If you fancy being an extra in a gaucho film now could be your chance!

Riding out on la pampas

Estancia La Margarita has been chosen to be the location of the romantic tragedy called Salomé and the Forester. The short film is to be shown at various film festivals around Argentina and overseas. The true story happened in the 1930s   in the Provincia of Buenos Aires when the gaucho Mauro fell in love with   the beautiful Salomé deep in the Argentines pampas. I won’t go into details of the deeply tragic romance but suffice to say it has a very sad ending.  In the film the story is related by the now English nurse and children’s guardian the elegant and mysterious but now old Miss Alice who lived in Argentina at the time of the love affair. The writer who investigated the story and put   it together is Argentina Ruth Capdevila who is a published author. The director is the famous Argentina Jorge Perez and from the 10th of September  2011 the film crew will   on location on La Margarita plus other locations in the area to film the tragic story . On one of the film days from the 10th of September on La Margarita they will be filming the birthday festival of Salomé and who knows they may need extras – it was a big party! I can’t promise you they will use you but at least you could be witness to the filming of this gaucho tragedy whilst enjoying some great riding in La Margarita.  

This is David Cummings alias The English Gaucho hasta la vista 

A Big Thank You From La Margarita

Ready to go!

I have been the owner of Estancia La Margarita for the past 7 years. Over that time my team who work on the estancia and in the Buenos Aires office worked really hard to make it what it is today – an estancia in which guests can experience the traditions of a working Argentine   estancia in a location on the famous pampas to totally escape from the hustle, the bustle and the stresses of the modern day world.  An estancia that is not a Disney estancia with fake shows nor overcrowded with day trippers. Our policy was simple  - it was make sure we are never overrun with so many guests that the reason for you being on La Margarita had disappeared for those who come looking for peace, tradition and great horse riding. For me it worked out great and many of you who came here as guests have passed on the word about La Margarita, how comfortable it is to be here, how the food is simple (such a great asada) but local and tasty, how the sky goes on forever and how the horse riding is a wonderful experience. Many of you have written wonderful comments about us on Trip Advisor or wrote articles about us on your blogs. You passed your recommendations on to friends and fellow travelers alike. When we put in the self catering units you came and stayed in them and told us how much you enjoyed them – some of you stayed for a weeks at a time in them cooking your own food (sometimes purchased from La Margarita kichen) and riding out daily across the wide open spaces on la pampas. 

For all your wonderful comments I want to say a big thank you because last week I am delighted to say we got notification that we had been listed in both Rough Guide and Lonely Planet in their new August 2011 editions. The reason we have been listed is because of your wonderful comments about how you enjoyed your stay on the estancia and this   drew the estancia to the attention of the writers of these two important guides so a big thank you and abrazos  a todos  .

However, I just want to say nothing will change here  – La Margarita will still be a place to chill out and to experience that wonderful tradition and beauty of the Argentina pampas. We don’t intend to put on fake shows nor will we be busing in coach loads of day-trippers. In our opinion there plenty of estancias near to BA that offer that kind of estancia experience. So if you have any doubt that we will change the model of La Margarita I can assure  you that is not the case – its business as normal and I as the owner promise you that. Once again a big   thanks you to all who commented about us for getting us sufficiently noticed to get us listed in these two important guides so that more people can experience what you already know about - the wonderful experience that La Margarita offers.

This is David Cummings alias The English Gaucho hasta la vista

The Horses With Names - at last !!!

Diabla - for those of you who can ride and want a bit of a challenge - this is Susanas fav horse

When I first purchased La Margarita all those years ago I purchased a few horses with it. When I asked the owner what their names were I was surprised to find that they were the horses with no names, as the song goes and I recall I wrote a blog on the subject. It seemed that in this part of the world names for horses was considered a bit sissy. Umm but not where I come from - we like to give our horses names. And so started the task of teaching our gauchos who worked on the estancia that we wanted to have names for our horses. Gradually as more and more guest came to La Margarita the horses started to acquire names given to them by our guests and gradually the names started   to stick  – for instance Dolores is named after Dolores who has been a guest on La Margarita more times than I can count. Diablo was named by a guest who came here and always asked for the horse that acted sometimes like a devil – hence she gave him the name Diablo. Gradually over the years our horses got names until at last now there are names for all of our horses and we are producing a rouges gallery of our horses.  Over the next few weeks we will be publishing our horses rouges gallery with details of the horse so that even before you come to La Margarita you could pick your horse to ride   – I will write another blog when its published but in the meantime here are a few photos of some the usually suspects.

Everyone loves Dolores she will go slow  and fast but always look after you  

Today is 5^th August and the sun is shining – it’s not a special day but sometimes it seems to me that all days are pretty special on La Margarita. I have to say we are in full winter and the nights can turn pretty chilly but at the moment I am walking round with just a t -shirt. But being a Brit those chilly nights just give me a chance to get the log fire going after a ride out on the horses with names, snuggle up around the fire, chat with staff and guests and take a nice glass of Malbec in front of the warm roaring logs   – magic. I love the summer here that’s for sure but the winter can be equally espectacular and if you came here I am sure you would see why and the great thing is all our bedrooms have log fires so if you want to snuggle up with a loved one in private and take a glass or two of wine and listen to the crackle of the burning logs in private there is no better place than La Margarita believe me.

This is David Cummings alias The English Gaucho  hasta pronto