Paying a visit to a friend in Reconquista, (MAP) in the Santa Fe province, turns out to be a wonderful experience for living in a ranch and being a "gaucho" for one day.
Work starts really early in the morning, right after the sunrise el gaucho looks for the horses, catches and prepares them for the working day. They actually seem to be reluctant and would prefer to stay free, in the open field.
While I observe my gaucho friend preparing my horse, I soon realize that I did never ride a horse before in my life. Well, there's always a first time for everything, I just ask my friend a few tips, pretending to be a veteran and in a matter of seconds I'm up and ready. And scared... Eventually it's pretty much like a motorcycle: you've got the brakes, the steer, and there are also at least three gears: walking, trotting and galopping. And from time to time you have to refill with some fuel (grass and water in this case).
Once everything is ready, all the gauchos (included the Italian one) leave the ranch and cross several fenches to go to the open field.
Our task today is to check that cows are in good conditions and healthy: there is an important sell in a couple of days and we have to make sure that everything is going to be smooth. "El campo" -the field- is huge, and it takes several hours to accomplish the task. Crossing rivers and several different natural environment is part of the job.
If something is going wrong - a sick cow in this case - we call (how did they do in the past?) the vet. The gauchos (excluded the Italian one) catch the cow with their lazo, and then provides the animal with the needed cure.
By the way, today it is Hector (the vet) birthday, and sadly (or not!) one of those cute little piece of... tender meat is going to migrate to a better life. For him and for us.
