Become part of life on a working estancia in northern Patagonia. Explore on horseback the foothills of the Andes, venture into Lanin National Park or try your hand at helping the gauchos as they work cattle.

Estancia Huechahue covers 15,000 acres and supports 900 head of Hereford cattle. Some 400 acres are under irrigation where alfalfa is grown for hay and there are also orchards of plums, peaches, nectarines, apricots, apples, walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds.

The estancia prides itself on its self-sufficiency whether in the form of fruit, nuts, vegetables or electricity! Beef is home-produced and during the week you have the opportunity to enjoy at least one asado - a traditional Argentine barbeque lunch.

The riding is limitless. Riding out from the estancia, you can ride through the barren rolling hills and along the narrow rocky gorges of the Andean streams or take a ride to the Chenque Hills where the mighty Andes rise up behind you and the vastness of Patagonia stretches out before you. Watch the condors and eagles as they float high above you. Gallop across water meadows or visit the Indian burial caves where Indian drawings can still be seen on the walls or try your hand at working cattle with the gauchos.

The amount and type of work with the cattle will depend on the season - in January you may help the gauchos move the cattle to their summer grazing and again in April, help bring them home for the winter.

You may choose to ride out every day from the estancia or to join a pack-trip into the Lanin National Park. In the heart of the Andes this is an area virtually inaccessible other than by horseback. The terrain on the pack trip means slower riding, but the beauty of the area makes it worthwhile. Within sight of the snow-capped Lanin volcano you ride through the only indigenous Monkey Puzzle forest in the world, as well as through dense beech forests and bamboo thickets and across lunar landscapes of black volcanic ash,
a legacy of the recent volcanic activity in
the area.