Gaucho Life Meets Easy Street

When my sister and I were youngsters, we went to an elementary school named Village Meadows, and our mascot was the Gaucho. It wasn´t until years later that I fully found out exactly what a gaucho is - the classic Argentine cowboy of lore. And until the other day, I never had met a gaucho. I should say as a caveat that the gaucho is more than anything a symbol of Argentina´s past, but one that remains an important symbol of Argentine identity and national mythology.

On Tuesday, our group traveled a couple of hours outside of Buenos Aires to an estancia (ranch) in an area of the Pampas known as San Antonio de Areco. Here, we had the chance to sample the gaucho experience of days goneby. However, I think our day was slightly easier than what a typical day must have been like for the gaucho. It started out with a tour of the estancia, which started out as a cattle and wheat ranch, but now accommodates tourists. We then took a 1 hour horseback ride into the country, followed by a grilled asado lunch with Argentine wine and other goodies. The day "out in the country" was a memorable one. By the way, my horse was named Tucuru and a very mellow gal, which was a good thing! It characterized the kind of day we had as a group.