Wow! Ok so this is from quite a while ago, but I have yet to fill you all in about my recent adventures.
Dia del Campo is an excursion put on by ISA (the program that I came here with) and it involves you going to an estancia to experience the traditional life of a gaucho (Argentine cowboy). When we first got there we were greeted by a gaucho who gave us an empanada (of course!) and some delicious orange juice-sidenote: the orange juice here is absolutely delicious and far better than any I have ever had in the States. We were given a formal welcome which included a show of traditional gaucho dancing which was intense! After this we were able to walk around the house and just admire the style of living that gaucho's have. We were also able to ride horses but after seeing a crazy white horse about throw a girl off, I was deterred from riding horses this day. After horseback riding, we were led to a big hall, where there were other big families and people, and basically had a feast. Feast is no exaggeration for what this was either, because we had so many plates brought out to us, it became hard to count. I think I literally tried every type of meat there is out there, we had like 3 types of sausage (chorizo), chicken, different types of beef, bread, etc. We also had some amazing flan! There was also more traditional dancing inside where the dancers incorporated us in and a musical performance by another gaucho. We went outside and there was a show which is really hard to explain in words, so I am just going to direct you to the video. The point of the game though is to get the stick through the ring that is hanging. This was actually really cool to see and seems pretty hard. This was the conclusion of this day, but it was really nice to see a more open space in Argentina, as in the city you don't see a lot of wildlife, as well as some traditional culture of the country.
Another add on to the trip was the journey to the Basilica de Lujan- which is about an hour to 2 hours outside of the city of Buenos Aires. This Church is incredibly famous in Argentina as it houses the main image/statue of the Virgen de Lujan- who is the virgin of Argentina-- comparable to how the Virgen de Guadalupe is to Mexico. In more recent days I have learned that every year there is a trek to this church in order to see the Virgen de Lujan, which I think I will be participating in.
Leading into the church
La Virgen de Lujan
Me and my friend Britta in front of the Basilica de Lujan
Gaucho!
La Bomba
I went to this concert during a week night, not knowing what to expect at all, all I knew is that my fellow classmates were ranting and raving about this show. We got to the the place and there were already some people performing. There was a group of about 12 people singing, playing musical instruments, and some dancers, and the crowd had just crowded around them. It was really cool. They were the opening act. The real act is a group of drummers who literally just play- this is hard to explain too- but they don't play rehearsed songs, they elect a new person from the group about every 2 songs to lead and then play whatever that person instructs. It's crazy actually. In the middle of the show it turned into a dance party, and the energy here is crazy! All in all a really fun night.
This is a video of La Bomba
Video of a traditional gaucho dance
Video of the gaucho game earlier described.. you will understand the point after watching this..
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