The Echegoyen Estancia is the rural homestead of the family of the rancher “el Pupe” Echegoyen near the town of Bellocq, about thirty kilometers inland from the coast of Claromecó. It served as the group’s base of operations during the descent beneath the Malvinas.
| Type | Place (estancia) |
| Location | Bellocq, Buenos Aires Province |
| Owner | Ernesto “el Pupe” Echegoyen |
| Era | 1966–1967 |
| Spanish entry | La estancia Echegoyen |
Description
The estancia lies in the deep plain of Buenos Aires province, far from the sea and from the striped lighthouse of the coast. Beside the homestead is an abandoned railway station on a dead branch line, and nearby a stream falls in steps over the seven waterfalls.
It is the Pupe’s domain of land, cattle and gates, where the informal authority of the rural boss counts as much as a title. The foreman Jorge Moreno, the capanga of Bellocq, guards it; the family matriarch, Grandmother Echegoyen (la vieja del Pupe, “the Pupe’s old lady”), and the young Laura Echegoyen live there.
History
The estancia enters the gesta when the group dragged into the descent by Operativo Cóndor rescues the grandmother from the dungeon of the batrachian brotherhood. In gratitude the Pupe takes the newcomers in as guests and protégés. For about two months, into the summer of 1967, the group uses the homestead to heal, read, dive, sort what it brought from the islands and the coast, and investigate what the Esoteric Order of Dagon, worshipers of Cthulhu, pursues beneath the waves. The next moves are planned from here. The Pupe also covers up the origin of a Citroën 2CV stolen on the mainland.
The protection comes with conditions: the Pupe’s “justice” is that of a rancher who decides by his own hand who deserves shelter and who punishment. The estancia is both refuge and a friendly cage.
Conflicting accounts
- The record sometimes places the rancher’s family on the islands, beside the lighthouse, and sometimes on this inland estate near Bellocq; the more detailed Bellocq placement is the one the gesta uses as base.
- The lighthouse keeper’s surname also wavers before settling on Echegoyen.