We’re on the move today — leaving Buenos Aires and heading north to the province of Entre Ríos. We will be staying at an estancia (essentially a ranch) for the next few days. The guys will be hunting, and the ladies will be not-hunting.

Last Minute Shopping in Buenos Aires

Our flight didn’t take off until late morning, so that left me about an hour for some last-minute shopping. That is not a lot of time.

Fortunately, I am an experienced speed-shopper. Some people train for marathons. I have other gifts.

The leather and wool situation in Buenos Aires is incredible. I bought a beautiful wool poncho ( it’ll make an appearance in a later post — I forgot to take photo at the shop). It has a traditional Argentine gaucho pattern that reminded me of a Nordic pattern, so it spoke to me. Anna bought another wool jacket. I didn’t bring the yellow school bus, so I’m starting to get a little concerned about luggage space on the return flight.

About a third of the population of Argentina lives in the Buenos Aires metro area. But outside of Buenos Aires, it gets really rural, really quickly.

Sidebar: I was getting worried thay Argentina may not be a Fanta Limón country, but she came through for me at the airport. Huzzah!

An Asada and Settling In

We had a traditional asada (BBQ) lunch in the field – literally in the field. The estancia set up a fire and a table and we had meat and Malbec. And one of the best empanadas I’ve ever had. So, so good. The guys went off to hunt, and the ladies went back to the estancia to settle in.

I think we’ll be prettttyyy comfortable here for a few days. Stunning sunset over the Paraná River tonight. We were told Rosado (rosé) is the wine we should drink with Argentine sunsets. Twist my arm.

We also met the estancia dog, Chewy, who was described to us as, “too friendly”.

Aptly named.

We watched the sunset and played with Chewy until the mosquitoes showed up. Then we fled inside.

Waiting for us inside was a whole leg of jamón, which is apparently the meat course before the meat course in Argentina.

And Anna found the estancia cat, Frieda. Of course she found a cat.

Fútbol Madness

Soccer is a religion in Argentina, and Argentina played their first World Cup game last night. This country came to a complete halt. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the satellite working for the game, so we tried to listen/watch on our phones. We’re in the middle of nowhere, and I swear I felt the earth move when Messi scored his first goal of the night.

Feeling super lucky and grateful for this time with family and friends. Enjoying every moment.

Salud!