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Published: August 6th 2007
Gauchos for Güemes
This is what it's all about really!We have just had a very cultural weekend! 17 June is the anniversary of the death of
General Martín Miguel de Güemes, leader of the Gaucho Army which defended the Northwest territories of Argentina during the war of Independence. He was fatally wounded in Salta, his home town, on the night of 16 June, 186 years ago. The weekend is now a major celebration in the city.
On Friday night it was very cold. We didn't go out! We missed military bands playing and dancers performing on a stage at the base of the Güemes monument. It was a shame but by God it was cold!!
On Saturday we got to the central plaza just in time to see a squad of gauchos ride from the cabildo to the Cathedral. They held a small vigil outside as Güemes' remains are in a small chapel inside the Cathedral. I had visions of them removing his casket and taking it out for a ride! Thankfully this didn't happen!! Then they went up to the corner of Balcarce and Belgrano to hold a vigil on the spot where Güemes received his fatal wounds. There is an eternal flame (electrically powered!) and a plinth there. We have
Death Scene
Inside the Casa de Güemes restaurant on España you can see this painting of General Güemes after he was fatally wounded. walked past the spot numerous times before and not noticed it! Strange as it is right across from one of our favourite coffee stops!!
After hanging about there for about 40 minutes, they then rode along Belgrano to the Güemes monument. There we saw a small ceremony which resulted in guards being posted at all four entrances to the monument. As far as we know, the vigil went on through the night, but presumably the "watch" was changed every hour or so. It was bitterly cold.
We left the vigil and went to a nice Italian restaurant nearby! Then we went back to see what was going on. The various fogones (bonfires) were all lit and crowds had gathered around each of them. There was singing and music at some, social eating and drinking at others, and people just generally trying to get warm around the rest! We stayed a while before leaving them to their overnight vigil.
On Sunday morning there was some confusion as to what time things were starting. This is Argentina after all!! The police had told us 11am, so that's what we went for. We heard a gaucho mention 11 too, so
Remains of Güemes
Just on the right as you enter the Cathedral you will see the shrine/chapel for Güemes. we thought it was probably correct.
It was cold again but thankfully the forecast rain didn't materialise. After getting off the bus we started walking up towards the Güemes monument. That's when we saw a lady gaucho running in the direction of the cathedral. We went to have a look and saw a small troop of gauchos gathered there. We saw them set off and ride towards the monument to join the massed ranks of the other gauchos.
The sight that greeted us once we got to the monument was incredible. It was like an enormous military parade, something akin to being around The Mall and The Cenotaph in central London on November 11. There were large units of Argentina Army, Navy, Air Force and Police amassed on parade. A civic ceremony began at 11am and the whole event lasted several hours.
We found a good vantage point and watched the march past of the bands, military personnel, police, Boy Scouts (Exploradors), school children and finally, the two thousand or so gauchos on horseback. It was amazing.
It was also amazing to see that 99% of those watching were locals. Lots of people bring their children
and we saw the cutest little gaucho with his Dad! There seemed to be very few tourists around which was surprising as an event like this is something I would have thought every tourist in town would have wanted to see.
Lunch was a choripan from one of the many stalls which had set up. Then we had a coffee and went home for a few hours.
In the evening we went to watch the Salta ballet perform Aurora's Wedding (the third act from Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty) at the Case de la Cultura. The beginning of the event was chaotic and, surprise, surprise, it didn't start on time! The ballet was wonderful though and it was superb to see such a cultural event here in Salta.
After that we had a beer in the Goblin pub opposite. It's become quite a regular weekend haunt for us, we don't even look at the menu any more, we just order our beer!! Then we went to celebrate Fathers' Day (!) at the
Alejandro 1 Hotel. They had a special buffet for 35 pesos each including a free glass of champagne and a bottle of good (Latitude 33) wine! You didn't even
need to be a father to take advantage of the offer!!
And so ended a very fulfilling cultural weekend in Salta!!!
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Mark
non-member comment
Is that the entire Argentinian Navy?