Plains to Pampas '06
Nov. 27 - Dec. 11
Got to go to Brazil and Argentina with the Western Folklife Center and Boojum Expeditions.
Some of the most beautiful country I've ever seen.
We went to visit some gauchos and musicians who had come to Elko for the Poetry Gathering last year. Luiz Carlos Borges showed us a little bit about how they do things in his neck of the woods. First we go out to a beautiful fazenda on the outskirts of Porto Alegre. Everything is well kept. There's a nice arena and a ramada with a big fireplace at one end. Two guys roll up in a cart pulled by 2 huge steers. There's a little ram in the cart. They drag him out and hoist him up and cut his throat while a couple of other guys saw up one they've already had hanging. Pretty soon they've got these carcasses split and staked out over a hot fire and the roping starts up.
These gauchos use really big loops with a lot of coils.
They turn their horses off as they throw. Their riatas are tied to their cincha on the off side.
Wylie roped a steer for our side. Made some new friends too.
Everybody did really. After the roping the lamb was done and when we couldn't possibly eat another bite the music started up. Wylie Gustafson, Sourdough Slim, Charlie Seemann and Hal Cannon were repping for our group.
(I'm trying to get the audio linked up here)
Next Wylie, Charlie, Hal and I got to go visit Telmo De Lima Freitas, a talented poet/singer/musician who is also well known for his generousity. There was more churrasco, some kind of really good pan dulce and of course a lot more music. We left Telmo's casa loaded down with gifts, among which was an antique accordion that Charlie says plays great!
(I'll try to get some audio here, too)
Senhor Borges had booked Wylie and the Wild West and Sourdough Slim on a regularly scheduled show about Gaucho culture. They dedicated the episode to our visit and had a great concert one night. People were lined up around the block and I heard they turned a couple hundred away after the 900 seat theater filled up. Wylie and Slim were joined by Sr. Borges and Renato Borgetti and his band. They also had an extemporaneous speaking contest kinda like a debate set to music. It was really cool. The topic concerned our visit. One guy would make a flowery pronouncement and step back to the crowd's applause, then the other guy would try to outdo him. The whole shoot out went on for about 15 minutes. I can't wait to hear what they were really saying. (Hal Cannon promised to get the Portugese translated and when he does I'll post it here, along with at least a sample of the audio.)
Wylie and Slim were great and the crowd was really responsive. They laughed in all the right places and seemed to really enjoy themselves.
I was really impressed with the hospitality and warmth we encountered in Brazil. Sr. Borges had obviously gone to great lengths to try to show us as good a time as he said he'd had in Elko. I would say that the Brazilian equivalent of "cowboy culture" is certainly alive and thriving in Porto Alegre.
On to Buenos Aires where we took in a dinner show at "Senor Tango". I used to think flamenco dancing was about the most romantic kind of dancing there was but now I'm convinced that the tango is it! (George Gund IV has a great photo of this event!) ( I'm hoping to provide a link to all of the stills taken by our group. I know Maryanne Mott and Ted Lyster have some killer photos, too) ( the stills I'm putting in here are just stolen from the video I was shooting)
Next day we got to visit with world-class braiders Armando Deferrari and Pablo Lozano who showed us a bunch of work that rivals any I've seen, anywhere. That night we attended a surreal concert at a little biblioteca that featured Wylie and his band, Slim, a country-blues singer named Gabriel Gratzer and a country band called Yulie Ruth. Again, the crowd was really responsive and this time there were a whole bunch of north american style cowboy hats in the crowd. A good time was had by all, I'd say.
A short plane ride south to Bariloche and half of us were off to the estancia of Martin Jones. Martin runs cattle and sheep and has recently been doing a little dude wrangling to augment the estancia's income.(sounds kind of familiar)Martin has been working with Boojum Expeditions for a while now and he is every bit as classy as all the Boojum associates I've run into so far. It felt really good to get out in the country and ride around a little.
above Martin's headquarters
I really enjoyed visiting with Martin and his gauchos, Andres and Nolasco. My spanish started working a little better down here in Argentina (had no luck with the Portugese they speak in Brazil) and Andres and Nolasco were patient enough to keep repeating what they were trying to tell me in different ways until I could understand what they were talking about. Martin's english is better than mine.
Martin Jones
Andres
Nolasco
These guys are all good hands. I'm sure they could go punch cows anywhere and fit right in pretty soon. They had a nice solid bunch of horses and they sure showed us some nice cow country. Martin is one of those guys who is always looking for a better way to do things. He said next thing on the agenda for them was to shear the ewes, before they started lambing. I asked him if they didn't knock a bunch of lambs out of them, shearing when they were so heavy. He said not as many as they lost from splitting pairs when they sheared after lambing was done. Added benefits were that the ewes, being newly colder, would go find the warmest places on the estancia which helped the lambs and they'd eat more too, which helped their milk production. I hope to return some day and pick Martin's brain some more.
Here Nolasco is moving a band of sheep out of a shady little lunch spot ahead of the rest of the group. His extra horses are helping him.
Mucho viento. They weren't kidding! I stretched my hat out about 2 sizes from mashing it down on my head to keep it from blowing off on this day.
Wylie helps water the horses.
Heading to the summer headquarters
All in all this was as memorable a trip as I've had. I sure thank the Western Folklife Center, Boojum Expeditions and all the travelers who made it possible. In addition to the gauchos we met I really enjoyed meeting new friends in our group and hanging out with some old ones, too.
I'll try to add to this report when I can. We had another day of gaucho games and music when we reunited with the other half of the group. I'll try to put up as much audio and video from the trip as I can. Check back down the road for an update to this entry.
