La daabacay: 28.01.2018
We went to the sports event today. You know us, so of course we didn't do sports ourselves, but watched. At an Argentine Gaucho festival in Junín de los Andes, 40 km away from the place where we live. No tourists, only locals and us, of course. We had seen the festival on Thursday while passing by, stopped briefly, read the program, and ate cheesecake 😊. And today we went there again. Officially, it is a horse fair. You can buy everything for a perfect Gaucho outfit at the stalls. And of course, plenty of food and drinks. Everything is handmade, including the jams, honey, sausages, cheese, and of course, the beer 🍺. In the afternoon, we watched the calf driving. After a few rounds, we understood what the teams had to do. Three riders had to separate three calves, which were marked with specific numbers, and drive them through a gate. And all of this within a given time. The teams were very different, there were also very young up-and-coming Gauchos who did their job very well. There were always two rounds, and the best ones then went to the final. It was a lot of fun. Many people walk around in traditional clothing, children and adults - including the traditional weapons. Later in the evening, there was a horse auction. We didn't quite understand the prices, but they were always around 50,000 Argentine Pesos, which is about 2,000 Euros. Mares with foals were a bit more expensive, they were about 3,000 Euros. We are glad that we discovered this event, it was absolutely authentic and we had a lot of fun.