Day 10: Buenos Aires

Today after breakfast, we loaded the bus for an hour-long drive to a gaucho ranch 80 kilometers outside Buenos Aires. After being greeted with hot empanadas (Argentinian meat pies), we lined up for horseback rides around a small field on the ranch. For a few of the singers (the Dukes included), this was their first time on horseback, so it was a new and exciting experience. After the horseback riding, we got to ride in a horse-drawn carriage (essentially the same route backwards). Due to space issues, some people rode in the cart while others were on horseback and then switched. I myself was the last person on the last carriage ride and had the wonderful opportunity to stretch myself across the other riders' legs in an attempt to fit in the carriage.




Following our riding adventures, our tour guide, Hernan, quickly showed us around the ranch house museum, telling us about traditional life on the Argentinian pampas. From there we proceeded to lunch (steak again, with blood sausage – ack! – as an appetizer). During lunch, we were entertained by a bit of a variety show. Somehow we got pulled into the performing, alongside acts like a pair of tango dancers and singer-guitarist duo. We even had some time to dance to the music ourselves.

After lunch, we went to the field again to watch a demonstration by a few of the gauchos. After herding horses grouped by color around the paddy, the played a traditional gaucho game in which they hook small hanging rings on sticks while galloping under them. For each ring they capture, they trade it to a lady for a kiss, so you could say a few of our girls got a little face time with the gauchos.

At the end of this demonstration, we loaded the bus to return to hotel. Back in the city, we had free time for the rest of the evening. Our choir decided to rest for an hour and a half and then meet to go to dinner as a group. We walked through the center of Buenos Aires to a nice Italian restaurant (where I accidentally ordered pasta made with squid ink). After dinner, we walked around the block to an ice cream shop in a mall. On the way to the hotel, we stopped by a grocery store to grab some bottled water and headed to our rooms for the night.