What is an Estancia?

What is an Estancia?

The word estancia is widely used in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and in the south of Chile to refer to a vast agricultural area, it is quite similar to the notion of ranch in North America. But is it not quite the same.

A little bit of history will be helpful for you to understand the meaning of an authentic estancia in Argentina. 

The first ranches and farms (farms are much smaller than ranches), appeared in Argentina in the 16th century, during the Spanish colonization. The conquerors and explorers were rewarded with large tracts of land. They accepted these lands as “payment” for their efforts.

The lots from the farms were used for agriculture, while the lots from the ranches specialized in breeding. The lots of the stays had to measure at least half a league by a league and a half, which is about 2025 hectares of land. This area was calculated so that between 800 and 1,000 cows fed on natural pastures, which is equivalent to about 2 to 2.5 hectares per animal. But some ranches reached 250,000 hectares.

Originally, the Pampa estancias were used to raise sheep for wool, but also cows for meat, fat and tallow. Tallow, a residual product obtained from the melting of animal fat, was used to make soap to clean, but also to soften and waterproof leather.

From generation to generation, these territories remained within the same families by inheritance, making Argentina a great land of great landed aristocrats. Those aristocrats are very known families in Argentina and they still own many estancias.

Those lands, recently occupied by the Creoles since the 18th century, were still inhabited by different indigenous tribes such as the Tehuelches, the Mapuches and the Araucanians. But the Indians began to fight to defend their land so the ranchers had to resist their regular attacks, building huge wells and placing cannons around their properties.

Throughout the colonial period, the farms were more numerous than the ranches, but from 1820 things were reversed. In fact, in those days large export and breeding farms were developed in the country. Around 1850, ranchers had to acquire the entire Argentine countryside, modernizing barbed wire facilities and corrals, buying sheep shearing machines, building stables…

From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, the phenomenon was reversed again. Through the sale of lots and the succession of inheritances, the lands were divided and the size of the estancias was reduced. In order to get as much profit as possible from their farms, these large landowners began to hire gauchos (Argentine cowboys), giving them the opportunity to gradually settle down by allowing them to use their land in exchange for a share of the crops produced on their land.

Since then, the rancher has been in charge of accounting and marketing, while the gaucho has been in charge of production and later receives a part of the profits; half, a third or a quarter following the contracts. Likewise, the production of the ranches became mixed, combining the production of cereals with Pampas livestock, at the same time that sheep farming was developed in Patagonia.

Today, many ranches continue to be active throughout Argentina. Many ranches have opened their doors to tourism and have an additional income from their main activities.

What to Expect on your Estancia Visit

While some are known more for their horseback riding activities and facilities, all estancias invite guests to experience their unique culture. You’ll get a giant-sized taste of asado, traditional Argentine barbeque, empanadas (stuffed bread or pastry) and plenty of other local specialties, which often include dishes for which Argentina is not as well known for such as finest freshwater fish offerings.

Every estancia has its own special character and history; they offer several alternatives in authentic estancias to spend a day in the Pampas countryside see the vastness of the land and learn about the traditions and activities of these working.

Some fun activities you can do at an Argentine Estancia:

  • Take polo lessons
  • Go horse-back riding
  • Take a cooking class
  • Wine tasting
  • Witness Gauchos do their daily activities such as herding, cutting, roping and taming animals
  • Play Taba and other gaucho games
  • Have a Reiki and Shiatsu massages
  • Learn how to dance Tango
  • Relax by the pool
  • Play Tennis or Pickle ball

Specialized Estancias: Horseback Riding and Showmanship

Some estancias specialize in breeding horses and offer ideal conditions for travelers wanting the ultimate horseback riding vacation. Ranging from beginner to expert levels, these ranches usually offer guided trail rides, polo lessons, and a chance to ride along with the gauchos as they go about their daily ranch activities. There are even a few that will let small groups of guests take on roles almost to the point of being a gaucho for a week or more. At the other extreme, some ranches also have their own tack shops and will outfit a guest in gaucho apparel and equipment whether he or she ever rides a horse. Those estancias that cater more to serious riders tend to be located to the north and far south of Buenos Aires while dude ranches can be found on the outskirts of almost all major cities in Argentina.

Other estancias, while offering horseback riding for guests, also have regularly scheduled events on site that demonstrate the unique skill of the estancia’s gauchos. On these ranches, a visitor usually will see gauchos displaying their world-class horsemanship as they break a young horse or display showmanship of their considerable equestrian talents.

Finding an Estancia near Buenos Aires

For many visitors, a trip to Argentina means a stay in and around Buenos Aires. For those looking for equestrian showmanship or opportunities to soak up the estancia culture without the need to test their horseback riding skills, there are dozens of locations within an hour’s drive west and southeast of the city.

Some of the oldest estancias in Buenos Aires are found in San Antonio de Areco. If you visit Buenos Aires, make sure you make time to get to know the estancias and learn about the typical activities and traditions.

