Estancia, town of Lobos

We went to the Estancia (country estate) Santa Rita, near the town of Lobos. In addition to being a guest house, it is also an active farm. We got fed a lot, and while I didn't take any pictures of the food it was all very good and made with fresh farm ingredients. Here are some pictures of the grounds:

There were chickens, roosters, and turkeys running all over the place, but they were colorful and cute enough that it was kind of charming.

The main residence was an Italian style villa house which was built and decorated like something out of Jean Cocteau's "Beauty and the Beast":

A detail of the spire, with classical statues of Poisidon and Promethius

A view of the library

A reading room:

The main staircase has these cool statues on the way up

This is the courtyard, currently overgrown and closed but nice to look at.

We were on the 3rd floor (which they call the 2nd floor); here are some views from our room:

A dove had made a nest in a palm tree next to our balcony

We went horseback riding with some of the estancia staff. The young guy on the right is Rosado, who was very sweet and helped Kae a lot

The reason Kae looks tired in this picture is that Rosado had to try four or five times to get the camera to work. I guess digital camera work is not part of his normal duties.

We rode out to the cow pastures...

The cows looked smaller and more active/athletic than the ones in the U.S. In general the livestock on the farm seemed somewhat different than we are used to (probably slightly different breeds).

Rosado is flirting with Kae here...

On the way home we fucked up our reservation (partly due to my poor spanish) and so we got stranded in the town of Lobos for a few hours. We walked around and got a drink. Lobos is actually quite pretty; I later found out that it was the birth place of folk hero, 3 time president, and nazi sympathizer Juan Peron.

Who would have thought the Stud had a branch in Lobos?

Kae bought some ankle boots at a store with a cute antique cash register:

The whole town shut down at 1:00 for lunch-and-siesta. I'd heard of this but it seems to not be the case in Buenos Aires anymore; I guess the tradition lives on in smaller towns though.