Time for countryside stories from the Estancia. As soon as we arrived, we were all in love with the place. (Will post pictures soon!) It’s about 45 minutes outside the city, so en el campo (in the country) and is now one of my very favorite places in the whole wide world. It has everything I could have thought of, and was the perfect place to be welcomed into Argentina. There were 2 big house like buildings, a pool, tennis courts, a big field, a building for eating and meetings. There was also a horse barn and an enclosed space to practice polo. And, believe it or not, I had the chance to give polo my best effort. Ok, so not on moving horses or anything, only a wooden one, but I think it still counts. Emiliano, the guy in charge/man of the hour, was our coach – he is also probably the most suave and dreamy Argentine men ever. (All the guys in our group are working toward his standards, perfecto!) He taught those of us who wanted lessons, all the techniques and whenever we would swing he would say “Exaaaaaacto” (exactly) even if we completely missed… if only someone would be behind me saying that every time I did something, good or bad. But he was a great coach. In the field we had spent our free time playing Frisbee and soccer. Again, my favorite.
The meals I ate there were like none other. I could talk about the food for days. The first afternoon we had lunch and they brought all of us a plate of these fried cheese patty things – they were really good, and filling. Little did we know we had 2 more courses to go. SO MUCH FOOD! I was never hungry. At lunch the next day there were 5 different courses of meat! Yes, 5!! Whaaa… I could not believe it. One of them was blood sausage. If blood sausage makes up 1% of the Argentine diet then all I have to say is 99% of Argentine food is incredibly delicious. But seriously, the rest is delectable (knock on wood). I also discovered “los media lunas” and dulce de leche. Media lunas are basically half moon croissants with a sugar topping and dulce de leche is the best dessert spread in the world, similar to caramel… very sweet, very rich and very good with everything…media lunas, bread, fruit, EVERYTHING! Today I learned that it was invented by accident - a servant left milk and sugar in the oven for too long and it turned into Dulce de Leche… people are thanking her for the mistake to this day, including me!
Morning runs were also perfect. While running through the countryside with new friends I saw a jackrabbit, a groundhog and of course cows and horses. Oooo I also saw los gauchos (cowboys) in Argentina, they are a very quintessential Argentine item – and yes, one day, for those of you who are unaware of my life dream, I WILL be be una gaucha (a cowgirl). The dogs from the Estancia also made sure we were safe as they ran close by and protected/herded us the whole time!
While all of this was beyond believable, the most amazing part for me was yet to come. On Wednesday night, our last night at the Estancia, we decided to star gaze, as it would be one of our last chances for a while due to the city lights and pollution we would likely encounter. We went out to the field and a group of us decided to lay down and enjoy the view, even though the ground was wet and a bit chilly (oh yeah, I don’t think I ever explained, it’s winter here – almost spring) In time, we realized we made a pretty darn good quartet… that is if anyone was interested in hearing the latest version of A Whole New World and Don’t Stop Believing. But along with the singing came my most favorite thing of all –SHOOTING STARS! It’s hard to explain why I am so fascinated, but I can’t get over them… they are so extraordinary and somehow inspiring. They are humbling, as they make me realize how small my problems and I are compared to the whole world… and universe. And, at the same time, they remind me how closely connected this whole universe is -- if you think about it, us humans are made of the same basic particles as stardust. Cool huh? I believe I saw about 3 or 4 stars falling, carefree through the night sky, WHEN, all of a sudden a star that was falling out of the sky BURST into flames and shot through the air like a meteor!! (It may have actually been a meteor) It left a long, thick, bright mark in the sky for a moment before disappearing. I am certain this explanation is not doing this shooting star the justice it deserves, but know that it was such an exhilarating thing that the four of us laying down who saw it, literally gasped, screamed, yelled, hugged each other and completely freaked out, all out of joy for about 5 minutes. The other people in our group who didn’t see it thought we were trying to play a trick on them. Not the case, we couldn’t help it. It was truthfully one of the most incredible things I have ever seen and I don’t plan of forgetting about it for the rest of my life. I’m going to take it as a sign, and I will try to remember that when things start “falling down” the light will somehow shine!
Mucho amor (Much love),
Marie
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