Buenos Aires: Gaucho Day Trip

Twenty-six hours after leaving our beloved San Francisco on Thursday night, we landed in the beautiful metropolis known as Buenos Aires on Saturday morning (15 hours in flight + 2-hour layover + 9-hour delay)!

Buenos Aires is the capital and most populous city of Argentina. Its name can be translated as "fair winds" or "good airs," a nod to BA's good weather. The metropolitan area surrounding Buenos Aires has a population of around 15 million people, with the city itself calling approximately 3 million people its residents. Buenos Aires is the most visited city in South America and the second most visited city of Latin America (behind Mexico City). The official currency of Argentina is the Argentine peso. One US dollar equals approximately 16 Argentine pesos.

On Sunday, Ant's birthday, we visited Estancia Don Silvano, located approximately 55 miles (90 kilometers) west of Buenos Aires.

An estancia is a large farm spread over an extensive area, often 10,000 hectares (about 40 square miles), similar to what we call a ranch. Estancias in Argentina have historically been estates used to raise cattle or sheep.

Many estancias are worked by gauchos. In its purest sense, gauchos referred to the nomadic, often outlaw inhabitants of the great plains of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, who were very adept horsemen. Today, gaucho usually designates the rural working class in general. The gaucho in some respects resembled members of other nineteenth century rural, horse-based cultures such as the North American cowboy. Gauchos are folk heroes famed for hardiness and lawlessness. Argentine writers celebrate the gaucho, and gaucho literature is an important part of the Argentine cultural tradition.

Introducing some of the gauchos that worked at Estancia Don Silvano...

(Clockwise from top: MC Gaucho, Junior Gaucho, Senior Gaucho*)

*not their real names

Our Gaucho Day Trip included a demonstration of gaucho skills. MC Gaucho, as both the moniker and megaphone imply, was our host. He was very charming, as you can tell from his hat and winning smile. Senior Gaucho was the most skilled, as denoted by his "Senior" status. Junior Gaucho was easy on the eyes, in a brooding and angsty (yet still dashing) way; hence the "Junior" handle.

Some of the gaucho skills exhibited:

#1 - pialadas/boleadoras: catching an animal with a lasso or with a rope with weights at both ends

#2 - carrera cuadrera: short horseback sprint that riders start from a standstill

#3 - spear with a lance a pancake-sized ring hung from a bar while riding a horse

#4 - la carrera de sortija: spear with a mini-lance (or chopstick?!) a coin-sized ring hung from a bar while riding a horse

In this particular contest, tradition dictates that whoever successfully lanced the coin-sized ring on his chopstick would receive the opportunity to ask a lady of his choice from the audience for a kiss. If she was not married, she was expected to give him a kiss. If she was married, her husband had to kiss the gaucho's horse.

Senior Gaucho *schooled* Junior Gaucho in this contest, as seen from the kisses below, and also in most of the other contests.

All in all, a great show.

Next stop: El Calafate