This is a travel-vlog style transcript of a YouTube video filmed at Estancia Lazos near Torres del Paine, Patagonia, featuring Nate and Kara Buchanan with Jorge (the ranch owner/manager) and local gauchos. The video documents arrival at the ranch, an introduction to gaucho life (their 13-on/3-off schedule, communal living, and a multifunctional wood-fired furnace), a mate-drinking moment, and a horseback ride using Chilean saddles into mountain viewpoints and valleys. The group shares lunch with gauchos, observes sheep herding aided by dogs, and concludes with reflections on highlights (drone footage attempts, close connection with horses) and minor mishaps (failed sheep drone shot; Kara burning her coat).
Chapters
Sam.
Ra.
We are so happy right now because. Because it has been raining pretty much since we got to Puerto Natales. But right now it is not raining, and there's a little bit of blue sky. And we get to spend today on one of the most beautiful ranches in Patagonia.
So we are at estancia lazos. We drove, like an hour and a half out here. The drive itself was amazing. We saw so much wildlife. We've gotten a peak of the mountains for the first time. The wind's blowing and I'm crying a little bit.
Richie has a friend who owns this or something, Something like that.
He's friends with everybody. Yeah, I think today we might be doing some trekking, maybe some horseback riding, meeting some gauchos. We really don't know, but I'm sure it'll be awesome.
This is Jorge. He is the big boss of the ranch, and he speaks very good Spanish.
And now we're about to go do something. I think we're going to meet some real cowboys. Gauchos.
We are in the house where the gauchos eat and sleep and work for 13 days. And then for the next three days they're off and they go back to the city.
This one hits the. Warms the house. So you just put wood in it?
You know, you put wood in it.
It's like a furnace.
Yes, it's like a furnace. Thing is it heats the water. There's water here and heats the water. Yes, for the house. So they will have hot water in the faucet for the shower. So it's very multifunctional.
W.
We are redeeming our mate experience that we had in Argentina. That wasn't very good. This is a real mate.
Ooh.
This one's a lot better. This tastes very earthy still.
Like grass tea. I've drink the whole thing.
Yeah, it's part of the tradition.
So just a little recap about mate. In Argentina, everyone has one of those cups and brings around a hot thermos and shares it with anyone. So if you have it, you can't drink it by yourself. You have to share it. And you can drink, I think, up to 20 shots of it before the mate doesn't have any taste anymore. So it is strong at the beginning.
I love their outfit.
I don't know. I wish I knew what they were calling so I can tell you what he just put on my legs to protect me from the horses.
They have 50 horses here, and we're about to ride them into the mountains. I really like these Things.
This is the most pleasant horse ride I've ever been on. This is a Chilean saddle. It is so comfy. I could ride on this for hours. Apparently, it's different than the English saddle and the American saddle. Chileans ride longer distance bikes it.
We are on top of this mountain overlooking where we came from with the most gorgeous mountains that we haven't gotten to see here yet. And I'm just so happy.
Sam.
We just got to this really pretty valley, and the mountains are in the background.
My horse is not happy about stopping. He wants to keep going.
So you can play the drone here.
Let's do it. Yeah.
Yeah.
That was amazing. If the shot of the guanacos running over the hill with the mountain in the background turned out half as good as I think it did, without a doubt the best drone shot I've ever gotten. This has been such an awesome morning.
Sam.
Thank you.
I cannot believe how cool that horse track was. I haven't been on a horse too often in my life. The first few times were just like. Just to ride the horse, you know, like in a circle somewhere. And then we did polo, but that was different because that was like Andrew, it was polo. It wasn't really the horse. But this was the first time I've, like, ridden a horse, like, to a destination. Like, I used the horse, like, instead of hiking, like, we trekked on a horse to the lookout.
It was amazing.
And it's just crazy that this is like a real ranch, like, with real cowboys. Now we're about to eat some lunch in the gaucho's house. No big deal.
So we just finished lunch with the gauchos. They were nice enough to share their lentil soup with us, which was delicious and hot and hearty and the perfect thing after a long, cold horseback ride. And now we're about to get to witness something really cool. They have a special way of driving sheep here in Patagonia. They use very few actual gauchos on horseback, and they use dogs to help them herd the sheep. So we're here. They're about to bring the sheep through. Going to try to fly the drone if the wind will cooperate.
Space.
Yes.
It's duh.
We just got back from lazo. It was an incredible day. Definitely one of the top two best days we've had in Patagonia. It was incredibly beautiful. Beautiful. With that said, there were some high highs and some low lows. It was a little bit of an emotional roller coaster.
The lows were our fault, though.
Yeah.
Nothing that the ranch did so the.
Reason you didn't see any drone footage with the sheep is not because of the wind. It's because I double tapped the record button. So I got one second of grass and no drone footage from the sheep. So I'm a little bummed about that.
The other thing that happened is I burned, like, 10 massive holes in my only and favorite coat. I stood too close to the really cool furnace thing, and it just burnt right through it.
I'm shedding some duck feathers. Not really sure what I'm gonna do about it yet. I wish I knew how to sew. I'm thinking I might just, like, get somebody to cut it off at the waist, and it'd just be like a normal jacket.
So figure it out.
A couple bummers. But all in all, a very amazing day.
I felt so fortunate to just be there enjoying nature with the real live gauchos. They were so nice sharing their mate. I just had the best time.
Yeah, that's one thing we didn't put in the vlog. It was like, one of those authentic experiences that you just don't want to ruin with a camera. But after the sheep herding thing happened, we all went back in to their house and just passed a gourd of mate around.
So cool.
I really love my horse. I feel like we're really, like, Bond. Like my favorite horse had ever ridden. We were just like.
