7th December

Sausage and eggs for breakfast - things are definitely improving grub-wise. While we were eating a couple of gauchos turned up and shepherded the horses into our paddock. My God they were enormous and in much better condition that the bony specimens in Ecuador and Bolivia.

My horse was called Carlotito - black, with a white nose and built like a brick shit-house. Everyone went riding which was nice, I had left my boots out to air before going to bed but it had rained all night. Nice. The good news is Kevin isn't going with us but his "horse manager" is. This gaucho is your archetypal Argentinian, long flowing locks, square shoulders and it wasn't long before we could here groans and sighs of appreciation from the girls. His sidekick was a very "jolly hockey sticks" blonde from the Home Counties called Lottie but she was pleasant enough.

Carlotito was a bit feisty at first, I originally put this down to the fact that he could tell I had years of riding experience and couldn't wait to canter but in reality it was because he had an itchy leg which he couldn't scratch because I didn't give him enough slack on the reins. After the we got on famously and I even let him eat the grass when we took a breather.

We trekked to a waterfall supposedly to have the sarnies we had made for lunch but as lunch was supposed to be hamburgers off the truck I settled for chocolate and fell asleep on a flat rock. After last night's choice of bed it was good to finally be horizontal.

The journey back to the estancia was largely non-eventful. No falls, knockouts or submissions although the knackers took a bit of a hammering during a trot over rocks.

Andy and Tubbs were cooking for tonight - a whole lamb on the BBQ. I haven't had lamb since I left home so I was like Neanderthal Man when presented with a shoulder and stripped it to, quite literally, the bare bones. Dessert was banoffee pie made out of dulce de leche for added sugar fix.

Had earlier night and went back to the tent to stretch out. I have also spotted a longer couch which I might try tomorrow.

It was good to be back in the saddle today. The experienced girls enjoyed the galloping while us blokes looked on in awe but stil we had a laugh. It was very hot today, have even more of a "wetsuit tan".