BCS Argentina
August 5, 2013
Estancia Santa Susana
Outskirts of Buenas Aires
Sleep came easily last night after our long flight
and then the afternoon at el Parque Centenario. Long, sleepy faces came to
breakfast this morning refreshed and full of energy for the day ahead. Our tour
guide Susana took us to see the beautiful silver flower sculpture in the
central square, where we posed for a photo op with each other and with passersby
curious about our high American energy.
That same energy carried us on our walk through the
city’s most expensive cemetery, La Recoleta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Recoleta_Cemetery), where wealthy families purchase crypts
to hold the generations. Each crypt costs US $50,000 or more and families are
sometimes known to sell the crypts when times get rough, moving the bones of
their dear ones to other, less ostentatious cemeteries on the outskirts of the
city. But, like Pere LaChaise in Paris, many of Argentina’s famous and powerful--including Eva Peron (Evita!)--call La Recoleta their last resting place.
Some of us were more concerned with the well-fed,
quite tame prowlers of the cemetery than with the tombs of the famous. In the
Shutterfly album of photos that I posted, you’ll see a certain obsession with the cemetery
cats who followed us around like silent guardians.
From the cemetery, we traveled by bus to las
pampas, the flatlands and fields that comprise a majority of Argentina’s highly
arable land. As we pulled into the Santa Susana estancia (a large ranch and
farm), Nancy remarked on the extent of the fields. As far as the eye could see,
across vast swaths of soy bean fields and open ranch land lay the 3000
acres of a century-old homestead once owned by Francisco Kelly and his Irish wife Susana Caffrey. Such vast holdings
are hard to comprehend for city kids used to apartment life and busy streets.
The gauchos of the Kelly family greeted us with empanadas
(a meat pie) and freshly squeezed juices from their family Pulperia. The Pulperia is something like a small snack stand with juices and wines for the cowboys at the end of a long day on the pampas. One of our younger singers engaged the older senor of the house in some of the nuances of Argentinian juice and wine, saying to him that wine is a food group, not a beverage, because it is served in churches. The older man nodded sagely and poured the boy a bit more grape juice.
From the Pulperia, we wandered into the central courtyard of the estancia where the scent of grasslands and horses mingled together in a kind of perfume de las pampas. In the distance, we could see the smoke of a wildfire, something quite common to the dry grasslands, even in the winter.
As we wandered into the heart of the estancia, the
low-slung adobe buildings, painted a typical Argentinian dusty rose, embraced
us with large open stone-floor patios built around a central fireplace and
grill. Though the temperature in winter here is a mild 50 or 60 degrees, the
gauchos invited us to warm our hands at the eight-foot wide stone hearth. One
could easily imagine the dusty caballeros and gritty farm-hands of the last
century gathering here to warm themselves for a hearty mid-day meal of grilled
beef and sausages.
Meat is central to the Argentinian diet, which the
estancia helped us to understand culturally. Typical meals revolve around
grilled meat as the central staple, served up on vast platters with small
amounts of salads, potatoes, and squash on the side. Most of us are reveling in
the high-quality prime rib and sausages, and some of us have pronounced blood
sausage some of the best sausage they’ve ever eaten. Our proud hosts yesterday
told us that the beef we were eating has been raised in their pastures and is
known as some of the best beef in the area. (You'll see a good photo on the BCS Facebook page of all the meats grilled for us at the estancia.) As you can imagine, the vegetarians
among us have faced a steep uphill battle to convince our hosts that pork,
chicken, and fish are not vegetables. In the Argentinian vocabulary, “carne” is
most often beef, with pork, chicken, and fish served as appetizers or weak substitutes for a "real" meal of steak. Our tour guide, Susana, who is one of the rare Argentinian vegetarians, scowled at the
waiter last night at the little bistro around the corner from our hotel. With a
wide smile, he served our vegetarians ravioli filled with ham. Susana quickly
educated him on the vegetarian diet and all was righted within minutes with
delicious gnocchi. Susana laughed at needing to educate not just her tour
charges on Argentinian meats but her Argentinian compatriots on vegetarianism.
Our meals are already an exchange of cultural differences.
The highlights of the estancia, though, go far
beyond the mid-day meal. We were treated to a horse-show where three gauchos
showed their horsemanship by snagging a small brass ring with a stick. Until we figure out how to load our videos effectively, here's a link to a short video on YouTube of the kind of horsemanship we witnessed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_tqycLD9x4&noredirect=1. The prize for the rider is a kiss from the girl of his choice in the crowd. Nancy was the first one chosen, when the handsome caballero snagged the ring for her. Despite the language difference, she understood that she was supposed to give him a quick kiss on the cheek to much clapping and cheering from all of us. Orla, though, was the second chosen to receive the ring and she was quite uncertain about the whole thing. Renee set things right then by receiving the third ring and awarding her gaucho with a gracious peck on the cheek.
Indeed, many of us are beginning to expect the typical Argentinian greeting of a single peck on the cheek. If you are in a situation with friends or friends of friends, you should expect to be pulled by the elbow for a quick single peck on the cheek. It doesn't matter your gender. It is simply good manners, much like a handshake or a hug would be in the U.S.
There is still more to report about the wonderful day at the estancia, but I will let the kids sign in tomorrow with their thoughts. I will also tell you about our terrific concerts and exchanges with Colegio San Marcos and at a lovely iglesia. More on that after some sleep!
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