Argentina - Leaper Diaries

Kelly Baddeley

Hello!

Everything is absolutely wonderful here! Between all the polo, sunbathing and swimming there really is no time for emails so I apologise for this being so short.

Am having a gorgeous time and have completely fallen in love with life here - I don´t think I will ever be coming home!
Kellyx

Elis Mcgowan

Hi Guy,  

It is hard to believe that I am at the halfway point of my time here in Argentina. The Polo School is fantastic, and the Llambias family are wonderful, we have all been made to feel so welcome, all of us have plans to pursue polo-playing and we are keen to have a leap competition either here or in the UK.Take Care! Elis 

Scarlet Baker

Hello howdy!

I’m alive its OK. This place is amazing! The flight was tragic and I can safely say that 24 hours of traveling around three different countries is enough for everyone to break the ice. We all know everything about each other all ready! Charlie and I have had NO culture shock because it’s very similar to England at the moment…don’t think I’ll be seeing my swimming costume in a while : )

But the riding is AMAZING and Marcos is soooo cool!
Thank you over and out inspector! Scarlet

Hello Guy,

Long time no speak! I have just arrived back in England after nearly 3 months of staying in Argentina as you well know!

Firstly I would just like to thank you for helping me organise my trip! I feel that I have left my heart with the Llambias family. Words cannot convey how much I have enjoyed my stay there. Marcos, Christina and his fantastic children could not have been more accommodating!

Their hospitality will be hard to beat on my future travels and I am sure that it will make me miss them even more! Marcos is a fantastic man and I couldn’t ask for a better host! His humour, his kindness and his words of wisdom in times of need have made me feel like a family member. Jenny and I found ourselves calling him Dad over the last month!

I just thought I would write this email to you just to emphasise how much I have had the time of my life. I want you to put this on the website Leapers’ diaries so everyone can read that the best experience you can have is by far the Argentine experience!

Lots of love Scarlet

Harriet Ayling

Hi Guy,

Here is just fantastic, I really am having the time of my life. The family is so lovely and the whole group is getting on fantastically. The polo is gradually improving, it can a little frustrating at times but then we have to remind each other we have been playing for a week!

Everything is so relaxed and the food and accommodation is amazing, we are so well looked after. It is freezing being the middle of winter but Louisa and I still jumped in the outdoor pool yesterday in a moment of complete madness! I don´t think we have stopped laughing for a single second, so much so that the only medical complaint is painful giggling muscles!

Thank you so much for organizing this, and no doubt we will update you as to our happenings soon. Love Harri xxxx

Vicky Page

Hi Guy et al.

Sorry I haven’t emailed sooner, we have to come to the internet cafe to email and i spend all my time emailing my friends and family and doing internet banking!

I’m having an amazing time and we’ve all settled in really well. Marcos and his family are fabulous, you couldn’t have picked a better host! We’re treated like one of the family and everything is so comfortable.

The food is amazing, I was hoping to lose a bit of weight here but I don’t think that’ll happen! We’ve played polo almost every day so far and Marcos has just started letting me ride his best horses... Only problem is my arm is killing me!

I’ve only been here for one week and already I think the next 5 weeks wont be enough! Adios!

Victoria (Tor)

Olivia Pye

Hey Guy,

We are having the most amazing time out in Argentina, Marcos and his family  have been so welcoming and we all feel like we are part of the family. Yesterday we played polo for the first time and it was so much fun, actually we were not as bad as we thought we were going to be, all the girls managed to hit the ball and have a good gallop around.

Everyone is getting on so well at the moment and it is strange as we all feel very comfortable around each other.

Today is our day off so we are just going to relax by the pool as we are all a little stiff from the first day! I will email you soon to keep you updated lots of love Olivia x

Elizabeth Healey's mum

Hi Guy,
 
I just wanted to say ‘thank you’.  Elizabeth is safely home from Argentina having had a fabulous time.  She is happy, confident, tanned, toned, laid back and in great spirits! Could we ask for more?
 
Huge thanks!
 
Jane

Hattie Nelham Clark

Just a quick note (will hopefully write at length when i can find better internet) to say I'M FINE, alive and generally fabulous! Argentina is absolutely wonderful - the house/casa is a lovely little place in the rural 'pampas' about an hour and a half south of Buenos Airies; I am sharing a room with two other lovely girls called Jemma and Imi (we three are the youngest at 19/18, however the whole group are gorgeous and I actually think it is nicer having a mix of ages).

