photos--not many because there is a very slow internet connection up here on the sierra and photos take an eternity to upload.
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My classmates in my Spanish class--two Chinese, one Russian, one Norwegian, me, one Japanese and one Turkish--all at least 40 years younger than me |
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| The bedroom of my cabin at the Estancia Los Potreros |
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| Me kitted out for my first ride three hour ride |
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