Estancia

Monday was where Amber and Gus split up until the new year, with Gus going to Cafayate, and then an estancia, with Amber going to another estancia, and then Cafayate. This meant Gus had to leave early, and we got to leave late because our estancia was like an hour down the road. This does mean however after Cafayate we have a lot of distance to cover unlike Gus who will be a lot further down the road. Our advantage though was we got a whole morning to explore Salta, so I went and walked through the park and caught the cable car to the top of the hill to see the views of the city. It was lots of fun.

We ended up leaving Salta at about half 1, and we were at the estancia by 3 where we were greeted by the owner who was very vocal. Our driver got out the truck and literally went to say hello and the owner started kissing him. He seems like a very happy guy. After setting up our tents we sat inside the dining area and it started raining, having scones and jam later which was very British. We did however have bottomless glasses of wine as the owner kept filling them up even when it was half full. Argentinian people have a very different way of eating, with lunch being their main meal of the day, and the times being a lot later than usual. Dinner wasn't until half 9 which was empanadas which were really good, lots of meat inside. I somehow however ended up being the last one up with the Argentinian family who knew who Southampton were due to Dani Osvaldo and Boca Juniors. The wine was so drinkable.

Come morning we had agreed to restart our running club as we were finally out of altitude, which had expanded from 3 members to 6 members. I however was the only one who turned up because it was raining, although I still went and was accompanied by the two dogs who had slept outside my tent all night. They literally ran with me to the town and back which was about a 10km round trip, and I even had about 5 dogs following me at one point. We got quite wet though although I managed to make the dogs pass out when we got back.

We originally had horse riding planned for the morning, although this was cancelled due to the weather and postponed until the afternoon. We instead simply had the morning to relax and as I was so exhausted I ended up having  nap until lunchtime. Lunch was a proper Argentinian bbq including big joints of steak where we got endless lumps of it on our plate, ribs, sausages and a big variety of sides and salads. It was quite a good meal although I was stuffed by the end. We also once again had bottomless glasses of wine.

Come afternoon I decided against horse riding as it was still raining and stayed behind and played cards relaxed. We had scones once again for afternoon tea and a lot of wine whilst everyone was horse riding. We had a treat in the evening with a cheese and wine tasting session where we tried 4 local wines, a torrentes, torrentes reisling, malbec, and oak aged cabernet sauvignon. They were really good and the cheese went down really well too. We were then surprised by dinner as the owner just walked out with half a pig and carved us an endless supply to eat with breads. They're feeding us well. We also had the small matter of a truck members 70th birthday to celebrate. We were given more wine and it was quite a late night.

Wednesday was a nice and relaxing start with breakfast not until 10. I went for a run though again which was good, minus the dogs who were nowhere to be seen. After breakfast most people went horse riding although I wasn't so keen and went for a hike instead, with the dogs. They kept getting into fights with other dogs on the way though as they kept breaking into people's houses. They even killed 4 chickens en route by chasing them, catching them and chucking them on the floor. I had about 30 barking dogs round me at one point, and an angry Argentinian chucking rocks which wasn't great. 

When getting back I relaxed before lunch, which was once again a big bbq with a lot of meat. The owner wouldn't stop feeding me! We then had a free afternoon, where most people went for a nap, although I just listened to the Saints game which wasn't great. Come evening I ended up having an early night as I was exhausted, not helped by the fact I'd spent much of the day playing football with the kids who wouldn't run out of energy!