Final Weekend in Argentina

My final weeked in Argentina was full of randomness. On Friday night, I went with my friend Michelle to a tango show. It was different than what we thought because the main attraction was actually this old man playing the saxophone... but he was also playing tango music and there were dancers as well so it turned out to be pretty cool. It was not a very touristy place at all (we were the only Americans) so it was also need to experience the real tango culture with the locals.

tango show

me and a picture of Carlos Gardel, known as the father of Argentinian tango

Saturday I woke up feeling alittle sick, so after a quick trip to the pharmacy (don't need a prescription for antibiotics in Latin America - I love that), I headed to one of the most unique places I have ever been during my travels: a Jesus theme park called Tierra Santa, or "Holy Land." The sign outside the park says "Visit Jerusalem in Buenos Aires all year long" - indeed. The park is set up like the town of Jersusalem during Jesus' time and you are supposed to feel like you are walking around the city during the first century of Christianity. As you walk along the dirt roads of this recreation of the holy land, all of the workers at the park are dressed up in Mary and Joseph-like costumes out of a nativity play and there are random statues of donkeys and sheep everywhere. They have shows displaying the birth of Christ, the Last Supper and the Creation scene as well. As you meander around the city, you'll find an old Jewish temple, a mosque and other typical buildings of the time. Along the way there are numerous life-size statues of Jesus portraying scenes from his life: Lazarus from the dead, the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday, the garden of Gethsemene, His trial in front of Pilate, and the Passion scene. In the middle of the park, there is a hill that you climb up to experience the crucifixion of Christ on one side, followed by a 18 meter high resurrection of Jesus scene on the other. The park prides itself as the only religious theme park in the world, where you can experience the music, food, and lifestyle of that time period in this recreation of a town so full of faith.

me and the giant Jesus - just a taste of this place...

To fully grasp what this place was like, you have to see all the pictures. Here is a link to the rest of the photos I took:

http://iwu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021435&l=037c4&id=41603236

On Sunday, I made my way out of Buenos Aires into the Argentinian countryside, known as the Pampas. I had a plan to go to a ranch and experience the real "gaucho" culture (gauchos are the Argentinian version of cowboys.) I took a bus from downtown BsAs to the small dusty town of San Antonio de Areco. When I arrived at the one room bus station, I got a map from the tourism lady there and asked her where the Estancia La Cinacina was (the ranch I was going to visit). She pointed me down the road and said, "just walk to the end of the road and you'll be there." This little town about 20 blocks long was the perfect example of the Argentinian countryside. I chose this ranch because it offered a dia en el campo, or a "day in the countryside", a full-on experience of the typical life in the Pampas. I had arrived early before the day was to begin at 11am, so I took the liberty to take a little self-tour of the town. That only took about 1/2 an hour: I visited the church and sat in on mass, took a walk along the riverback and across an old bridge, and other than that everything was closed. So, I headed on to the ranch a bit early, and took a little tour of it myself before all the other tourists showed up.

me on the ranch

When everyone else arrived, the workers there were all in traditional dress and greeted us with wine, salami, and homemade empanadas. We then had the opportunity to go horseback riding and take horse drawn carriage rides through the ranch. As they were preparing lunch, we got to eat ribs pretty much pulled straight from the cow (after hanging by the fire first, of course)...

One of the workers, seeing that I had arrived alone, asked if I would like to be seated for lunch with these two nice Argentinian women. I of course agreed and they were more than delighted to have me and even more happy that I could speak spanish to them. It was awesome because they were able to share with me more about the Pampas culture and music and food and everything. During lunch we were served a traditional asado, or barbeque and it was amazing - full of steak and sausages and bread and salad and potoates - everything was great! One of the dishes that arrived was called morcilla, and I couldn't quite tell what it was, but my new Argentinian tias (or "aunts" as they started calling themselves) explained it to me only AFTER I was done eating it - basically a mix of cow blood and pig skin, haha. Then they told me that alot of people eat it if they have blood problems and then said "at least you won't get anemia now! haha After lunch there was a show of traditional gaucho musica and dance. Of course my new tias were so excited to get the gauchos to come and dance with the awkward American girl... haha, it was all in good fun.

Argentinian folkloric dances outside on the ranch

me dancing with a gaucho after lunch

After all the dancing had subsided, everyone headed back out to the stables for the carreras de sortijas, or "horse races." Here's how they work: a gaucho attempts to pull off a ring (silver-dollar sized) hanging from a rope in the middle of the lane off a with a stick thing will going at full speed on his horse... To me it looked impossible, but most of the actually succeded!

carrera de sortija

my Argentinian tias and our new gaucho friends

At the end of it all, we all took pictures with the gauchos and got another opportunity to go horseback riding. It was great because one of my new gaucho buddies noticed how excited I was about riding and asked me if I wanted to gallop! (of course, no waivers, lessons or helmets necessary for horseback riding in Latin America...) So at the end of the day, I got to go galloping through the pampas with the gauchos and soak in the last bit of fresh country air - it was amazing.

horseback riding with my tias

Before we left, we were served some traditional pastries and my Argentinian tias showed me how to make traditional mate, ( pronounced mah-tey) a tea-like drink they have here all the time using ground up leaves from the yerba mate plant.

me having mate

After all the activities on the ranch were finished, my tias told me they were going to look for a artensania (traditional crafts) market and invited me to come along. Of course I agreed and we took about an hour driving up and down the streets of the town looking for somewhere to do some shopping, but in the end didn't find anything. But it turned out ok, because then they offered to drive me back to Buenos Aires with them so that I didn't have to take the bus! Yeay! I also found out that one of the women works at a bilingual school here in Buenos Aires and would be more than happy to hire me to teach English if I ever decide to come back here! What luck!

Returning back to the big city was a little rough after such a great time in the campo, but I have finished up all of my teaching and assignments for my course now and am heading back to the U.S. on Friday night. One month in Argentina is in no way enough time to really experience all that this country has to offer, so hopefully I will be able to come back again!