An outfit adapted to the lifestyle

Gaucho's name comes from the Quechua "huachu" which means orphan or vagabond. Solitary, in love with freedom even asocial, the Gaucho led a rustic and austere life sleeping under the stars, eating grilled meat (asado) and mate.

In the 18th century, the land around the Rio de la Plata was large enough and wild cattle abundant to live a life without depending on anyone. When he settled down or started a family, the Gaucho built a small rancho in adobe and covered with a straw roof. The bed was made of stretched cowhide.

His dress is still used today during certain festivals, such as in San Antonio de Areco: leather boots (or skin espadrilles) with spurs, baggy pants tucked into the boots, a loose shirt, a woolen belt and a belt decorated with coins and a beautiful buckle to which is hung a facón (dagger), a short waistcoat, a jacket, a scarf around the neck or on the head, a wide-brimmed hat or a beret, rebenque (whip) and wool poncho, worn for protection from the cold and bad weather or folded over the left shoulder in summer.

Horse and guitar

The Gaucho had several types of knives: the most common for eating and working, the faćon for fighting. Without forgetting the horse, without which a Gaucho would not be a Gaucho. Children learned to ride from early childhood and were not afraid, when they were teenagers, to tame wild horses. The boleadoras, working instrument and weapon consisting of two or three long straps ending in stone balls, worn on the belt, were used for hunting and certain games of skill. Thrown into the paws of an animal, the boleadoras, of Indian origin, immobilized it, for sure.

The guitar is often the companion of the Gaucho. The most inspired are payadores, poets and singers, who delight the countryside with their songs to laugh or to cry.

Sometimes we danced the cielito, the gato, the media caña, etc. We used to meet at the pulperia, those grocery stores that sold a bit of everything in the countryside. We used to meet at the pulperia, those grocery stores that sold a bit of everything in the countryside. The pulpero served in the shelter of a grid, protected from possible fights. Other distractions for men are the trucos (card games), cockfighting and horse races ridden bareback.