Estancia Ranquilco offers a full immersion program in gaucho culture. Live the life of an Argentine cowboy on one of the world’s last frontiers.
You will be assigned a cattle horse and traditional gaucho tack. This program is for experienced riders only and you will be primarily responsible for your horses’s health and welfare. You will live, work, and eat alongside one of our gauchos or alone. Our immersion program is not for the faint hearted. You will spend long days in the saddle performing livestock management. Your work will be physical and our gauchos speak only Castillano. Volunteers who have completed this program consider it one of the best experiences of their lives.
AVAILABLE EXPERIENCES
Buta Mallin, November through April, 2 spots available
Live and work with cattle in our large grazing meadow Buta Mallin, three hours ride from El Huecu and two hours ride from the lodge at Ranquilco. Work alongside one of our gauchos who has lived on these lands for over 30 years. Participate in all areas of livestock management – driving, counting, rotating, branding, and vaccinations. Additional work can include fencing pasturelands and digging irrigation canals. Live in the stone gaucho bunkhouse or sleep under the stars on your saddle sheepskin. Spend one weekend a fortnight camping at Ranquilco.
Confluencia, October through April, 1 spot available
Live and work at one of the most beautiful places on the ranch – the meeting of the Trocoman and Piccunleo rivers. Confluencia is only a one hour ride from the lodge at Ranquilco. You will live in a traditional puesto built by last year’s volunteers. Meet your neighbors and learn our land boundaries. Learn to find, count, and move our animals in the pasture and to drive off animals infringing on our grazing lands. Spend Saturday and Sunday nights camping at Ranquilco.
High Andes Cordillera livestock herding and management:
From November through March, when the mountain snow allows us to accede to the high Andes, we send up gauchos and a select number of volunteers to clear our 2,000 acre valley of wild horses. This involves camping in a rustic environment and ridiing out twice a day to chase the 70 plus invading horses off the grazing areas. Good responsible horsemanship is a requirement as it can get pretty wild up there. The experience comes with plenty of time off at midday to prepare lunch, read and tend to the horses.
Once a week you can ride the 3 hours down to the HQ of the estancia for hot showers, a little social life, volleyball, and resupply.
In late December we wrangle some 300 cattle up to the other cordillera valleys so there would be additonal work to be performed until late March when we herd them back down to lower climes.
Colipilli, May through October, 3 spots available
In May we move with the livestock to Estancia Colipilli, the winter estancia. Winter weather, since we are in the extreme north of Patagonia, is relatively mild, some snow and rain, with the odd storm, but many days of sunny, crisp weather. Winter work includes daily rounding up and feeding of 500+ weanlings, canal cleaning, tack maintenance, horse feeding and care, fencing maintenance, plus routine livestock surveillance. Colipilli is a 25,000 acre holding, combining large valleys with steep mountains. There are fossils and wild guanaco herds for exploring. Spring is the calving season, beginning in September, along with field irrigation. In late October we begin the livestock migration to the high country.
ADDITIONAL PROGRAM INFORMATION
To sign up for our immersion program, e-mail Ashley at ashleykentc@hotmail.com or T. A. Carrithes at tac.ranquilco@gmail.com with details of your Spanish fluency and riding experience.
Pricing: This program has a two month minimum. The price is just $1050 for the first two months – that is only $20/day for the first month and $15/ day for the second month. The third (and forth etc) month is $300 per month. A one time fee of $150 covers your entry and exit to the estancia by horse, including a pack horse or mule for your luggage, plus an orientation to our traditional tack and western riding style.
All potential volunteers must read:
Volunteer Frequently Asked Questions
A Message from Ashley
Volunteer Accommodation Options & Pricing
How to Sign Up for our Volunteer Program
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