For our recent wedding anniversary, Alicia and I treated ourselves to a night at Salta’s most historic country house, once the home of the Güemes family who are intrinsically linked to the nation’s struggle for Independence.
El Bordo de las Lanzas, in the heart of North West Argentina’s tobacco region, is something of a hidden jewel tucked away a few minutes’ drive from the main RN9 road which links Buenos Aires with the Bolivian frontier.
It’s close to the pretty unprepossessing city of General Guemes, known to most passengers going on our shorter tours to the Quebrada de Humahuaca as the town with the eternal traffic lights (and surprisingly polite trapitos, squeegee guys wanting to wash your windscreen).
But once at El Bordo, just a short drive away, you’re suffused by a spirit of calm and tranquility.
The gardens on this 2,500 hectare estate are filled with mature indigenous trees like the classic palo borracho (ceiba speciosa), with its distinctive bulbous trunk like a beer belly, carobs, ceibos salteños (erythrina falcata), talas (celtis tala), jacarandas and many variety of cacti.
There is a myriad of birdlife: as we relaxed by the swimming pool, we spotted hummingbirds and magpies and heard, but couldn’t see, turkey vultures cawing through the upper heights of the trees
The working farm breeds llamas and horses and produces sugar, tobacco, beans, corn, sorghum and peanuts.
The history of El Bordo dates back to 1609, and towards the end of the 18th century it passed into the hands of one of Argentina’s most illustrious families.
Magdalena Goyechea de la Corte oversaw the construction of the grand colonial house we see now, with its thick adobe walls, traditionally tiled roofs.
Her son Martin Miguel de Güemes was to become one of the heroes of the War of Independence, leading a 6,000-strong gaucho army to support the main force led by General Belgrano during the War of Independence from 1810 to 1824.
As those who do a Salta City tour with Alicia will know, Güemes, briefly governor of Salta province, was a polemical figure who divided opinion during his lifetime: indeed at the time of his death, one newspaper in Buenos Aires announced: “The Tyrant is Dead”.
The monument to this gaucho hero was only erected 100 years after his death, while another general from the independence period, Arenales, presides over the main square of Plaza 9 de Julio: a sign of the lack of honour and respect shown to Güemes in the decades after his death on 17th June 1821.
The economy around El Bordo, close to the border with Jujuy province, revolves around tobacco and sugar: San Isidro, the first sugar refinery in the country in nearby Campo Santo was established in 1760 by the owner of El Bordo finca Juan Adrián Fernández Cornejo.
In 1888, the train line arrived, and the sugar industry boomed: the city founded nearby was named after this area’s most famous son, Gen Güemes.
Now owned by the Arias Cornejo family, the estancia has been open for tourists since the turn of the century, so our visit was long overdue.
Stocked with family photos, paintings including some from the cuzqueño school dating back to the 18th century, and collections of both local and worldwide handicrafts from the family’s travels, the house boasts sumptuous living rooms, study and guest accommodation around a main jasmine-scented courtyard.
We only had one night there, but it’s a great place to spend a few days unwinding after one of your tours north with us, like Essential Humahuaca, as it’s on the way back from the main Camino Real north to the Bolivian border.
You can horseride with a real gaucho, stroll round the immense grounds and enjoy a classic Argentine barbecue.
In our brief chat with the owner Agustin Arias, my modest wife Alicia neglected to mention her own links with Salta’s rich history: her great great grandfather Colonel Bonifacio Ruiz de los Llanos was one of Güemes’ officers.
He probably trained with other gauchos on the same lawn we walked across, admiring the finca.
- When you visit Salta for a private tour with us, don’t miss the Güemes museum in the old family home in Salta city centre.
- The Museo Gesta Güemesiana in San Lorenzo features amazing scale models of episodes from the times of the great man’s life.
- Read more about El Bordo estancia on Trip Advisor.
