Hold on to your hats, this is a long one…
Just got back to San Martin from 10 days away in the campo (country). 2 Sundays ago I took a bus from San Martin to go meet Michael at Epu Leufu (his property 1 ½ hours north). The bus took twice that long because of all of the stops and it’s snail pace, but the driver stopped at the side of the road, carried my bag for me, walked with me down to the river, and waited until one of the gauchos came in the boat to pick me up. Pretty nice bus driver!
We stayed 2 more nights at Epu Leufu before making the trek farther north to Ranquilco, the Estancia where Michael has another property. Ranquilco totals about 40,000 hectares, approximately 100,000 acres. A long-time American friend of Michael’s, Ashley Caruthers, bought Ranquilco in the early 1980s and runs it as a sort of guest ranch, offering riding and fishing in this remote Patagonian location. (www.ranquilco.com) (This isn’t an advertisement, just gives you an idea about what this place is.) Ashley bought the property because of its fabulous trout fishing in the Rio Trocomen and great cattle country. For the most part it is a less windy than other areas of Patagonia that are subject to the fierce north-south Patagonian winds because of its east-west topography. He loved this unique property because of its remote location, far from pressures of development. Remote, to say the least!
We got an early start (by Argentine standards), 8:30, and with a full car we were off. It was me, Michael, Marco, one of the gauchos who we were dropping off on the way, 2 dogs, and a small trailer to carry supplies. It was a 5 hour drive north, paved most of the way. We stopped in a small town to get food and supplies to pack in with us, along with huge sacks of potatoes, onions, wheat and flour for the gaucho who takes care of Michael’s property. From the main road we turned on to a smaller road that snaked through very rocky country for another hour and we didn’t go any higher than 2nd gear. THEN we met Diogenes, the gaucho, at the top of a ridge. This was the point that we couldn’t drive any further. Diogenes had horses ready for us, including a pack mule.
All that I could take with me on that ride in was what I needed for one night, so I took my camera backpack and my toiletries and pajamas. Diogenes would make another trip the next day with the mule to pack in the rest of the things.
The first view that we saw was unbelievable.
***By this time my little brain was so overwhelmed with the magnitude if the countryside and the beauty of my surroundings, that I felt like I couldn’t soak in anymore of where I was, I got to the point that I was just going through the motions of packing my things onto my horse and getting on, trying to prepare for the 2 hour ride ahead of me. My brain was like a camera’s memory card that is full, I was on overload. So my way of coping was to take pictures to stare at later!***
Over the ridge that we started off on by horseback, the road dropped into a huge bowl that stretches as far as the eye can see. It was like I was staring at a fake backdrop from an old spaghetti western that would just roll up at any moment. We were at the top of what was like an immense amphitheater of open space with herds of cattle, sheep and goats visible and off in the distance were groups of trees that marked our destination. The pictures definitely do not do this place justice. It takes your breath away.
It was a long and dusty 2 hour ride in, mostly downhill, to cross a river. They are in a bit of a drought here, and it is the middle of their summer, so the water in the Trocoman River was only up to the horse’s bellies. Just the bottom of my boots got wet. I am very relieved that the river crossing was uneventful because I had had nightmares about somehow ending up in the water and my camera getting wet and destroyed! But it was all smooth sailing. Then from the river was a climb back up and through the main house area. The main house is absolutely stunning! It is all stone, like a little castle or fortress. I’m definitely not talking on Hearst Castle scale, but it was so shocking to see such ornate buildings so far away from civilization. I am still in awe as to the process that it must have taken to haul all of the supplies into Ranquilco to build the facilities.