Visitors can learn to cook the typical Argentine barbecue, walk through large areas of the pampas, ride horses, learn to play polo, listen to authentic music from the region, meet silversmiths in their workplaces, visit historic houses and museums

Contact our experienced Travel Advisors and share your thoughts with them. Taking your preferences into account, they will help you plan your visit to the Estancia that will meet your expectations.

What is San Antonio de Areco?

What is San Antonio de Areco?

Many people wonder what there is to do in San Antonio de Areco. This small town, less than two hours from Buenos Aires, is the ultimate destination for all things gaucho, history, and rural Argentine culture.

It’s also one of the most popular day trips from Buenos Aires.

San Antonio de Areco is nearly 70 miles northwest of the Argentine Pampas Region. It’s a great 1½-hour day trip by car from Buenos Aires—or the perfect jumping-off point for those who choose to visit at a nearby estancia, or a traditional large rural ranch and estate.

The town’s only real sights are a couple of museums, the most important of which is the Museo Gauchesco Ricardo Güiraldes. But what really makes Areco memorable is the harmonious architectural character of the town’s centre: all cobbled streets and faded Italianate and colonial facades punctuated by elaborate wrought-iron grilles and delicately arching lamps. There are also some excellent artisans working in the town in talleres (workshops). Weaving and leatherwork are well represented, but the silversmiths are the highlight.

The must-visit place is Centro Cultural y Taller Draghi, named for the famed silversmith Juan José Draghi, who called both President Bushes and Ronald Reagan clients. The museum is dedicated to the man who revived silversmithing in Argentina. You should see the historic collection of astonishingly detailed belt buckles, knives and containers for making yerba mate tea.

Of their work bench, silver pieces and gold are born; trails, knives and matés are used by neighbors of san Antonio de Areco, it glimpsed a personal, new and different style. This fact doesn’t escape to visitors that arrive to the district of Areco: who begin to converge assiduously to their shop with special orders: candlesticks, marks, alhajeros, pitchers, cutleries, machetes ( gaucho knives) etc.

The machete (or gaucho knife) is a tool made by former gauchos , native to the pampas. Besides being a cutting element as a working tool , it is used to kill animals and remove the skin of the animals,=make thongs and leather working and woodworking used by the gaucho in their crafts. He has also developed as a weapon of self-defense style for protection in such Pampa regions. Along with his poncho and his horse form the best alliance to fend off possible attacks , using it as their own very particular laws and philosophies as in some Western martial arts.

San Antonio de Areco, the national capital of gaucho traditions, hosts the annual Fiesta de la Tradición, the country’s most important festival celebrating pampas culture. Despite its modest promotion as a tourist destination, playing on its appealing setting by the banks of the tranquil Río Areco, the town has retained a surprisingly genuine feel. You may not find Areco full of galloping gauchos outside festival week, but you still have a good chance of spotting estancia workers on horseback, sporting traditional berets and rakishly knotted scarves, or of coming across paisanos propping up the bar of a traditional boliche establishment.

Annual Tradition Day Festivities in Areco

The festival, during which gauchos who still actually work in the fields and those who have desk jobs but keep their skills (and knives) sharp in their spare time, participate in parades, giant cookouts and demonstrations of horse-riding skills.

Areco has a prestigious literary connection: the town was the setting for Ricardo Güiraldes’ Argentine classic Don Segundo Sombra (1926), a novel that was influential in changing the image of the gaucho from that of an undesirable outlaw to a symbol of national values.

Famous Gaucho: Don Segundo Sombra

Just behind Fierro in terms of recognition and fame is Don Segundo Sombra, a fictional character and protagonist of one of Ricardo Güiraldes’ novels written in 1929. Don Segundo has a mythical aura around him and represents in many ways the ideal gaucho as seen by those in search of symbols of Argentine national identity at the start of the 20th century. He is strong, elegant and honest but as his name indicates he has a sombre, lonesome side to him.

The gaucho is a legendary figure of Argentine society, a rebel reminiscent of ‘Che’. His elegance is supposedly inherited from the Spanish conquistadores and his freedom is intrinsically linked to the symbol of the country’s pampas.

Gauchos, the Argentine version of the cowboy, had their heyday in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but much of the culture, from horseback riding to silversmithing to bringing your own knife to dinner, still survives and stirs national pride.  His elegance is supposedly inherited from the Spanish conquistadores and his freedom is intrinsically linked to the symbol of the country’s pampa.

In 1866, an English rancher by the name of Wilfred Latham wrote: “I cannot conceive of anything more exhilarating than a gallop across the plains…. a cloudless sky of deep azure, an atmosphere marvelously light and pure communicating a sense of indescribable buoyancy and pleasurable existence – a soft breeze flowing, as it were, over the vast plain, boundless as an ocean – contribute to engender an irresistible feeling of joy.”

Ricardo Guiraldes Museum

It takes the name of Ricardo Güiraldes to honor the novel Don Segundo Sombra, published in 1926. Definitely worth a visit – recommend a guided tour as it is very interesting to find out some of the stories behind the artefacts. Entry is free. Everything related to the life and work of this remarkable writer is on display there. Visitors will learn about the life, customs and routine of the countryside people from their origins until today.

