After Punta del Este, we returned to Buenos Aires for one more night. David had to head back to London and the rest of us decided to split our time between some beachside relaxation and a few nights in an estancia. We hired a people carrier and set off to the beachside location of Villa Gesell, near Mar del Plata on the Atlantic coast. MG was exhausted after we had had an unexpectedly big night just before leaving and promptly fell asleep in the car. A couple of hours later he awoke to see road signs pointing ahead to Buenos Aires. Navigational skills in the car had been pickled through xmas drinking and the trip which should have taken no more than a 2 or 3 hours ended up a 6 hour marathon. We stopped for lunch and had some cheese and ham pie with a few beers under the sun. When we finally got there it was worth it. Ms Amundo (Millsy) and Hicksey 06 (Chris) had identified a great place for us to spend a few nights. We had our own house with lots of bedrooms, a fireplace, a bbq and a shared pool, some 10 minutes walk from the beach. E-J laid the table, Hicks got the fire going, Mills and Si prepared the food and MG made himself look useful. A few meals and some time reading and relaxing and sleeping and we regained some sense of self.
As well as some time chilling on the beach, a couple of fab barbeques, we spent half a day ripping round sand dunes on ATV's...
|
After a few beach days we left the beach for the striking Santa Rita Estancia located about an hour outside of Buenos Aires. The final few days of the holiday was spent going for walks and taking it easy in the beautiful grounds.
Perhaps the most intensely funny experience of the bigenchilada took place at Santa Rita... (up there with the laugh to tears World's Worst Joke Telling session over dinner in Macchu Picchu Pueblo hotel in Aguas Calientes with our parents).
We told the estancia's staff that we were intending to go for a walk in their grounds and could they recommend a route. They vaguely pointed in a couple of directions and we as we left they shouted after us, 'watch out for the llama'. Whatever, we thought, and set off down a path. The path soon gave way to woods. A couple of miles of directionless meandering was enough and someone suggested we sit down for a smoke break and discuss the way back. We reached no conclusion but heaved our tired bodies back up and randomly picked a direction. Then MG suddenly spotted a big white llama some 20 metres away racing towards us. He shouted, "THERE'S THE LAMA... RUN!". Initially the group froze and an electric haze of panicky silence descended on us. We stared at it. It stared at us. It continued sprinting towards us, slowly at first and then it broke into a bounding mass of half camel half sheep. There was nothing to discuss. We all sprinted for our lives. Like Christians to the lions, it was "EACH TO THEIR OWN!". As we ran, half in hysterics, half in a state of pure fear the beast picked up pace and although there were endless brambles and branches to trip over we checked over our shoulders and each time the monster was gaining on us. Hicks was falling behind and sought refuge up a small tree. Mills took a sharp turn to split up the group. The animal slowed, not sure who to go for. Between pants, E-J managed to say "It's just being friendly... it just wants... some affection!! Don't run from it Michael!!". For a moment MG stopped and looked at the creature in a different light, but then it began to pick up pace again. "WELL THEN YOU BE FRIENDLY TO IT!" we were all sprinting again and no-one was laughing. If Simon, the opportunist photographer was not willing to risk his life for a potentially classic shot, then neither were any of the rest of us. We must have been on the run for 10 minutes and in the end MG picked up a large stick and shouted at it to stop. Sweating through his T-shirt, he held it a bay for a couple of moments and we all jumped over a fence and to safety. We later discovered it was the male of the group and we were on his patch and whatever you do, don't run from it!
|
