Click on a photo to enlarge it.
Scattered through the estancias of the Argentine hinterland are horsemen wearing a uniform from the distant past: black Spanish hats, woven native-style shawls, and baggy pants known as bombachas, and carrying knives called facones. They are the last descendants of a breed of South American cowboys - the gauchos.
San Antonio de Areco dates from the early 18th century and, since 1939, has the oldest Gaucho celebration in Argentina. Part of the festival is the rodeo - young horses are tethered to a post, blindfolded and aroused to a fiery temperament, at which point a gaucho mounts. They are then let loose and the gaucho must withstand between 6 and 15 seconds of bucking. Longer and he becomes a local legend.
We also watched a parade of all the gauchos wearing their traditional clothing and the horses bedecked in their finery. I will let the photos and videos show what it was like.
Gaucho Festival in San Antonio de Areco
Yes, it was very dusty and we had to be careful not to get kicked by getting too close to the horses – with thousands around that was not always easy!
We also spent time trying to help a German couple get propane bottles. They had shipped their camper over but hadn't brought any bottles with them. They thought they could get a 5kg bottle here and that's the only size that fits into their compartment. We ended up driving around town in search of bottles for them and in the end found two 3kg bottles. Then we got hit by a heavy hailstorm with 2cm stones.
We had wanted to get propane ourselves but spent so much time with them that the propane plant had closed. We parked up at a petrol station in town for the night and sat out the heavy rainstorm that followed.
