Having not managed to stay on an estancia (ranch) in either Salta or El Calafate we decided to remedy this with a stay at La Porteña, near San Antonio de Areco in the Pampas area just outside BA.

La Porteña dates from 1822 and is a National Historic Monument, a beautiful old farmhouse converted into a small hotel. We were booked into a huge room in the main house, beautifully furnished in period pieces.

After a thrilling 2 hours at the Retiro bus station in BA waiting for a bus with available seats (the one time we didn't book bus tickets in advance....) we arrived in San Antonio early afternoon. After a brief taxi journey we reached the edge of the property. Due to heavy rain the night before the dirt road to the estancia was a foot deep in mud in places and so we transferred into estancia transport - which meant sitting on wooden benches in the back of a very dilapidated jeep dating from the 1940s. A smooth journey it was not, but we made it in one piece.

The setting did not disappoint, it is a beautiful and peaceful place. On arrival we joined a day group for a lunch BBQ. The goal seemed to be to beat some world records in terms of quantity of food eaten in one sitting - it just kept on coming. Meat of all kinds, not the best quality unfortunately but tasty nonetheless. Afterwards we were treated to some traditional songs sung by a trio of gauchos - essentially Argentinian cowboys. Thankfully CDs were not offered for sale!

This was followed by a very impressive display of horsemanship, an example being hooking a dangling ring (a regular ring for a finger) onto the end of a short stick whilst galloping past. They then invited us guests to try standing on the back of a (stationary) horse. Cowboy Fabrice jumped at the opportunity and was quickly precariously balanced on a very well behaved steed!

Next on the agenda was more food. We were far from hungry after the BBQ feast but we bravely did what we could with the tea and cakes provided. I think the timings had been thrown out a little by our late arrival.

This was the end of the day for the others, Fabrice and I were the only overnight guests that day. Horse riding through the estancia was planned for late afternoon. We were expecting to be riding through vast plains of cattle, alongside rivers and through woodland. In fact all we got was a 40 minute ride along a couple of muddy country lanes, there were some pretty views across arable fields but it wasn't quite the experience we were hoping for. Also, the gaucho who accompanied us decided it would be a good idea to gallop along the freshly rained on (read "slippery") lanes. This was enough to put me off horse riding for life. Terrifying!

The day's activities over, we settled into a peaceful evening with a beer on the terrace outside the main house. Being the only guests the protocol for dinner etc was unclear but we were eventually served a hearty, if not quite fine dining, meal in the old dining room. Afterwards, as the manager seemed to have installed himself in front of a sports channel in the lounge, we retired to our room. Another early night for us crazy kids, although to be fair that is exactly the point of a peaceful country hotel. At least that's what we told ourselves!

After a very good night's sleep, the next morning things began to unravel. All the staff were focused on preparing for the arrival of a large group of guests late morning and so tending to us was very much an afterthought. Breakfast was OK, but we were then told we'd have to wait an hour or so before going horse riding as the staff were busy elsewhere. The open air swimming pool was not yet back in working order after the heavy rains and so we strolled around the property and read our books.

Chasing up on the horse riding we were then told that the horses had escaped overnight and the gauchos were all out trying to find them. Obviously this raised the stress levels somewhat. Our taxi was booked for 12:30 and so the likelihood of fitting in a decent ride was looking slimmer and slimmer. The manager was extremely apologetic but strangely his command of the English language failed when we broached the subject of some kind of compensation for the mess.

Just after midday he came bounding over to advise us that the horses had been found and we could now go riding. Erm, our taxi is due in 20mins, that's not really an option. Despite him offering a free lunch and afternoon of activities, changing the bus tickets was not really possible and so unfortunately we left the estancia under somewhat of a dark cloud, a strongly worded email to the administration office already written in our heads.

It was such a shame that the experience was spoiled, partially by factors outside anyone's control but partially by very poor customer service skills in the face of these problems. It's a beautiful place but they just need to smarten up their act a little.

Back in BA we decided to put the disappointment behind us and head into the trendy Palermo Hollywood district for a good old curry. The area is great, packed full of very cool bars and restaurants, people of all ages spilling out onto the streets. And a damn fine curry to boot!