Saturday, March 30, 2013

Happy Easter - Feliz Semana Santa!!!

Living here for three months was easy, leaving here on Easter Sunday feels a little more difficult.
Three months of summer weather, strolling through one of the most fascinating cities, exploring a little more of Argentina, listening to spirited folkloric music and watching just as spirited dancing, enjoying local cuisine and wines, participating in some festivals, and - of course - learning more and dancing more Tango.
On Easter Sunday it will be: Hasta Luego Buenos Aires...

Edible puppies for Easter...staying away from the Easter temptations in the local. Panaderias and Confiterias. The bakeries are full with Easter goodies

Francisco Mania is still running strong, especially during Easter Week. A whole building front on Avenida de 9 Julio has been converted in a gigantic billboard with Pope Francisco's likeness.

La Boca's residents are not impressed..
.
Almost everything is closed on Good Friday here in Buenos Aires, La Boca is open, as not only foreign visitors but also locals take advantage of late summer warmth and visit the many stores as well as a plethora of local restaurants and bars.

For the visitors who never make it into Argentina's rural interior...a few plastic horses and a shop filled with artisan's wares from The Country.

Artists offer their creations...

Kids practice their goal shots in an empty parking lot

Being almost adjacent to La Bonboniera, the stadium of the Boca Juniors soccer team, many La Boca shops offer soccer paraphernalia for every soccer club in Argentina. 

Picasso inspired La Boca balcony, on an old building with typical corrugated metal walls

Hardly a seat empty in any of the restaurants of the entire district...and today is 'fish day', being Good Friday. The only day of the year, where even restaurants specializing in Argentinean BBQ, the Parilla, offer fish.

Super sized Lionel Messi greeting shoppers at the door of a souvenir shop.

Tango music, tango dancing still at every corner...

Painting of the unmistakable bridge over the pungent and toxic Richaluela river which  stagnates at the edge of La Boca, specifically El Caminito district...

One never knows, who one meets in La Boca...here Diego Maradona, the Soccer Deity of all Argentineans.
Photo with a (fake) Maradona - costs you just a few (real) pesos

And - Happy Easter Again...

Enjoying the Last Argentinean Pizza, which almost feels like a pre-Good Friday Last supper...

Dancing for the last Friday Milonga at the Confiteria Ideal...tangoing three hours non stop....

Remembering the moves from my last 'Tecnica para mujer' class...

And off to my very last Buenos Aires Milonga...

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

El Pato - the Duck - Horseball....


Quoting Wikipedia:
Pato, also called juego del pato (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxweɣo ðel ˈpato], literally "duck game"), is a game played on horseback that combines elements from polo and basketball. It is the national sport of Argentina since 1953.
Pato riders and referee entering ring...
Pato is Spanish for "duck", as early games used a live duck inside a basket instead of a ball. Accounts of early versions of pato have been written since 1610. The playing field would often stretch the distance between neighboring estancias (ranches). The first team to reach its own casco (ranch house) with the duck would be declared the winner.
Pato was banned several times during its history due to the violence—not only to the duck; many gauchos were trampled underfoot, and many more lost their lives in knife fights started in the heat of the game. In 1796, a Catholic priest insisted that pato players who died in such a way should be denied Christian burial. Government ordinances forbidding the practice of pato were common throughout the 19th century.


Kick off...



During the 1930s, pato was regulated through the efforts of ranch owner Alberto del Castillo Posse, who drafted a set of rules inspired by modern polo. The game gained legitimacy, to the point that President Juan Perón declared pato to be Argentina's national game in 1953.


In modern pato, two four-member teams riding on horses fight for possession of a ball which has six conveniently-sized handles, and score by throwing the ball through a vertically positioned ring (as opposed to the horizontal rim used in basketball). The rings have a 100 cm (3.3 ft) diameter, and are located atop 240 cm (7.9 ft) high poles. A closed net, extending for 140 cm (4.6 ft), holds the ball after goals are scored.

