Argentinian Ranch

12/7/2010

          After breakfast, we had a city tour of Buenos Aires.  The tour was a little bit boring.  We drove down the main avenue that has ten lanes going each direction, and is wider than a football field!  We stopped at the main square.  Dad and I both got sunglasses.  We went back in the bus we stopped at the stadium for the Boca Juniors.  I got a giant pencil!  There were a lot of funny things with the Boca Juniors logo.  Underpants, cups, weird key-chains, shirts, and even stuffed animals.  At the entrance there were the footprints of some of the players from each year.  For the goalie, a handprint.  The handprints were two times larger than mine! 

Me in front of the Boca Junior stadium.

Me and the team...

We got back in the bus and drove to a street with shops.  I got an Argentina soccer shirt, with the player as Lionel Messi!  We were driven to a little square where our tour ended.  We walked around a little bit.  We started walking back to the hotel, that was one and a third miles away.  On the way we had lunch.  I had a very good pizza.  We went back to the hotel.  I watched soccer, and did homework for the next six hours.  At 8:00 we were picked up for our tango dinner show.  We arrived and had a good meal.  An hour later, they started the show.  There were four musicians, six dancers, and two singers.  The musicians played accordian, cello, violin, and piano.  The show for me was boring because I am not in to dancing.  The music was pretty cool though.  After the tango show, we arrived at the hotel.  I was sleepy because it was midnight. 

12/8/2010

          At 10:00 am, we were picked up to go to the ranch.  We arrived two hours later.  We had lunch.  The food tasted great.   Instead of giving us a plate of food,  They had people with trays giving you slices of meat.  There were five kinds of meat.  Blood sausage, chorizo sausage, beef, chicken, and ribs.  It was a meat wonderland.  After lunch, I played with two kids my age.  They spoke English and Spanish.  We played soccer for a while.  After that, Mom and I played billiards.  We almost never hit a ball in.  Then, Dad and I played billiards.  Dad won.  After that, we went horseback riding.  While we were riding, my knee and foot got crushed on a wooden post.  It hurt a lot, but I was okay.  After that we went to dinner.  I had spinach lasagna.  We got back to the room, and slept. 

          After playing with the kids, We went to the gaucho games.  All the games were on horses.  In one game there was a wood frame with a ring on it.  The ring’s diameter was about a centimeter.  All the gauchos had a small stick. They had to get the ring on the stick.  If the ring fell off, it didn’t count.  When the gaucho got the ring, they gave it to a woman.  The woman has to give a kiss in return.  There was a game very similar to musical chairs.  Instead of running, the gauchos had their horses gallop in a circle, then when the bell rang, they got off their horses and sat on the chairs.  In another game, was a ball with six ropes attached.  There were no rules in the game, except to score!  The game was originally played with a real duck!  This sport is Argentina’s national sport.  A long time ago, you weren’t allowed to play the game, because it was so dangerous. 


Gauchos trying to get the ring.



Playing the national game.



12/9/2010

          After breakfast, we went horseback riding.  This time it was raining.  Mom had the same horse I had yesterday.  During that ride, Mom’s horse started running fast.  Mom couldn’t hold on.  She fell off.  LL  It didn’t hurt her .J  When we got back to the room, she found a cut that was swollen.  It’s a good thing we had Neosporin.  Next, we had lunch.  We again had people carrying trays and trays of meat.  It tasted awesome!  We got back to the room.  I did homework while Dad took a nap and mom read.  After a while, I had to wake dad up for more horseback riding.  I had the horse Mom had.  When I was on the horse, we went through a gate.  The horse tripped.  It was spooked.  It started jumping and spinning everywhere.  It was like being on a mechanical bull that was alive. My feet were out of the stirrups.  I held on.  The Gaucho saved me, because he made my horse stop jumping.  If the horse jumped and spun for a few more seconds, I would have fallen off the horse.  We arrived back at the room.  Next we had dinner.  It tasted pretty good.  I had chicken, mashed potatoes, and really good strawberries.  We got back to the room and slept.