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Travel to the scenic Estancia San Guillermo, located a few miles outside Puerto Madryn for a glimpse of how life is lived on the vast Patagonian steppe. Owners Alfredo and Cristina Casado will welcome you to their 7,400-acre farm for a unique experience you won't soon forget.

This secluded outpost surrounded by miles and miles of open countryside is a sheep ranch. It's the ideal place to rub elbows with the locals and to meet a wide array of outgoing ranch animals and pets. See the snorting pigs and strutting roosters and enjoy encounters with the super-friendly guanacos that have free run of the place.

Native to South America, guanacos generally live at high elevations, grazing on grasses and browsing on leaves and buds. They can get by without water for long periods of time, obtaining moisture from the plants they eat. The young love to play and romp, and though naturally shy; the guanacos that live on the farm are unfazed by humans and seem to enjoy their attentions.

In the sheep shed, you'll sit down to a lively presentation of the owners and their favorite household pets before turning the show over to the master shearer. Watch in awe as one sheep after another is deftly relieved of its wooly coat. Then, you'll have some time on your own to browse the estancia's souvenir shop and to relax over refreshments consisting of cookies and a selection of freshly-made, traditional tortas fritas.

A cousin to Native American Fry Bread, French Creole Beignets, and the Sopapillas that are found in Mexico and the American Southwest, tortas fritas make a tasty accompaniment to a cup of Argentina's tea-like national drink, maté cocido. It is traditionally prepared by boiling toasted yerba maté, a species of holly, straining it and serving it sweetened with milk and sugar. Offering unique stimulating and nutritional properties, it provides visitors with a unique taste of Patagonia.

On the return drive to your ship, you'll enjoy a photo stop at the cliff-top vantage point of Punta Loma, home to a major breeding ground for native sea lions. Located on the shores of Nuevo Gulf, Punta Loma was the first reserve in Chubut. It was created in 1967 with the purpose of protecting South America's only permanent sea lion colony but the reserve also supports a colony of cormorants and South American terns.

You'll have ample time to soak up the scenery and capture great wildlife photos before returning to your coach for the return drive to your ship. You'll pass by one charming seaside resort after another, arriving in the bustling seaport of Puerto Madryn.