Quemquemtreu Estancia

After going to the amazing, natural hot springs, we headed to an estancia (large ranch) east of San Martin. Roberta's dad had met Martin and Paula (people who run the ranch) at a cattle conference in Argentina quite a few years ago. They had exchanged contacts and Byron, lucky for us, was able to contact them. It was about 100 kms from San Martin to the ranch headquarters. The last 75 kms were down a bumpy gravel road that we have been accustomed to driving down in Patagonia. Often these roads lead to some pretty amazing places and this was no different.
Upon arrival we were impressed by the size of the place and the number of buildings.
















We asked the first person we saw where we could find Paula and he pointed us in the right direction. We met with Paula and Martin and their two sons, Cruz and Matao. We knew that we were in for a treat as they were all very nice and welcoming. Paula showed us where we would be staying which was much more classy than we are used to.



Our Room










Over the next few days, we learned a lot of history about the place. It is around 200 000 acres with around 1300 mother cows, 100 sheep, and about 300 horses. Martin's great grandfather had been the first to introduce Hereford cattle into Argentina back in the day, so all the cattle were Hereford and Hereford crosses. The horses were a mix of all shapes, sizes, and breeds. Many used for working the cattle and many polo horses as well. Polo is very popular down here and there are a lot of passionate polo players.

The estancia headquarters used to be the main base for an estancia that was much bigger than it is now and therefore was built to be self sufficient including a blacksmith shop and a butcher shop. There was also buildings for all the workers to live in. They even had their own generator for powering the estancia.



The hydroelectric generator




As luck would have it, the next day they were finishing up preg checking the cows. We met the very nice Argentine vet and helped them with about 500 cows that day.









Roberta palpating with her assistant holding the tail.

We got the scoop on the diseases that cause the most problems which most are related to the liver fluke problem. The gauchos had rounded them all up the day before. For those who don't know a gaucho is the cowboy of South America. Just like the cowboys back home, they have their own style with the hats, pants, etc, but it is very different from the style back home.






Some gaucho tack- mainly for you Byron































After a day with the cows, we were treated to our first authentic Argentinian asado (BBQ). They cook the meat mostly over real wood coals and flame. We ate with a bunch of people and it was great to eat good food, drink good wine, and make new friends.



Two large asado areas






Paula dishing us up






The next morning, we went with Martin to feed the brood mares along with their foals. In the afternoon, I went out fishing as Roberta helped clean the fishing lodge. I guess I forgot to mention that the estancia also has a fishing lodge and a hunting lodge as well.





Inside the hunting lodge

There are both brown trout and rainbow trout in the stream that goes through the headquarters and the large river nearby. Fly fishermen come in the summer months. As far as the hunting goes, there are red deer, wild hogs, puma, and quail to hunt for.






Red deer




Quite a sportsman's paradise. It was the best fishing that I have had in Patagonia. I caught all sizes of rainbow and brown trout. I evened managed to catch a nice sized brown trout, which put on a good show jumping a few times out of the water.



Dead armadillo






Nice brown trout






Vegetation in the river valley










We finished off the day having another amazing dinner together. Much like the Spanish, they don't eat supper usually until after 8 pm and sometimes at 10 pm. After some food and wine, we were ready for bed.
To be continued...

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Location:San Martin de Los Andes