A day of rest, we booked an evening on a local estancia (farm) for later on and so spent the day relaxing at the hostel and pottering around the pretty, touristy, town.

We were picked up in the early evening and taken to the Estancia 28 de Mayo, literally on the edge of town rather than out in the countryside as we were expecting. History sidebar, 28 May marked the end of the 1810 revolution. Originally the estancia was far outside the town and the property stretched as far as the Chilean border, but as the town grew it reached the farm and gradually began to swallow it as they sold off some of the land. Unfortunately the great expanses of animal grazing land are now separated from the area you visit on the tour.

The evening started with a fascinating talk about the history of the estancia, the town and the area in general. The original farmers came from Scotland and Ireland, hence (well, kind of hence) the focus on sheep farming as opposed to the cattle in the rest of Argentina. There was then a quick sheepdog demonstration, although I suspect the sheep were so used to it that they'd have gone into the pen without the dogs' input. For those with any interest, mostly merino but a couple of British black face.

Next came a demonstration of how to filter coffee without any coffee filters. You take an ember from the campfire, roll it around in a bowl of sugar until it is covered in caramelised sugar and then drop this into the coffee pot. Some form of chemical reaction causes the coffee to sink to the bottom and stay there when you pour your coffee. It worked, but needless to say you need to like your coffee sweet. Thus I was forced to drink my first cup of coffee in 10 or so years. No adverse reactions.

Next we - did I mention "we" consisted of just us two and a young Argentinian couple and so the poor guy had to repeat everything twice - were shown around an old sheep dip and sheep shearing shed. Having been brought up on farms there was nothing new here but it was interesting all the same. No shearing demonstration as the resident shearer was ill that day.

After a brief wine tasting by the river, very picturesque, we were shown around the estancia owner's extensive vegetable patch and greenhouse. I think he was killing time by this point!

After a tasty parilla dinner, let's assume the meat came from the estancia, a couple came on stage to demonstrate various traditional dances. A little awkward with an audience of only four but very impressive indeed. Thankfully audience participation was not required. On leaving, the awkwardness stakes were raised to maximum when we were expected want to pose with the dancers for a photograph. Cringeworthy.

All in all a fun evening. Perhaps not quite the estancia experience we were hoping for but very interesting and enjoyable all the same.