Argentina

November 6-29, 2009

November 8: Fiesta de la Tradicion in San Antonio de Areco

The Asado and Gaucho Skills Demonstration

For lunch we planned to take part in the asado, a traditional argentine barbecue. Back at the Parque Criollo where we had parked there were several barbecues with open fires for making coal. The coals are placed under the meat which is on skewers and spread out on grills. The amazing smells were wafting all over town and never has meat tasted so good! Argentines like their meat well done and they eat every part of the cow, so traditionally you start with all sorts of sausages, including blood sausages and entrails. We stuck with the beef and were amazed how even the fattier cuts tasted absolutely delicious.

Once again the schedule was slipping... at noon we were among the first to sit down for lunch and slowly more and more people showed up. And the skills demonstration which we expected to start by 1pm really only got under way around 3pm. For the skills demonstration, once again each estancia seemed to have its turn running its horses around the big field while an announcer would get all excited on the loudspeaker which we couldn't understand. Finally after each group had its turn, all of them got on the field together and with a gallop they were off, the gauchos taking the lead horses and all their other horses following the lead horse with its bell. They wove all around the field and it was amazing how the horses stayed in all their groups despite all the chaos. It was a sort of horse ballet.

That's as far as we got... the long day, the hot sun and no nap were starting to wear on the kids (especially Christopher) and since we had a long drive ahead of us the next day we decided to head back to buenos aires around 5pm. even so, thanks to traffic we didn't get home until quite late and once the kids were in bed we were too tired to do much packing for the next day!

After the parade, we see everyone start to head back to where lunch will be served.

Others head for a shady spot by the river to take a break from the midday sun.

A picture of the bridge across the Rio Areco on a tree stump.

Lots of old clunkers... the blue one is for sale as indicated by the water bottle on the roof of the car.

Hanging out in the shade.

As we take a quick look at the craft market, we find a family with a stroller... quite the rarity in Argentina.
Of course, they were staring at Christopher in the back carrier which is even more of an oddity!

Some people take their motorbike to the ice cream store, others bring their horse.

Riding along the river.

A helicopter... could it be the president herself making an appearance?!

Now that the parade is done, the little girl seems to prefer riding with mom!

Can you get any more gaucho than this?!

Horse power.

Sam found this school bus interesting.

Sometimes you just have to let sleeping dogs lie...
(and yes, these ones were sleeping unlike many of the others we would be seeing on our trip!)

Once again we exchanged stares...
us at them with kids without seatbelts and them at us with Christopher in a back carrier.

Sammy in good spirits on a beautiful sunny day.

An ovenbird with its nest.

An argentine asado? What's on the menu?

meat, meat and more meat!

The fire is used to make hot coals which are then used to slowly cook the meat.

Rubby and Christopher look hungry and happy!

All right... where's the food!?

Sammy liked these flowers she found.

Rubby and Christine go and get the food: empanadas,...

... membrillos (a jam filled pastry for dessert)

Christopher enjoying his empanada.

A piece of rainbow in the sky.

Who could possible need a mechanic's service in Argentina?

A leader horse with its bell.

Cheese, bread or sausage anyone?

Hey, is that guy drinking and riding?!

We check out some of the craft stalls as we wait for the gaucho skills demonstrations to begin.

More artisanal wares, mostly to do with horses.

Festivals often have issues with parking... here they have horse parking!

Even the security is done on horseback.

Anyone care for an icecream?

A bird flying overhead.

samantha has her own fun "horsing around" with poppa.

Fathers taking their kids for a ride while we continue to wait.

When the gaucho skills demonstration finally starts, Samantha snaps a few pictures of her own.
[ click here to see sam's photos ]

Of course, more flag waving and self adulation... sigh!

Finally the horses come running out.

Yay, this is more like it... lots and lots of horsies!

The horses ran this way,...

The horses ran that way,...

It's called a horse ballet!

Considering that each gaucho has a group of about 10-20 horses with only the leader horse being tethered,
it was amazing they could keep their groups together.

We all felt sorry for this horse.

More traffic on the highway in the evening... luckily there were no cows at this cow crossing. ???!!!

An accident along the way.

The lane indications seem to be largely ignored. We enjoyed seeing some of the old clunkers such as the Falcon with its licence plate falling off and side mirrors installed on its hood.