Yesterday we arose after a very poor night´s sleep- it was -7 degrees and we had a hole in our roof! However the snow had stopped and the sun come out so we ventured out on horseback for a lovely ride through the snow. We were riding lovely Peruvian horses who have an extra gait called the Passo- it's like a canter but incredibly smooth. In fact all the gaits are so smooth it's a pleasure to ride. Charles much appreciated it as well as the 2 sheepskins and a gel pad that he has on his saddle! Well aprreciated is strong- he complains slightly less about the rubbing then he would English style!

In the afternoon we rode to the ´top of the world.´It´s the highest point on the estancia and has a spectacular view. You can see the whole of Cordoba where Che Guevara grew up and the surrounding villages as well as a huge resevoir. Apparently a few years ago there was a huge drought in the area and they had to drain it...at the bottom they found hundreds of bodies where the military had buried them in the ´dirty war.´

This afternoon we went out to the 1000 acre field to round up the 40 horses who were out...it was fantastic...I went with the head cowboy Luis and we had an amazing time....the field is obviously huge and has loads of massive hills and rock faces in it. Inevitably the horses aren´t all together so we spent a morning whistling and galloping up and down inclines that you would never even consider a horse could manage to try and create a pack- it made me realise how precious we are about our horses in England.

It was fantastic to see Luis work controlling the pack with his whistles and the kissing sound that they train the horses to go forward to. I was left in charge of the pack we had collected whilst he got the odd ones and it was a massive responsibility- all I could here was him shouting "Vamos Jemma Vamos"....It would have been awful to lose some after spending 2 hours collecting them. I loved it though going round them and shouting at the stragglers as they galloped ahead of me up and down hills and through streams. I got high praise from Luis who said I was an excellent Gaucho and apparently he´s not normally a flatterer so now I feel very pleased... in fact they don't like women riding at all.

We then met up with Charles and the others who had been collecting the closer horses (Charles did really well and is starting to look very at home on horseback) to bring the pack together and home to the coral where they could be checked over. It was a fantastic morning and we were hungry for our yummy Asado (barbecue) lunch! Now we are about to head out again for a ride across the hills on the Peruvians again. They use Creole horses for herding as they are calmer and used to it but it will be a treat to feel the smooth Passo under us this afternoon....