The Pampas

This is one of the streets of the gaucho town San Antonio de Areco

Ranch house of the estancia (ranch) where we had dinner, met the gauchos, and rode horses. This farm also grow crops. They can't even pay their taxes with the income from the farm, so they got into the tourist trade. It was a very pleasant spot. Lunch was wonderful!

The Catholic Church we visited in San Antonion de Areco. There were actually 2 Catholic Churches. The other was St. Patrick's. There were a lot of Irish who settled there and became part of the community.

Here is one of our gauchos. This guy was 67 years old. They said he broke his back a few years ago and was told not to ride horses anymore. He said he'd die if that happened. He rode very well. Certainly better than I did! He was very patient with us tourists.

Main street of San Antonio

You can see that the land is VERY flat. The trees were brought by the European settlers. Originally it was only grasslands and tall tree-like bushes. They had a history with the natives much like our relationship with the American Indians.

There were a lot of hawks around.

Gaucho and his horse. That is the gaucho's hat on the horse's hoof.

The Gaucho would pick up his horse's legs and move them where ever he wanted them. The horse cooperated by leaving them there.

Our gaucho singing to us. He had a very pleasant voice.

They keep coins on their belt and cut them off when they need one. The knife in his belt is both a weapon and a tool.