From the headquarters it was still another 30 minute ride to Michael’s property. He has about 40 hectares, 80ish acres under an arrangement from Ashley Caruthers in the form of a long-term lease. All canal and sub irrigated, like an oasis amidst what is this time of the year a crispy desert with scary, pokey plants (see photo below). Michael has the one gaucho, Diogenes, who lives there year-round. There are dozens of chickens and turkeys, a stallion and several brood mares with colts. We stayed in a little house, 2 bedrooms with a kitchen and dining room with a small bathroom. The shower is in a separate bath house/laundry room outside with a wood burning stove to heat the water. There is no electricity. What power there is comes from a solar panel, so that there are a few small lights in the house at night. There is a gas stove in the kitchen, so we were able to cook some great meals (and tortas – cakes – of course!).
Being there was a nice escape from the luxuries of technology that I take for granted. It made me really realize how many technological gizmos and gadgets that I use everyday. However, I REALLY have a newfound appreciation for the washing machine. I didn’t think washing clothes by hand was that bad, but washing towels and sheets by hand is a real pain in the ass!
So what did we do while we were there for 8 days…We rode everyday. The possibilities of places to ride are endless. You can ride as far as you want and not see any other sign of civilization, other than the occasional gaucho that passed you by on his way to town to get supplies with his mule in tow. I tried to go on hikes on foot to get exercise and the gauchos must have thought that I was such a crazy gringa, walking around without a horse. The views of the landscape were astounding. I took tons of photos. I was amazed at the number of springs and the amount of water that was coming out of them. There are large lush meadows that look like mirages surrounded by dry high-desert terrain and wherever these meadows are you are sure to find a herd of horses and/or cattle. These areas are so wet that when crossing by foot I would sink up to my ankles.
On the last night Ashley Caruthers, invited us to an asado at the main house that he was having for the guests. Marco and Diogenes went early to “asado” (bbq) the goat and Mike and I rode down later. We got dressed in gaucho garb - bombachas, fajas and even put knives in the back of the fajas. It was a wonderful outside dinner at Ashley’s outside bbq area overlooking a magnificent vista of the river. It was fun to visit with the guests, who hailed from Buenos Aires, England and the U.S. It was a very fun night, the weather was remarkable, the Southern Cross was shining brightly and there was a spectacular full moon light our ride home. The ride home was quite amusing. Marco was riding ahead of me and all of a sudden veered off the trail. He shined a flashlight on what Mike’s dog just attacked. It was a skunk! With the full moon, several skunks – zorrinos – were out and about, and Mike’s dog LOVES to kill and eat skunks. I road up behind, just in time to catch a nice whiff of skunk. The dog was shaking it, making the cloud even worse and of course soaking herself in the odor. Marco and I were laughing so hard. So we kept riding back to the house. And then she killed another one! The worst part of the situation was that we had to do the long drive back to San Martin the next day, in the hot weather, WITH the dog in the car! I was laughing so hard that I almost fell off of my horse.
It was a special trip, so neat to see such large and open landscape with such little sign of civilization.
This is on part of Ranquilco, we're still in the car, driving to that far ridge to meet Diogenes with the horses.
On the ridge, that is Marco. We're still unpacking the car of stuff that needs to go on the mule. Those are our horses in the backround, tied to rocks. There is no lack of rocks.
I know it's pretty hard to see anything in this picture, but the purple arrow is the trail that we are riding down, and the red arrow is where we need to go.
This was a ride to the Confluencia, where 2 rivers meet upstream of where we were. That is the Trocoman River.
This is the Confluencia, where the Trocoman and the Pinunleo Rivers meet.
The mare that I rode, Malacara, and her colt.
Marco riding with the full moon rising above him.
One of the horse pastures with Malacara and her colt with the view in the back.
The nasty thorny little bushes that cover the landscape. And this is a little one! I sure didn't want to fall off on one of those!
The shiny thing in the middle is the main Ranquilco house in the middle of the trees. The Trocoman River is below. That is where we had to cross horseback.
Estoy in Patagonia!!!
I was stalking the chickens...
Marco "asado-ing" a chivo one night.
Michael's house, with the bath house on the left, Mike sitting by the front door.
Diogenes and Marco at the asado at the big house on the last night.
Mike and me in our fajas.
wheewww...
