Nearly everything is closed today, so our travel agent wisely recommended we book a day trip out of town.  We go to visit the Pampas (grassland area, outside of Buenos Aires) to see the Argentine Cowboys, known as Gauchos.   We visit a farm and see the gauchos.  Itā€™s very touristy, but with limited choices today, it was fine.  We take a ten minute horseback ride around the farm and visit the small museum.  There is then a lengthy meal (an asado) of various grilled meats.  Lā€™ gets pasta while I enjoy my first taste of excellent Argentine beef.  We talk with a couple of guys from Puerto Rico who are pleasant and speak English (it seemed as if most people on the tour did not). 

argentina0115After lunch, thereā€™s some music and tango dancing.  This is followed by the demonstration of a gaucho skill of called ā€œLa carrera de Sortijaā€.  This trick involves racing on your horse and trying to grab a small hanging metal ring with a small stick as you race underneath it.   It was fun to see and certainly appeared to be challenging.  We had a little more time after the demonstration, but then it was time to board the bus and return to Buenos Aires.

Since we got a little dusty, we take showers and then track down a kosher restaurant so Lā€™ can try the kosher version of the local beef.  Weā€™re off to the Palermo section of Buenos Aires which we reach by a short taxi ride.  We stop at a park with the hope of seeing the menorah lighting, but no one is in sight.  Since weā€™re hungry, we go to the restaurant for dinner.  Without an English menu, determining the steaks is a bit hard, but the limited English of one of the waiters helps enough.  The steaks were fair and I continue to wonder why the kosher steaks I grill at home are always much better than ones in restaurants (see, Iā€™ve earned the grillmaster title thatā€™s on my apron). 

I make an ice cream stop on the walk back to the main street where we then catch a cab and return to our hotel.  Tomorrow weā€™re off to IguazĆŗ Falls.

View the photos from the Pampas here:

http://www.sanjoseabrams.com/photos/ArgentinaDec2011/Day%202,%20The%20Pampas/index.html#