Estancia El Bordo de las Lanzas

A short taxi ride, two hours on a jet, another short taxi ride, a 1:20 minute bus ride, then a 5 minute walk on dusty roads had us at the Estancia El Bordo de las Lanzas.  The Estancia is a 400 year old estate built by General Guemes’ mother.  We discovered that General Guemes was the most famous and important of all gauchos in the area, and rallied all the other gauchos to fight the Spanish for Argentina’s independence.  There is a town named for him, and a statue here in El Bordo in his honor.  El Bordo is north of Salta, near Jujuy, in the NW part of Argentina.

The house is beautiful, with the tile roof, whitewashed walls, inner courtyard and covered verandahs that make these old houses so pleasant.  We arrived around 7 pm, just enough time to check out the casa and get settled in before dinner.  Dinner was a barbecue, with  four other guests.  After dinner four children from the village gave an exhibition of Argentine native dances, including the chacarerra.

We came here for the horseback riding, which we did at 9:30 the next morning.  The estancia’s head gaucho, Gallardo, took us for a four hour ride through the property and into a nature preserve where we saw caymans.  I rode Lipan and my sister rode Hornero.

Gallardo

Me on Lipon

Afternoons are for relaxation and siesta.  We took full advantage of the laidback atmosphere.  The other guests left so we had the place to ourselves.  Sophia made us a wonderful dinner enjoyed in the main dining room.  The soups she made for both lunch and dinner were wonderful.

Sophia serves up her wonderful soup

Our ride the next day, with Gallardo, started at 8 am.  We rode the same two horses on a different route, and it was lovely.  Our 3 ½ hour ride was followed by another tasty lunch and more relaxation, of course.  This is what El Bordo is all about;  horseback riding the gaucho way, farming the land, good food, and relaxation.