Our guest host on La Margarita talks about her experience here

 Ilona from South Africa   has come to La Margarita to act as our  guest host for a few months to help out and to look after our guests   -   I asked her to write her thoughts about her stay here - here are her words .............................

Dreams and Wishes

I can tell of many experiences in my life of when I have had dreams or wishes come true with very little effort on my part.  And that includes the situation I find myself in right now.

I love being in nature, with animals, with horses.  I love waking up to the sounds of birdlife and animal life, way better than I like waking up to traffic noises.  So it was with great relief that, after a year living in Buenos Aires, I answered the advertisement forwarded to me by a friend of mine, requesting a volunteer to help out on an Estancia in the Pampas of Argentina.  The requirements of this volunteer would be a love of horses, ability to ride, sufficient fluency in English and Spanish, or Castellano as they call it here, to be able to interpret between English speaking guests and Castellano speaking staff, and to be host when the owner, the English Gaucho, is not there.

Well, I obviously fit the bill, as here I am at Estancia La  Margarita, with Fido, the English pointer by my side, humming birds flitting around in the flowers in front of me, enjoying the sounds of the 60 or so different kinds birds in the estancia garden.  I also get to ride out on the pampas with the guests about twice a day, and every outing is a new adventure.  I mostly get to ride a grey mare, Tortilla, who I am developing a special connection with.  We usually go out with Pablo, one of the gauchos working on the farm.  He has a wonderful way with the horses and his smile frequently charms the guests.

Just yesterday the line of birds I normally see over there towards the horizon, came flying low over our heads, so I could finally see what they looked like.  Sometimes they form lines of over a hundred birds.  They are all black with long sleek necks and bodies. 

Last week I was floating in the swimming pool, looking up at the sky of different hues of blue, filled with all kinds of birds doing aerial acrobatics, it was like entering into another dimension.  As is walking outside at night when the sky is clear of earthly clouds, but full of celestial ones.  I happened to be quite alone on the estancia one night, well, not exactly alone, Fido kept me company, and this was a magical place to be.

The people that come here as guests all have a love of nature and silence in common.  They come from all over the world.  Each have their own special stories to share, and a love and respect for what is on offer here.  Some of them get to ride horses for the first time ever, here, and what a place to start, with wide open spaces, .  Well, we also get to see hares, partridges, plovers, kites and eagles, and armadillos that they call molitos.  .  All the visitors to this haven have left a lasting impression on me and I am honoured to have met them. 

The staff here are wonderful and really warm and friendly.  Raquel keeps me well fed on both food and hugs   together with   Daniel and Poppy her helpers .  Lalo manages the grounds, the animals, the baby ostriches, all nine of them, with the help of Pablo.  Everyone who comes here gets influenced by their generosity and caring.

So thank you so much  for this wonderful opportunity to fulfil yet more dreams, to work with horses and meet other people who also love living life.  The world feels a better place.

Ilona

This is the David Cummings alias The English Gaucho grateful I have such wonderful people working for me 
Hasta pronto