I've been having the time of my life from the moment I touched down at Ezeiza Airport (Buenos Aires). And that after a 16 hour flight! As I walked through customs I saw the very friendly owner of El Metejon waiting for me on the other side of the glass. They had organized a practice tournament for me in the morning and after a short drive to get to the farm I could immediately jump on a horse and play with their professionals/local players and 1 other guest. They normally have a policy that on each team there will only be max 2 guests so the flow of the game is always fantastic. After that I was welcomed by the lovely club house staff who welcomed me with cold beverages and showed me around. The Suites are located around the club house and they are very spacious. The beds are very comfortable and there's a a game room with a pool table, a nice big swimming pool and free wifi in all the areas.

The rest of the stay just continued to be so lovely. Everyday there's a good breakfast (not an English style one as you get to play polo shortly after it, but still very nice with lots of fruits etc), and a delicious 3 course lunch and dinner.The atmosphere is very nice and friendly, the owner and his wife join the guests for the meals and the staff is very helpful. If you want to go to the city you they will help you with arranging transport and sort out all the details. They helped me to buy a very nice pair of custom made boots straight from the factory and some nice zapalla mallets.

And every day there is fantastic polo, I really improved a lot in the week that I was staying here.
The horses were top class (some of the horses they breed there (7 already!!) have gone on to play in the Argentine Open), the fields are very very nice and well maintained, and the teaching pro's are absolutely brilliant. Their in house-pro is Paola, the number one female player from Argentina, and she really is a great teacher with very good English (for an Argentinian ;))

Staying at El Metejon is definitely worth it. It is a bit more expensive than some of the cheap polo estancias around, but the difference in the level of the horses, fields and the professionals easily makes up for it.

We originally stayed at El Metejon in December last year, having seen nothing of the place other than its (very professional) website, so were a little apprehensive going in. We both play polo, though not to a very high standard, and wanted somewhere nice to stay for a week that would serve both as a place to relax and a place to hone our polo skills. Put simply; we loved it so much, we arranged a special trip to return just four months later!

El Metejon is conveniently located less than an hour from Buenos Aires, and a mere 15min from Ezeiza airport. The estancia is close to La Martina and La Dolfina, as well If you ask to be picked up by car, you may get a rather shabby welcome vehicle, but don't let that serve as an indication of what's to come.

First: the POLO... El Metejon is a purpose-built gated polo community, though few houses have been developed yet, so the place has a lovely country feel to it. There are three fields which are maintained to a very high standard, and there are around 100 horses to choose from, so you will certainly find something to your liking. Mornings usually involve a stick-and-ball session, which can be solo or with the expert tuition of Paola Martinez, their resident two-goal instructor. Paola is absolutely fantastic, and wonderfully patient, as well. Late afternoons will include practice chukkas (usually four chukkas), which will be tailored to your level of expertise. You'll get the full complement of horses at your disposal, and you'll have no more than two "guests" on each team to keep the flow going. We played practice games with 5-goal resident pro Jorge Tassara, 2-goal Paola Martinez, and several excellent 0-2 goal players from the area. Diego and Alicia, the owners of El Metejon, are very well connected, as their family includes Santiago Chavanne (8 goals) and Maria Chavanne (1 goal), and Diego is the godfather of none other than Adolfo Cambiaso. As a result, they can tailor higher goal practice sessions at relatively short notice (not that we needed it!) During our stay, we encountered both absolute beginners to people who had played for 15 years. All of whom were kept happy.

The clubhouse has, I believe, 12 rooms. An outstanding feature of the clubhouse and the bedrooms is they style of the place, the result of Alicia's personal taste and cool Danish genes, no doubt. The clubhouse is very tastefully appointed, and the rooms are simply decked in white linen and cotton with stone floors. Meals are excellently prepared by Mercedes and Lucia, and they had absolutely no problems dealing with our vegetarianism (a sin in Argentina!) There's even tea and refreshments after stick-and-balling, and tea after practice chukkas. You'll leave the resort needing to lose weight, despite your hours on the horse.

There is massage available at the estancia, as well, at reasonable cost (around $40 for an hour at time of writing), though be prepared, as the masseuse is very much a sports masseuse, so the pressure is VERY strong. Excellent for post-polo sessions, but I wouldn't say ideal for someone looking for a soothing, relaxing massage.

I cannot praise the friendliness and kindness of the staff and owners enough, from the incredible hospitality of Diego and Alicia (nothing is a problem for them), to the grooms, to the warmth and friendliness of Paola, to the people in the clubhouse. Really, it's what made the place so special for us, and it's why we'll never go anywhere else.

Some downsides? The estancia is off the highway, which is convenient for travel, but you may hear some traffic noise if practicing on field three or you are downwind from the highway (you cannot hear anything from inside the clubhouse, which is further away). Once in a while you will hear a train rattle in the distance, but nothing to write home about. Showers in the room could use some water pressure (especially when you stink of horse!), though the rooms have bathtubs as well.

We have spoken to many people who have gone to estancias in and around Pilar, etc, and the overriding feel we get is that El Metejon is just that one step above away from the field... the rooms are more stylish, the environment a tad more professional. If you want to herd cattle in your downtime and relax with gauchos, then this isn't the place to visit. I'd label El Metejon as a stylish estancia where your primary focus is the polo. We took a risk going here "sight unseen," and with no reviews on the place, but the risk paid off. A truly unforgettable experience.

...we'll be going back again at the end of this year for the Open at Palermo.