Potlucks and Cowboys

Feliz 9 de Julio!
To celebrate, my host family and I hosted a potluck at the house, and all but one person from my program came to hang out for a bit. It was so cool to see everyone in a non-classroom setting and to hang out with some of the host siblings for a while. I made a orange cake with chocolate ganashe and a cream cheese frosting. It came out a little hard, so you have to eat it with milk or coffee...lol, but next time, I'm going to poke holes in it to pour in the frosting in, to create moisture, hehe. Can't wait. There was also chinese food, empanadas, apple crispt, delicious drinks, corn bread, milanesas, flan and so much more.

La Estancia:
Today, we went to an estancia, a ranch! We went to a blacksmith shop where this guy named Draghi used to make ornate belt buckles and tack out of silver and gold. Depending on someone's status, there's more metal and money attached to the gear. Then, we went to another museum, just opened in April, which showcased the work of Molina Campos. Lots of cartoon-like paintings with titles in BA slang.

Asado:
We ate asado - a very popular barbeque-like meal inside the ranch's dining hall. They served all types of meat, including a coagulated blood sausage...it was a black egg-shaped wonder, I couldn't quite get myself to have more than an itty bitty bite. The meal was followed by a performance of traditional BA dance with tango, milonga, and a cowboy dance competition. This tiny, young cowboy went on stage and did some pretty slick moves!

Gauchos:
Afterwards, the same cowboys that served us our meal competed in a game with horses. Each cowboy gallops really fast towards two small rings (size of a one inch binder ring), and tries to hook the ring with a foot-long point stick. It seems really hard, but the gauchos slipped the stick through the rings while galloping crazy fast. Afterwords, the cowboys gave away the rings they won and it's customary to kiss the cowboy who gives you a ring, and I got one!

Riding:
Next, I got to ride a beautiful, and extremely well-trained chestnut horse. He was ready to run, which I love, so we galloped across the open plain, while the gauchos yelled "despacio! slow!" Haha, but I wanted to go fast, and you know, it's hard to stop a horse who wants to run....right? Amazing.

Bars and Boliches:
After the estancia, I took a little nap and then went out with my friends to a bar and a boliche to celebrate Lisa's birthday (fellow student at UDESA). I had a delicious mellon ball with wine, and enjoyed the live band. One guy could get us into a boliche (dance club!) for free so we went, along with 2 new friends (whom we met at the bar) from Germany! We were out until 4:30am ish, and Allie's host brother very kindly took us all home.

I woke at 2pm today.