Argentina Summer Team Leapers Diaries
Reggie Noel
Hope all is well in inglaterra.
Sorry I did not reply to your email three weeks ago, but I was having far too much fun, which is a good thing I’m sure you’ll agree. I’d like to say thanks for putting the whole thing together now that I’ve finished, because I had an unbelievably good time with Marcos and his family, and I got to say you’re extremely lucky to have him and his family as the hosts for the project, because the hospitality I received there was incredible.
Marcos always made sure we were having fun, even if it was raining with no polo or we playing like "chotos" (you’ll have to ask Marcos what that means). There were so many things to do, because Marcos was open to doing pretty much anything whether it was organising parties, barbeques, cultural tours of BA (including a brief tour of the lady-boy hangouts after taking us to the theatre!). I think the fact that his family as a whole are so welcoming and fun loving that it was completely impossible not to enjoy my stay.
I definitely think in hind sight that if I knew I was going to enjoy myself so much in the first place I would have stayed for the full ten weeks, but because I had already made plans I couldn’t, but I definitely would love to go back in the near future.
Polowise the "work load" wasn’t a load at all, because all ´the grooms in the yard were such a laugh to work with, and calling it work hardly a good description because we only needed to do a couple of boxes a day max.
We also got to play so much polo that we all improved so much. We played twice a days so the standard of polo improved so much and to be honest I’m a bit annoyed everyone who is staying on another 4 weeks are going to get a lot better than me.
Ruth Doran
Everything here is amazing and I’m quite shocked at how fast time flies when your having fun.
The living conditions are really good just as comfortable as home and my expectations have been surpassed I really didn’t expect it to be as good as its turning out to be.
Were getting more than enough care and support especially seeing as there’s a doctor on site but yes were well looked after in that respect.
The project tasks were just as described I expected exactly what were getting and were working hard at it!
Apart from that this is probably been the most unique eventful and amazing 3 months of my life!
Charlotte Brunt
Hi Guy, I hope you are well. I have been meaning to write you an e-mail for ages to tell you the Argentine news but obviously we have all been quite busy and I am pretty disorganised which doesn’t help either! Well we are all having the most amazing time: The polo is incredible and I think we are all getting much better (I hope Marcos is telling you the same!).
We have played loads over the last three weeks and haven’t missed a day, which is awesome after quite a rainy start. By some absolute miracle I have slipped through the net of falling off so far - no doubt my turn will come soon! We are all getting much healthier.
The first few weeks during breakfast we would have morning surgery with Marcos where we would come with literally a different illness everyday: Luckily though I think we are beginning to toughen up! The ponies are amazing and are putting up with us really well: We did a lot of schooling last week in the kerale which I think really improved our riding and we all found it much easier to stop/turn etc in the chukkas. We have been in to BA quite a bit: Watched an Argentinean football match which even to the biggest football enemy was so much fun and the atmosphere was awesome as the Argies get so in to it.
We all even ventured (cultured as we are) to the opera last Thursday: Although I actually didn’t understand a thing the opera house, scenery, music etc was pretty incredible. You will be happy to know that Rachel and me have followed in Reggie’s footsteps of getting Spanish lessons.
We had the first one this morning and apart from appalling accents it was so much fun. The grooms are amazing and we all get on with them so well: After polo in the evenings we often just sit and chill with them, drink mate and have really disjointed spanglish conversations! Marcos as ever is so generous and such good fun and we have such a good laugh with him; I hope that he is enjoying our company as much as we all enjoy his.
Everyone except Marco was back this weekend plus what felt like about a million other guests (for once we all were the minority) so it was such a good laugh. I think Marco is arriving tomorrow and we are all getting ridiculously excited about seeing him play. Oh and talking of amazing polo players we saw Cambiaso play twice: I won’t bore you with how good he was but he was out of this world!
There have been a few other clients staying on and off but one of Lucy’s friends who works on a polo yard in England is staying at the moment which is good. There are a couple of other guests coming sometime this week I think. We all get on pretty well as a group: There have been no major bust-ups so it’s all good. We miss Reg quite a bit (well I miss him anyway) but him, James and I are all going to uni together and doing the same course so I guess I will see quite a bit more of them both!
Anyway I better go as I promised the mother that I would send her an e-mail so I better stick to my word! I tried to attach some photos but they literally take about 20 minutes to load one. I will show you when I get back to England. I really can’t thank you enough for organising this: I am having such a great time and wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. I hope everything back in England is ok. Thanks again. Charl Brunt.
PS I m so bad at English and spelling there are probably so many mistakes, sorry.
Charlotte Birks
Hi Guy,
Sorry about the late reply lots to do here so not much time for emailing! Anyway having a really good time out here in Argentina, the people are
lovely and the polo is great fun.
Shireen and I are getting there with the polo now and have new boots and hat. We also played our first match on Saturday and won which was very exciting.
I've spoken to my parents on skype a few times so hopefully they know how I'm getting along!
Lottie xx
Charlotte Birks
Dear Guy,
Hope you're well, Shireen and I thought we'd write you a joint email just to
let you know how it's all going over here and answer your questions.
Shireen and I are lucky enough to have our own house here on Marcos'
estancia, which is comfortable and as expected. Both of us are getting
accustomed to having Wilma, the housekeeper, pick up after us, make our beds
and clean the room daily!
Marcos has exceeded our expectations with the amount of polo we get to play.
The week is generally made up of lessons on game tactics, stick and ball,
baby chukkas and longer chukkas at weekends. However, our tack and corral
cleaning also keeps us busy during the week!
Marcos and his family are very welcoming and incredibly hospitable.
Everybody goes out of their way to help with whatever we need and nothing,
it seems, is too much trouble.
So far particular highlights of the trip include a match played with
Marcos, Shireen, I, Sophie and 4 others comprising of a neighbouring polo
player and some polo playing expats from Buenos Aires. Despite the pressure
to perform wearing club colours and upholding the El Retiro name, we won the
match and celebrated with an 'asado' afterwards, which the gauchos very
kindly cooked for us at the club house. Eating local Argentine cuts of beef
washed down with lots red wine as the sun went down was the perfect way to
end a hard day on the field!
The next day, on our day off, we headed into Buenos Aires and explored the
fashionable Palermo Viejo district. Shireen and I spent most of the
afternoon window shopping in boutiques and then relaxing in one of
Palermo's many cafes. It's safe to say, we're certainly getting used to the
Argentine way of life!
Photos to follow...