The Two Amigos: A Gaucho Adventure

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Travel Documentary hosted by John Thomson and Simon Day, published by BBC in 2014 - English narration

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John Thomson and Simon Day have been friends for over twenty years. In this series they go in search of the 'free spirits' they once were, learning the ways of the gaucho, Argentina's cowboy. Part 1. Home movie footage from the early 1990s shows John and Simon holidaying in Florida when they were, in their own words, 'free spirits... and very lonely'. After a couple of essential riding lessons in the UK, they don the 'poncho of freedom' and set off for Argentina's capital Buenos Aires. From here, their first task is to get to a local gaucho festival near the town of Pilar. Air drumming to their favourite tunes, with Simon attempting to map read and John dodging the crazy drivers of the capital, the friends get the road trip off to a high-spirited start. After a hair-raising, pothole-dodging drive with Simon at the wheel (he only passed his test in his forties), they arrive at La Pelada Estancia near the small town of Esquina, their home for a week of intense training. The ranch, on the banks of the Corrientes River, employs a dozen gauchos who train over a hundred native creole horses and manage five thousand cattle. The head honcho, the dashing Dario Gallardo, soon has Argentina's newest gauchos bedecked in traditional ponchos, riding comfortably on two of the estancia's sturdiest horses. After a tough but highly successful week, the Two Amigos' training is over. In front of them lies some real gaucho work - a three-day-and-night cattle drive in the wilds of Patagonia - quite a challenge for two middle-aged comic actors with soft hands. Will they be able to find the true gaucho within? Part 2. Having completed their gaucho apprenticeship in the north, John and Simon now travel 1,500 miles south, to the foothills of the Andes in Argentina's most ruggedly beautiful region, Patagonia. Over the next week, their challenge is to take part in a real gaucho cattle drive - bringing 200 cattle down a mountain pass, riding 50 miles of terrain over three days and nights, completely exposed to the elements and sleeping under the stars. Can the Two Amigos find the true gaucho within? Patagonia was one of the last places in the world to be colonised and throughout history it has been a haven for those wanting to escape, most notably Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Before setting off on their cattle drive, John and Simon visit the remote ranch where the two outlaws hid out over a hundred years ago. Already tired from their week of intensive training, the Two Amigos travel to the small town of Trevelin. It is here that John and Simon meet their new boss - Alejandro Jones, a fifth-generation Welsh gaucho. Alejandro drives John and Simon to the start of the cattle drive, fifty miles south of Trevelin. It is a two-hour drive by automobile, but it will be three days of riding back as they herd two hundred cattle with five gauchos and eight dogs.