Austin and I met Veky on the voyage to Antarctica. She is a local in Ushuaia and her family was one of the first 5 families to move from Europe many years ago. Her family is specifically from Croatia.

Veky is so kind and invited us to her family ranch; I was so excited to go check it all out! We spent some great time with Veky, her boyfriend (Matt), and Veky's family. Matt is actually from Sandpoint, ID which is pretty close to Spokane so we all had a good chuckle about flying into GEG and the PNW in general.

Veky's family ranch is outside of Ushuaia about 1 hour and consists of 25k acres, phew! There are multiple lakes on the property, they have horses, cattle, chickens, ponies, dogs, and unfortunately...beavers (an invasive species). Beavers were originally brought from Canada many years ago to try to breed for their fur but the weather was not cold enough in Argentina for the fur coats to thicken enough to sell so they were let loose and now block up the waterways throughout the mountains in Tierra del Fuego.

Many people in her family also live on the ranch full-time or have homes on the property. We got to meet her brother and nephew, some of her aunts and uncles, and many cousins! It was truly a blast to spend time with them!

We also had a delicious traditional Argentine Asado with all kinds of meat, veggies, and salad from her cousin's garden. It was all so delicious!

Me, Veky, Matt, and Austin

The day we visited was the day of vaccinating, branding, and castrating their young horses. They sell horses and their ranch is known for very strong and valuable horses!

They had a wood stove burning for the brander but also for making steak sandwiches for lunch, yum!

This was a crystal clear river that flowed from the lake behind it, it was a beautiful area!

The friendliest baby pony:

Matt prepping the meat for the Asado; the little gaucho, Flati, is Veky's nephew (he had the biggest and funniest personality for a 9 year old):