The winner is the team with most goals scored after regulation time (six 8-minute "periods")
The player that has control of the pato (i.e. holds the ball by a handle) must ride with his right arm outstretched, offering the pato so rival players have a chance of tugging the pato and stealing it. Not extending the arm while riding with the pato is an offense called negada (refusal).


Throwing the 'Duck'

Rider tossing the Pato, in the background the goal...

With all that speed, tossing and tugging, the ball ever so often hits the ground, where is does not rest but a second.

Riders pass the ball in full gallop, sometimes surrounded by other wildly galloping horses, leans down towards the ground and hooks the ball with his hands.

Not a Grand Prix dressage move I would like to do...especially at that speed.

Horses 'work' with obvious enjoyment, but after a set they are rested, and another group of horses enters the play.

During the tug itself, or cinchada, both players must stand on the stirrups and avoid sitting on the saddle, while the hand not involved in the tugging must hold the reins. The tug is usually the most exciting part of the game.


Very much like Polo, but without the mallets...

I have no idea, how these guys stay on their horses....

Quite often during theses 'tugs' one of the riders does part from his mount...the horses gallop past, the rider dusts himself off, and the game goes on.

Horses seem to 'steer' almost entirely by shifting of weight, as the reins are seldom in contact with their mouths.

Fast and exciting, each goal raised enthusiastic cheers from the packed stands...

On the right - the referee..

One has to admire these animals, even in a sport like this they manage to look elegant.

Hats off at the end of the game...

El Patito...
(Photo compliments of the Internet)


Monday, March 25, 2013

Pictures from an Exhibition

A little relaxing stroll around the exhibition hall of La Rural, before the game of Pato begins...


Necessary props for sheep dog trials, part of Nuestro Perros (Our Dogs) exhibition and competition...

Gaucho Spurs, several inches in diameter. These are antique specimens, and cost more pesos than a horse

Several Provinces advertise Equine Adventures, or other attractions in their areas. For the adventurous:
7 day crossing of the Andes from Santiago, Chile to Mendoza, Argentina, passing by the highest mountains in the Andes and following the trail of General Martin, Liberator of Chile and Peru, and National Hero of Argentina
www.pioneros.com.ar
Or maybe attending an equestrian event in the Andean Province of Catamarca such as
Fiesta de Jinetes, Caballos y Aperos (November: Artisans, horses and riders)
or
Festival de Doma y Folclore (December; Horse taming and training and Folkloric Music Festival with local food cooked by towns people)
www.turismocatamarca.gov.ar
Of course, all that is under the protection of a Patron Saint of tourism - The Virgin of Valle


Llama wool product in many vendor stands. not sure what this is used for, but it sure looks pretty. Would make a great luggage identifier, but it probably would 'fly off' before it ever made it into an airplane luggage hold.

Shop talk...

Resero de Enrique, Cattle Ranch of Enrique
Many Artesans convert hides into tack right in their workshops on cattle estancias

A sheep's horn converted into forming part of a silver candle holder

Antique painting of two gauchos fighting it out with their 'gaucho knifes' in a Boliche (pub)

With these leather enclosed stirrups it is almost impossible to get stuck inside one of them. The foot rests on a leather base, and the toes are enclosed with this tent like leather affair.

Which bit is right? Demonstration of different bits on a horses mouth and jaw.

Lots of Canines, and lots of 'interaction' with dogs and children - apart from the very formal breed competition, which look the same all over the world.

Made in Argentina doggie couture - with a Patagonian flair

Boeker  - definitely with a German ring to it...

To years ago, I bought one of these mate gourds at this stall - and actually have brewed the National Argentinean tea quite often back home...

The indigenous influence is visible in many woven items, ponchos, belts, adornments on clothing, blankets and silver jewellery...these designs hail back to and before the Incas.
Enough for now....next blog will show photos of Pato (Duck) - the Polo Game played instead of polo sticks and small ball, with a large leather ball replete with handles, instead of a dead duck as it apparently was played originally...Quite the equestrian feat, and the National Sport for good reason.