It is wonderful to be staying in the same hotel in the same town for six nights. It means a lot of free time to enjoy just what you want in this town, even if it is drinking a glass of wine on the town square and watching the world go by!
We had a free morning and then loaded up our van and led by Juan Gibelli we arrived at the Gaucho Festival (just on the edge of town in a very large open space) along with hundreds and hundreds of other people! We first saw the “broncos” (young horses saddled and rode for the first time) and then it was amazing to watch 65 tropiollos enter the arena (each “tropiollo” had at least 8 horses and sometimes up to 16, with a gaucho riding a horse and leading the “bell mare”. All the other young horses-of similar coloring=follow that mare). So we estimated that there were approx. 650 horses in the arena, most of which were loose! Once all in there was a wild ride about trying to mix up the horses and see which could come back together the quickest.
Bear in mind that while all these horses were in the arena, they had actually had to be brought in and taken out again into the staging area with all the cars, trucks, and people milling about. Quite a seen!
This event is totally unique and worth the trip to Argentina. Tomorrow all the gauchos and horses take part in the parade through the town of Areco to the delight of thousands of spectators.
We were joined last evening by our friend (CAA member) Prudencio Hernandez and we all enjoyed a lively evening in a restaurant very near to our hotel. We are getting (finally) into the swing of things here and left the restaurant at 11 pm having had another great meal!