Las Acacias, Volume 2: 2009-2017

Las Acacias Evolution of a Second Home, Volume 2: 2009-2018

This collection of photos… …is a continuation of a pictorial account of occupying a second home erected on an archaic building site on the Estancia el Ombú, San Antonio de Areco, Argentina. It has been offered as a humble token of love and admiration for my life’s partner on the occasion of her birthday in 2018.

Volume Two covers the period beginning in 2009, after Cristina retired from UNEP, through 2017 up until her significant birthday in June 2018 (when we were motoring through Namibia). The collection will obviously not include our planned trip to Argentina in September 2018, but the story continues.

LAS ACACIAS

Evolution of a Second Home 2009-2018

By Cristina Boelcke & Harvey Croze

Being a photo record of how you can have your cake and eat it too, and live in two places worlds apart, from the Kenyan Highlands to here, in the Argentine Pampas

Nairobi, June 2018

LAS ACACIAS

Volume Two: 2009 to 2018

This book is a continuation of a pictorial account of occupying a second home erected on an archaic building site on the Estancia el OmbĂş, San Antonio de Areco, some 120 km northwest from the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires Volume One covers the early days of rebuilding an early 19th century gaucho dwelling into a delightful living space full of family, friends and pastoral pampas pastimes.

Volume Two covers the period beginning in 2009, after Cristina retired from UNEP, through 2017 up until her significant birthday in June 2018 (when we were motoring through Namibia). The collection will obviously not include our planned trip to Argentina in September 2018, but, rest assured, the story and the fun continue.

This 2018 Google Earth satellite image of the 340 ha Estancia el OmbĂş de Areco (outlined in red) shows the location of Las Acacias (red arrow). Cristina, in the photo on the next page, is standing at the red star. The photo is looking northwest towards the house in the thicket comprised mainly of acacia blancas, hence the name chosen for our second home

October-November 2009

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October 2010

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June 2011

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October-November 2011

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May-June 2012

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March 2013

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November 2013

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October-November 2014

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May, June 2015

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October-November 2015

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March-May 2016

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November-December 2016

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April-June 2017

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November-December 2017

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About the place…

The 1920’s map above shows the extent of the Estancia el Ombú de Areco that has been in the Boelcke family since the early 20th century. The oldest building on the estancia, we are told, was at the site of the tambo, the dairy perched on the highest point of the land between the paddocks called El Paraiso and El Martillo. We converted the shell of the old gaucho dwelling into our second home, Las Acacias.