The first morning we helped with the yearlings (horses of one year old) catching them and de-worming and cuddling them, the second morning we did the brood mares and their foals - so gorgeous! (Foal wrestling is a new sport, they are so hard to catch.), also grooming and so on... Diego is so relaxed, its funny he has all these 'projects' for 'colonizing' (aka doing up) the farm and we have to all be project managers - inevitably this has become a bit of a joke with a designated 'lash manager' for party planning etc...

There is a converted-water-trough-pool which we spent our siesta at yesterday in the same field we'd turned the horses out in, so there we were swimming in the sun reaching out form time to time to stroke little Alfajor the Shetland pony (and mascot, he’s named after a chocolate). Blissful. We have had two ‘asadors’, not sure I’ve spelt that right, essentially a barbeque, with the MOST INCREDIBLE beef and chorizo sausage.

Oh and I haven't even mentioned the polo! There are three of us who are completely new to it which was a bit of a relief so we’re all in the same boat but we've improved beyond recognition since the first day. The ponies we are riding are just amazing - a far cry from riding school ponies and difficult pets! The instructor has given us all nicknames which range from Spike to Britney to Squirrel and Butter (now there’s a story…). I’m Mini Cooper (also the name of one of his ponies). I think we’re going to get shirts made up. Also been practicing my 'swing’ on the wooden horse we’ve christened 'Senorita Woodita'.

Sorry but I really have to go and join back in Gemma’s epic game of Pass the Pigs ‘Fuele la chancha!’ I keep getting called! We're all wearing our polo helmets and drinking Fernet Branca (very Argentine!, also tried mate earlier while cleaning tack with the grooms and Nano the farrier playing the tango on his guitar) . I think the plan for tomorrow is Buenos Airies with some of the players from the polo club to show us around...
Update soon!
Hattie

Hattie Nelham Clark

Ahhh I just wrote you a whole message and ran out time on the internet cafe computer just as I was about to send... SO here goes the rewrite, why do I never buy enough time?!  But WOW, check us out wasn’t working for hours on the minimum wage all those months worth it? Argentina was/is incredible, if I wasn’t gong to run out of money I would stay here for ever and ever.

Polo is going great too have started playing in chukkas which is just way too exciting! I am literally addicted. Unfortunately it rained today which pretty much writes off the rest of the week, Argentina literally stops can you imagine we had that attitude in England nothing would ever happen!? A drought every year until I arrive! But something else exciting will happen and it tends to clear up in a couple of days, lessons on tactics and rules or a hack or maybe a trip into Buenos Aires…

Last weekend we beetled off on an adventure to Uruguay, Diego fixed up a surprise cabin/house filled with cards, darts, monopoly, plus a tennis court, table football and bunk beds in, wait for it, a four seasons resort. Oh yes. It was a complete surprise, he just pulled it out the bag! Legendary. So there were we wine tasting, being polo beauties, sunbathing, massages, went out on a yacht to watch the sunset... Hmm so we’re pretty much saving the world one glass of champagne at a time, so much for back packing! Oh and you should see how brown we are…

Hattie

Hattie Nelham Clark

Just to let you know, I might just not come home.

Been swimming with horses in the lagoon and to a gaucho fiesta in the local town San Miguel de Monte where I got majorly victimized by spray foam, celebrating university offers in Buenos Aires which is wonderfully laid back, drinkies then supper at one in the morning then dancing till sunrise and then straight to breakfast still in the same dress with jazz playing in the streets and watching the world wake up... To be honest there’s just way too much to put into a message, and so much of it is just the experience, the stories would barely make sense unless I did full character profiles and history of La Asuncion lessons!

The people out here are amazing; have made such good friends. Oh and the food is incredible, we’re on a permanent Atkins style diet with all the steak excepting of course the delicious cheap vino tinto... You haven’t lived until you’ve had dulce de leche, best served in dollops on oreo cookies or toast, in cereal, on a spoon out the fridge when Nacho the cook’s back is turned… I’m bringing buckets home. We British have been deprived.

Hattie

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...