Mary invited me to go to her pueblo, Ayacucho, along with Nacho, Loli and Lean. This past weekend, Ayacucho hosted its annual Fiesta Nacional del Ternero, which when directly translated is the "National Calf Festival." Ayacucho is one, if not THE, agricultural capitals of Argentina. The 4 hour drive alone proved that, as all I could see looking out my window were fields upon fields of soy beans, corn, and cows. Basically, this festival was about celebrating the traditional heritage of Argentina.
Arriving at my "grandmas" house, we quickly unpacked the few things we had brought and got ready to head down to the horse show. The venue for the horse show resembled that of a fairground arena. A large, fenced-in field (really, dirt), was outlined with massive amounts of people enjoying the day. Large groups of friends and family sat around sipping mate and eating asado, which was available in every direction one could look. Many of the men were dressed in full gaucho attire, consisting of riding boots (or alpagatas- the original TOMS), baggier cloth pants, button down shirt with a colorful scarf, large metalic belt, and to top it all off, a beret. Oh! Every gaucho carries a falcon (knife). And these arent the butter knives you find in your kitchen cutlery drawer, these huge, silver plated knives intended to cut meat...or horses...or people. Luckily, I only saw people using the knives to cut slices of asado, but apparently there had been several drunken fights which resulted in the knives being pulled on one another.
There were two main horse events we watched. The first was a series of little barrel races against three competitors. I do not have a very good horse vocabulary, so forgive me for not being able to describe this well. Groups of three continued to compete, and one by one the competitors were knocked out. In the end, the winner won a sum of money. The second event was comparable to bull riding. I do not remember the name in Spanish so I will just call it "man versus horse." Three poles were distantly spaced across the field, with each station having a group of about 6 or 7 men running it. When the bell rang, one brave gaucho and one untamed horse were unchained from the pole. The gaucho's goal was to remain on the horse until the next bell rang (maybe about a minute or two) signaling his success. I was surprised at the number of men who were able to remain on the horse. There were definitely quite a few instances that I thought where I thought there'd be an injury, but from what I saw, everyone walked away unharmed. After the gaucho's minute (or two) were up, two more men would ride alongside of the untamed horse and very swiftly grabbed the gaucho, letting the wild horse run free. I laughed as this horse usually continued to buck, thinking there was still someone on his back.
a gaucho and his horse
While many families left after the horse events, our family stuck around for an asado at Mary's former neighbor's (Andres) campsite. Andres has his own asado company, so this meat was very well done (and also my second asado of the day, as Nacho had bought some from a stand for lunch). I don't think Andres knew very much english, if any at all, so he didn't talk much with me, even after Mary made me provoke him by telling him North Carolina has better lamb. What do I know about that??
We hung out at the campsite for a couple of hours, but we didn't leave before I learned how to drink wine out of a bag. According to Mary, this is a traditional Argentine thing to do, and it is truly a great art. You always have to grab the bag from the bottom, never holding it at the top or it could break. Next, you hold the bag close to your mouth at an angle, and slowly pull away as the wine squirts to the back of your throat. Bringing the wine bag close to your mouth again, the true art is closing your mouth without getting and stopping the wine flow without getting any of it on you. Mary and Nacho are masters at this, but I must say, with such great teachers, I am quickly learning. Everyone else at the campsite seemed to get a kick out of watching the girl from the United States drink wine from a bag. Ha!
the pro!
After leaving Andres' asado, we briefly went back to grandma's house for a couple empanadas and a quick change of clothes. Then we headed over to a friend of Mary's for, as I'm sure you can guess.... another asado. We pulled up to the house we thought the party was at, but as we approached the garage, Mary and Loli began to second guess themselves. We stood awkwardly out front for a good with Mary and Loli trying to convince Nacho to enter first, just in case it really was the wrong house and we embarrassed ourselves- at least Nacho would be the first! Luckily, someone from the party came out and we realized we were, after all, in the right place.
The party was okay. There didn't seem to be that many people there, and there was definitely no dancing, which I was greatly upset by. I did meet a lot of new people, which is always fun. One group of girls thought it would be fun to come up with a bunch of sentences in English and then have me translate them in Spanish to check my skills. That was fun.... for the first twenty minutes. Although, I was pretty impressed with my translating skills!
After this party was yet another party, however we never made it there. We headed back to grandma's house way before the Argentine night-life kicked in, but I was ok with that. Translating and processing in a different language really takes a lot out of you! Sunday morning, we took our time waking up and eating breakfast before heading down to see the parade. It had started at 9:30, but when we got there around 12:30, I was shocked to see it still in procession. Lots of gauchos showcasing their horses, followed by "gauchos-in-training," maté floats, and artisanal floats annnnd more horses. The people love their horses.
We followed up the parade with....asado. The local firemen had cooked up a bunch of meat so we bought enough for the five of us to enjoy a picnic in the backyard. After lunch, and a little siesta, we headed back to the main stadium to watch a few more horse races. It was an incredibly beautiful Sunday afternoon and so sweet to spend it in the company of my family.
firemen serving some fresh cooked asado
Taking these trips with my family really solidifies and builds the relationship I have with them. I really do have two sets of parents, but in a totally functional way. Lean keeps trying to get me to say that him and Loli are the best parents, but everyone knows you can't make a kid decide!
I loved experiencing Ayacucho, the "real" Argentina. I loved being "christened" as an Argentine. I loved talking with grandma and walking around the streets Mary talks about so fondly. Oh, and of course... asado.
my family.
Freakin miss you terribly! And love reading your blog love!
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