Gaucho Party!!!

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Oh, how could I anything but love the Gaucho culture? Alright well, I guess that I should first explain for everyone exactly what constitutes gaucho culture! Basically it is the local version of cowboy culture. The men work on estancias and have a long history in the country. They are know to be hard workers and to know everything about the land, tracking, local wildlife, horses, and of course raising the some of the best beef in the world! The entire program spent the day on an estancia close to Victoria in Entre Rios. It was one of the most gorgeous places that I have been in this part of the country. I tend to start missing hills and mountains most of the time when I look at a landscape around here, but this was an exception. There were flowers everywhere, about 4 or 5 friendly dogs running around begging to be petted, and lots more food than we could possibly have consumed. I can't eat anymore for the entire day! We started off first thing when we got there with a huge asado. Meat, argentine style potato salad, vegetables, wine, it was wonderful! And after the first round of meat there was another, and then another, and by about the forth round no one could eat anything else. Then we wandered around for a bit. Paige, Steph and I talked for a few minutes with the local guys that worked there. It was nice to just hang out in the sun and enjoy a day in the the country. After the time hanging out there was a traditional dance show put on by a group of local folklore dancers. They were all really young and it looked like they were nervous about preforming in front of the big group of Americans with their cameras at the ready! They turned out to be really good though! The guys were decked out in some pretty impressive gaucho styles. They were using their boots to create rhythms along with the music, like a local version of Stomp, which was pretty amazing with all of them in time with one another. After their presentation they invited all of us to come up and join them, which of course I did (I just can't help myself when it comes to dancing!). First we danced a simple circle dance that was fairly easy to follow, but then we all split off into couples and I ended up learning traditional dance steps from this kid that looked to be about 13 years old while everyone else rocked back and forth like a flashback to a middle school dance! It was a blast! After the dancers left the day just got better for me, because then we moved on to horseback riding! I was in love with the whole thing! I was one of the first ones to ride, and I felt comfortable basically right away. It was my first time back in the saddle since my knee surgery, but it felt completely natural. Once my turn was over I slipped right back into my old position as riding instructor of the unsure and incompetent. I was so happy, just calming people down when they started freaking out and teaching them how to control the horses. After about an hour of horseback riding it was time for the group to leave. Going home was like returning from another world and I was so upset to go back to the city, unfortunately all good things must come to an end.

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Photos

Ah, the estancia!
Here is the estancia that they took us to. Rather than a real working estancia, it was more like the Argentine equivalent of a Dude Ranch!

Horses!
Here I am on horseback for the first time since my knee surgery! It felt like getting back to my real life again!

Traditional Dancing
This was our first opportunity to see some of the more traditional dance styles of the inland states. The dancers from this group were all very young and seemed very self-conscious in front of us.