(no subject)
Sunday:
After a poor nights rest I woke to the realization that i had a cold. I took some sinus medication that Ethan had brought (ethan became our medicine man) and then we all went down to breakfast. I brought down the shirts mr. Barretto had asked me to give to Jorge' and Srta. left them with the receptionist. At 9:30 we all got onthe bus for the Ranch. About 45mins into the busride, after passing through a toll station, the bus was pulled over to the side and we were boarded by the police. They were doing a routine check to make sure we weren't being kidnapped.
We got to the ranch and walked around after being given empenadas and our choice of red wine, white wine, or some orange drink. I took the orange one because my head hurt and discovered it to be incredibly sweet orange juice. We roder the horses but it was so incredibly slow that i wanted to just slap them a few times so that we could actually gallop or move just a little faster. It was to no avail and we soon got off and went into the little museum area that one of the little ranch-houses had been converted into. We soon began to grow stir-crazy as there was nothing to do and the place was quickly filling with old-folks and foriegners. Talk baout a tourist-only attraction, it made me feel even more sick seeing all the tourists. The boys (myself included) then set off to climb a tree but we soon discovered eucalyptus to be poor climbing as the bark came off in our hands.
Finally, it was lunch. We began with some salads (potatoe, coslaw, regular, etc) which were followed by choriza (sweet sausage). The choriza were good but i also tried blood sausage and I'll say that the later is an aquired taste (which apparently Cami had because she ate all of hers). The blood sausage was dark black on the outside and gushed brown stuff when I speared it with my fork. I found out that the brown stuf was congealed blood. However, I am always up for something new so I gave it a try and all I will say is that I've yet to acquire the taste for blood sausage. The main course began with large slabs of meat brought on skewers and then slid onto your plate. The steak was followed by ribs and chicken in the same fasion. Little cookies concluded the meal in a very anticlimatic way but it was overall still good.
As the cookies were brought around the entertainment began. First there was a tango show, then some indigenous dances, followed by singing, and then dancing with these balls on ropes, and finally, more singing. Kata danced with the Gaucho that the girls named Bucktooth. It was good fun.
With the show finished we headed outside for a riding demonstration. Along the way ethan and Kata took the caps off all the bottles b/c they were worth something like 5pesos- 50 a piece (or else a bag of Lays chips). Outside the Gauchos proceeded to ride in circles with groups of horses following them. It was cool but kinda boring. They then attempted to spear little rings with pencil-sized sticks while riding at full speed. If they speared one they would then give it out to the crowd. Eventually they gave rides to people and Srta. turned down one of the Gauchos so that she could ride with the "cute one". Finally, we got on the bus and I slept on the way back for about an hour because my head was hurting me.
Upon arriving once more at the hotel we decided to visit las Galerias Pacificas - a mall. I still wanted a soccer jersey and had to change some money. I foolishly changed too much and then instead of using it to buy a jersey i used my credit card. I eventually did find a nice jersey, although not soccer like i wanted it was a really cool Argentina national team Polo jersey.
We returned to the hotel at 8:15 after meeting up with Srta. on the way back. Everyone then just hung out until dinner at 9. Dinner was some sort of tuna-pie followed by a main course of seafood ravioli and a fruit-cabob with icecream for dessert. After dinner, which Fernando had attended as well, we all went up to our rooms to pack and get some rest for the early morning the next day.