Gaucho Party!

My journey started by crossing the Paraná River. I left the city of Rosario and crossed into the province conveniently named Entre Rios (Between Rivers) because two rivers form its borders. Swamp lands scattered with cows scrolled out the window of our private bus. We finally arrived at a ranch that sat at the top of a hill. It was so nice to get out of the city and breathe country air. I loved being able to see the horizon as my eyes stretched along the rolling hills. The horizon in Argentina is not painted by the beautiful Rocky Mountains like in the Pacific Northwest, but there was still a vast beauty the spread for miles around our peaceful spot on the hill.

 We walked around taking pictures as we got settled. A group of us went over to two horses tied up on a fence. The dark one on the left had its ears down and seemed tense, so I left her alone and pet the pretty lady to the right.

Although we did have to sign waivers, this was to most unorganized horse riding I have ever heard of. There was only one person helping our whole group, so people that had never ridden before were on their own. I helped some people and I even adjusted someone’s stirrups. When a girl got on to that dark horse, it spun around anxiously taking her in a circle. Neither of them were comfortable and the girl asked to come down. The one worker helped her down, but then offered the horse to someone else like nothing happened. This time, a guy got on and the horse spun again, but he kept his composure as the ranch hand calmed the horse down. He continued to ride the dark horse around for a while, but you could tell who was boss (the horse). I waited for a while until all the people with jitters got worn out. The guy riding the dark horse did well, but was done quickly and asked if I wanted to relieve him. There was a taller horse I had my eye on because I am tall, but what this horse lacked in height she made up in attitude. I have only ridden horses a hand full of times and there was always someone guiding, but I remained confident from the beginning. I got the horse going with a simple kissing noise and a little nudge. Most people had to resort to kicking their horses to get them to even budge. Most of the horses were classic pony ride horses that are so calm they might as well be passed out.

I was glad I got the dark diva.

For my first time riding solo, I felt like I handled everything as well as anyone could hope for. After a couple laps around the shed people were complementing me on how well I was doing. Mostly because I was actually moving I’m sure. I took my horse from guiding her walk to nudging her with a couple firm kisses up into a trot. Being at a steady brisk pace felt really nice. We couldn’t go far before we reached the small boundary we were limited to. Probably not a bad thing since they most of the horses didn’t go anyway. On the way back I opened up a little more encouraging her to “Giddy up”. We went from a trot into a steady canter before we slowed back down into a trot and then walked around a little more. I did as many laps as I could before it was finally time for lunch. I thanked the dark diva for an incredible ride. I had butterflies stirring, but I remand cool and confident.

Our lunch cooking over hot coals.

For lunch we had amazing barbecue! We got to enjoy different cuts of meat that were all carefully prepared over the coals of an open fire. My personal favorite was the ribs. They were a little tough, but they were so flavorful I could take a small bite and work on it for a while and enjoy its rich flavor the whole time. Before we stuffed our faces with meat, our entre was a traditional food called “empanadas”. They are like mini calzones that can be filled with different kinds of food. The most common I have had are ham and cheese or beef and egg with green olives. They are very delicious and a great way to get your appetite going.

My attempted dancing a traditional dance from Argentina.

After lunch, we enjoyed watching traditional Argentine Dance. This was not the tango born for the cities of Argentina, but the folk dance of the gauchos who were the cowboys in the country. I was under the impression the dancers were going to teach us, but right before intermission they said they were going to pick some people out of the crowd to dance. Of course, I got picked and did my best, but there was no instruction. I enjoyed trying to pick up the dance from a pretty little local girl. After the dance show, we got to eat some delicious dessert. We ate some traditional pastries like flan and another mass off yellow that looked like eggs because it was eggs mixed with sugar and lemon. After we enjoyed our dessert, we relaxed a little bit before our bus ride home.

Chau for now,

Cain