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[RC] USA to Argentina - StephTeeter

The adventures begin again!

John and I are currently in Argentina, staying with our friends, Mercedes
Tapia and Eduardo Beccar Varela. Mercedes and Eduardo came to Idaho last
summer for the Abu Dhabi Arabian Nights ride, and have become good friends.
And a little Ridecamp trivia - Mercedes was one of the first Ridecamp
subscribers, 10 years ago! Mercedes will ride for Argentina in the World
Championships this month, and I will be her groom! Eduardo is the team Chef
d'Equipe.

M & E are both veterinarians - M specializes in equine reproduction, and E
is primarily trauma and surgery. They recently bought a farm (which is where
we are now) 2 hours outside of Buenos Aires. An older farm, 80 acres, which
was in the same Italian family for the past century. A single story rambling
adobe house (the original house!), fields planted in soy, oats, pasture,
some groves of eucalyptus and cotton wook. And a lot of horses! They raise
their own horses (Arabians, Criollos, and some polo horse crosses) and also
train Endurance Arabians for La Cortadera - a large  estancia a day's drive
south of Buenos Aires.  The house didn't have electricity when they bought
the farm,- the water was hand pumped, or pumped by windmill for the stock.
It's a great place - they've been making improvements since they bought it
(last year) and built a nice barn (priorities :) right away. It's fun to see
the excitement and fresh energy of new land owners.

But things are pretty busy right now - on Jan 7 the horses and riders will
ship to Dubai. Lots of organizing and last minute things to do, especially
since they're taking a horse, and also doing the Chef d'Equipe job. The
Argentine Federation doesn't get involved with competitions the same way
USEF does for the USA effort, so it's all up to the individuals to make
everything happen. Tons of paperwork and phone calls.

I'll be flying with them on Jan 7 so will be able to help in any way I can
for the next few weeks. I was supposed to fly on Jan 23 with the rest of the
grooms and crew, but the travel agent booked the flight for Jan 7 instead,
so I figure I might as well take advantage of the error and get there early.
Although - it's not clear where I'm going to stay when I get there - the
rooms for the grooms and crews are booked for Jan 23. We'll see, sounds like
more adventure in store. And maybe a night in some hotel lobby until I
figure things out.

We'll be doing as much internet coverage on Endurance Net as possible,
though on ride day the priority will be helping Mercedes. I think the OC
will have a webpage in place, with live coverage of the event, and probably
even a live broadcast, so there probably won't be much to do anyway once the
event begins. I'll focus on the teams and riders preparing for the race, and
try to take a lot of pictures. I think John will be staying here in
Argentina helping with updates and webpage work from afar. We'll see...

Hasta luego!

Steph



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