Pulperias

The “pulperia” (grocery store) was until the early twentieth century the typical commercial establishment of the various regions of Latin finding widespread from Central America to the southern cone countries. Its origin dates back to the XVI century, and provided everything then was indispensable for everyday life: food, beverages, candles (candles or candles), coal, medicines, textiles and others.

It was also the social center of the humble and middle classes of the population, there characters typical of each region would gather to talk and see what’s new. The “pulperias” were places where you could drink alcohol, cockfights were held, were playing dice, card games, etc..

The main square has La Esquina de Merti on a corner and this is a pulperia (a former grocery and bar) that has been converted into a restaurant, but with all the old, genuine interior and items from its former function. There is seating outside and inside, but eat inside to appreciate the full experience. We highly recommend baked meat empanadas and a “picada”.

Picadas, which are consumed at home or in bars, cafés, “cafetines” and “bodegones” are also popular; they consist of an ensemble of plates containing cubes of cheese (typically from Mar del Plata or Chubut), pieces of salame, olives in brine, french fries, maníes (peanuts), etc.; picadas are eaten accompanied by an alcoholic beverage (“fernet”, beer, wine with soda, to give some common examples).

In San Antonio de Areco we invite you to discover:

  • Almacén Los Principios (Moreno y Mitre)
  • Bar San Martin (Moreno y Alvear)
  •  Boliche de Bessonart (Segundo Sombra y Zapiola)
  •  El Mitre (Mitre y Alsina)
  •  La Vuelta de Gato (Camino R. Güiraldes, frente al museo)
  • El Tokio (Mitre y Arellano)
  • La Esquina de Merti (Arellano y Mitre)
  •  La Pulperia de Areco (Bolivar 66

Areco’s traditional gaucho atmosphere extends to the surrounding area, where you will find some of Argentina’s most famous estancias, offering a luxurious accommodation alternative to staying in Areco itself.

Argentine Polo

Argentine Polo

Where can I see the best Polo in Buenos Aires?

Whether you’re a polo enthusiast or not, there’s something thrilling about watching athletes on ponies racing across a field.

Every year, between the months of October and the beginning of December, you can see the best polo in the world. Tournaments start in October and run through mid-December. Both in the city of Buenos Aires and outside of the city there are multiple opportunities to experience polo in different ways.

Below, you will find the best options to watch or learn polo.

Argentine Open Polo

The Campeonato Argentino Abierto de Polo (Spanish for Argentine Open Polo Championship) is the most important international polo championship at club level, that has taken place every year since 1893 at the Campo Argentino de Polo of Palermo, Buenos Aires.   

November 1th, 2022, will mark the start of the most important polo tournament in the world, the Argentine Polo Open Championship (129th Abierto Argentino de Polo), or simply “El Abierto”, that will take place until December 2nd, 2017. This tournament, held every year at the Cathedral of Polo, the Campo Argentino de Polo in Palermo (Av. del Libertador & Dorrego), brings together the best polo players in the world, and it is one of the oldest and most prestigious events in the international polo calendar. It´s also one of the main social events in Buenos Aires.

Other tournaments of the Argentine polo season that bring together the best of polo are:

  • Hurlingham Open, Ayshire Cup: October 11-29
  • Pilar Tournament: Begins on October 13
  • Copa Provincia de Buenos Aires: Begins on November 8
  • Chamber of Deputies Cup: November 3 to 28
  • 129th Argentine Polo Open: November 1 to December 2
  • VI Women’s Open: From November 21st to December 2

Experience Polo in the Pampas

Our Full Polo Day program is designed for you to become a polo player for the day. Any day of the year.

You begin the day with an informative talk about polo and its ponies while you taste some delicious empanadas and excellent argentine wine.

You will be able to visit the stables and learn from our guide how polo ponies are selected for the sport, their bloodlines and how they are trained.

 

You will also learn about the rules of the game, the characteristics of the player and the complex technique that the player must master.

You will attend a live professional polo match of 4 chukkers. More than 30 horses participate per game and you can enjoy a game of pure adrenaline.

Lunch time is part of this unique experience: the visitor will enjoy a complete barbecue that includes “asado”, a selection of grilled meats and beef, accompanied by top quality Argentine wines. You will have the opportunity to try our delicious typical Argentine countryside food (we also have vegetarian options).

After spending some time walking through our beautiful countryside, you will take a polo lesson where you will learn how to ride a horse, hold the mallet and hit the ball. At the end of the class, the participant will end up sharing a mini-polo game that will make you feel like a professional player!

At the end of the day, you will have a relaxing horseback ride through our trails specially designed for you to enjoy the Argentine countryside and its surroundings.

It is not necessary to know how to ride a horse, nor to have previous polo experience. We offer equipment and instruction for all levels.

Polo night tour

A new tour allows visitors to experience Polo at night.

Contact one of our specialists if you want to get tickets for the matches of the polo championships or to join a Polo Day tour. We suggest getting your tickets in advance as due to the popularity of the polo events, tickets always sell out.