Estancia Buena Vista

Esquina is 600 km (370 mi) from Buenos Aires. The usual way is a regular bus, about 8 hours, to the Esquina bus station, then a transfer to the estancia. Flying works too: land in Santa Fe and drive about 3 hours.

Then you are at Estancia Buena Vista, your home for the next three nights. Your suite is one of seven, in a rural house from the late 19th century. The air is clean, the noise of the big city is a long way off, and the pool sits in the middle of the nature around it.

Transfers are not included, but they can be booked on top.

Today you pick from the estancia's menu of activities. One example is Gaucho for One Day, a horseback ride where you share the work gauchos do every day.

What that work is depends on the day. You might separate cattle, take them to bathe, check the paddocks, or help with whatever else needs doing. The horses are tame and calm, and a gaucho shows you how to handle them.

The estancia covers 4,000 hectares of lagoons, native forest and sandy beaches along the river. There is room to ride at a full gallop.

After a homemade breakfast, talk to the staff and choose from the estancia's activities. One example is a canoe ride on the Pucú estuary.

Morning is the best time for it. The canoe is moved with a pole, not an oar, which keeps it quieter and improves your chances of seeing capybaras, yacare caimans and the birds of Corrientes.

Mostly there is just the water and the sound of the wildlife around it.

Check out at the scheduled time and transfer back to Buenos Aires, or on to another destination in Argentina or elsewhere in South America.

The distance that made the stay quiet now works in reverse, so plan the onward connection with it in mind. Transfers out are not included either, but they can be booked on top.