Travels - Argentina, Part 2

Argentina, Bottom of the World and a Whirlwind Trip Around Tierra Del Fuego.

The next day, we got up extremely early, (still light), and headed to Ushuaia. Ushuaia is at the bottom of the world. We were only 600 miles from Antarctica. Pedro has done shoeing clinics for Mustad all over Argentina, so he has farrier contacts all over Argentina. We stopped and saw several of these, and he arranged for us to shoe a horse in the Fin Del Mundo, (End Of The World). It was a lot of driving, but so worth it as we got to spend some time with, and catch up with, our two oldest friends in Argentina.

Pedro and Emilio have both made great lives for themselves in Argentina, and the live an amazing life down there. Much as we have found around the world, from Australia, to South Africa, to Japan, to Brazil, to New Zealand, to Colombia, to everywhere. The top farriers live a wonderful lifestyle. It was so rewarding for Kelly and I to hear their stories and see their world.

After eating a picnic at the bottom of the world, we continued on our trip and shod a horse on our way back to the ranch. It was a cool experience for Kelly and I. The equipment was limited, but a horse is still a horse, and the Mustad shoes and nails were up to the task. The anvil was small and not mounted solidly, but when Emilio is around, you have the ability to make anything solid that you want solid. I don’t think he even needs and anvil as strong as he is. Since the daylight lasts about 20 hours, we could go and go and go.

The last day at the ranch, we once more saddled up and rode out on the ranch to do some fishing. I caught one fish and Kelly caught some, but we turned them back since we had to get to the airport in Rio Grande. When you are with Pedro, you can have enough time to get up, have breakfast, go for a few hours of riding and fishing, stop at the neighbors on the way for coffee and cake, and still get to the airport that is 2 hours away. All that daylight helps.

We got back to Buenos Aires quite late and quite tired, but with a ton of cool stories to tell.

We had the most amazing time, and saw more of Argentina in a couple of days than many people get to see in weeks of travelling. We still had a couple days before the clinic and we were going to be renting a car to take to Mar De Plata for a day at the beach and a trip to the Mustad factory in Tres Arroyos. That story, the good and the bad of it, will be in the next blog. Thanks again for reading.