How To Ride Like A Gaucha

A packing trip through argentina’s northern patagonia brings an international group of women together at the top of the world

- Liz Beatty

About 300 kilometres northwest of Argentina’s Neuquén regional airport, somewhere past the town of Loncopué, the paved road turns to dirt. Another hour beyond that, the car I’m riding in rattles and heaves over what has clearly devolved into a track. A couple of nasty bumps scrape the undercarriage. Finally, beyond a MacGyvered wire gate, my vehicle and the one following cross a grassy expanse surrounding the tiny gaucho outpost known as Buta Mallin. This streamside puesto in far northern Patagonia is the end of the road for the drivers, but for their five women passengers, it’s where the real journey begins.

With dark locks flowing from beneath her brim, 26-year-old Lara Du Chaudron, who hails from Germany, greets us with a broad smile and a sing-songy “Helloooo.” In contrast, the piercing gaze of head wrangler Alyssa Young evokes 1970s Clint Eastwood — if Eastwood were a 5'5 24-year-old woman with long auburn hair. A veteran horsewoman and wilderness search-and-rescue pro in America’s Sierra Nevada, Young is Zen, a bit fierce and completely in charge. Her welcome talk is all business: horse care, trail rules, staying hydrated and such. She then washes up in the stream before laying out a cold snack. Despite the scrubbing, it’s clear her hard-working hands will take weeks back in civilization before they’ll actually look clean. Suddenly, my white shirt feels conspicuously laundered.