EXCELLENT!

Paradise in Lobos, Buenos Aires, Argentina

I have spent many years in and around the travel industry, thus have been fortunate enough to have travelled, enjoyed, and explored many places, in many countries off the beaten path.

I´ve even found a few extraordinary, unusual, unique, exotic, relaxing, exhilarating, and rejuvenating. Never had I found one place that was all of them, until a few weekends ago at Casa de Lord, in Lobos, Buenos Aires, Argentina. I wouldn´t have bet on this one in a million years!

Upon arrival, after only a 90 minute drive from midtown Buenos Aires, passing through the surprisingly contemporary and fashionable town of Lobos, to the gates of Maria de Lobos, and onto its private roads leading to the Casa de Lord. Through the evening darkness we suddenly saw a fury of lights, like a beacon beckoning us. We proceeded toward the lighted, palm tree lined, private drive to the arched, and covered driveway entrance of the home. I couldn´t help but hear the theme music to the old TV program, DALLAS in the back of my head!

The house, a distinctly styled colonial villa that is designed in such a way that it does not feel like the typical, sprawling house. Its two levels give it a real feel of a home despite its opulent yet not ostentatious decor. The leather furniture, rich wood floors and walls blend themselves well with the huge center of the living room open fireplace, (already lit and burning thanks to the property´s caretakers).

Perhaps part of the relaxing and comfortable sensation is given by the near floor-to-ceiling extra large windows throughout the home, giving an obstructed view to the endless flat green lands of the polo estate. To borrow the quote of Frank Borman, the former astronaut, as he neared the moon while on his way there in space, it is ¨splendid desolation¨. Total tranquility is the only way to describe what I experienced for the entire weekend, which is not a state of being this native New Yorker is at all accustomed to.

The home itself contains every creature comfort imaginable from two home theaters, one in the living room, and one in the below ground bar/disco/wine cellar, a nearly decadent hydro-spa in the master bedroom complex, as well as an outdoor pool with fountains and hydro spa, adjacent to its own cabana with showers and changing facilities. The kitchen, and yes, I do cook and enjoy it, was magnificent with every imaginable setting, tool, and utensil needed to, well, get serious about making and enjoying a meal, whether you chose to dine on one of the various patios, or internal terraces, or indoors in the formal dining room, or simply at the family table in a truly down home kitchen setting, reminiscent of those days of eating with the family all too many years back.

In expressing my gratitude to the home´s owner, Lord Alain Levenfiche, I could only associate the home and its surroundings, and even the town of Lobos, with its small cafes and night spots, as well as designer shops, with the Maui (Hawaii) of 30 years ago that I so loved and enjoyed, (minus the Pacific Ocean, of course) endearing itself to my heart, before the sprawl of development that has consumed its character and tranquility.

This home is indeed a treasure. Surely it is a commercial venture, but it was designed, obviously for it to be a ¨home¨ to those who visit, while they are there. I know that eventually the area will develop and commercialize more, not to the extent of, but in a similar fashion to my beloved Maui. However, this home, I do not believe will ever lose its charm and its grasp on you once you see it and experience it. We tend to think in terms of people owning real estate. Casa de Lord is a piece of real estate that takes ownership of a person. It simply consumes you in the best of ways. My two-and-a-half days there left me feeling as if I had spent a two week vacation there. Then came Monday….