Argentina is famous for its numerous “Estancias” (Ranches), “Asado” (BBQ), and Polo (and the Polo players for you ladies ;). So when you are here and it’s the Polo season, you have to go and see a match. The Polo season is very short from end September till December so if you are here outside of these dates you should still take a Polo lesson, which is so much fun. Fine print note…prepare for major butt pain but it’s all well worth it.
I recommend my lovely teacher and Polo player himself, Fernando Nieto. Fer, will take you for a full day experience with his eight beautiful horses, each named after a Tango song. It is a truly remarkable experience to visit the farm with Fer as his love and affection for these eight lucky horses will make you feel at home and fall in love with mother nature and her children. Let me tell you that it is not easy to hit a little ball the size of a billiard ball with a long skinny stick while sitting up in the air on top of a horse…but it is not impossible. At the end of the day you will even play a little match or what will resemble a parody of a match but still…we are here to have fun and learn something new right?
The farm is about half an hour away from Buenos Aires. You will leave at 10am and be back at the meeting point around 5pm. The whole experience will cost you US$100 and it is worth every penny. Here is Fer’s contact info:
Fernando Nieto
Polo Elite
Tel: +54 (11) 4942-0558
Cel: +54 9 (11) 3623-0329
Remember to call in advance. Oh..here is a little bit of news for you. Fer is so good that he reached the 1st place ranking on TripAdvisor for the whole South America among nearly 3,000 activities. I didn’t even know this until after I went but I do understand why. He deserves it.
Dinner: hehe…why do I always smile when I see this word? Today you need a proper parilla so head straight for La Cabrera, one of the oldest parillas in Palermo. It is full of tourists I agree but I still recommend it for the quality and service:
La Cabrera: Cabrera 5127, Palermo Soho, Tel 4832-5754
The popular Argentine cuts are: bife de chorizo, entrana, and vacio. Some mid range Malbec’s to go with your dinner could be: Finca la Linda, Alamos, Norton or Ruca Malen.
After dinner you can walk back towards your hotel and stop in one of the local bars for a drink or another glass of wine. Tomorrow the night life begins.
Here is how it looks like:
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