fiesta nacional del cordero

On Friday I visited Gaiman and the Reserva Faunistica Punta Tombo with Luisa and her kids, we drove south along the Ruta 3 and arrived in the small town at lunch time.

Gaiman was the place where the second contingent of Welsh immigrants settled at the end of the nineteen century creating a small colony, keeping the traditions and language of their country alive up to now.

We visited the centre, walked on the riverside and had lunch there before moving on to visit the Reserva Faunistica Punta Tombo, where a very large colony of Magellanic Penguins come to reproduce in the period between September and April.

Wherever we walked we were surrounded by penguins, they certainly enjoyed the fantastic location......

I never thought I would see so many penguins in the same place, in a temperature of 25 degrees, and sharing their land with guanacos and sheep....I mean guanacos, penguins and sheep in the same place, living together ?????? Only in Patagonia !!!!!!!

When we came back to Madryn I went to the Fiesta Nacional del Cordero with Adrian, a festival to celebrate the season's favourite animal, el cordero (lamb) with traditional music, regional products, food, artesans and lots of Gauchos and horses.

On Saturday I went to see the Paseo Gaucho, a parade of Gauchos on their horses through the centre of town ending in the stadium where the fiesta was taking place, and met my "friend" Facha, the Gaucho who was working in the Estancia where I stayed a few days before (you might recognise him in the picture).

Today it was the closing day of the festival, with the Gran Jineteada taking place from noon onwards, this traditional "game" is what the Americans call a Rodeo but only with horses.....where the Jinetes show their skills on the back of "wild" (and not very happy...) horses.

I personally found it a bit cruel for the horses, but at the same time cheered on together with the large crowd, when the Jinetes managed to stay on the horse's back avoiding being thrown on the floor by the kicking animal.

I couldn't possibly leave without trying the slowly roasted lamb, Cordero al Asador, which did not disappoint at all, it was gorgeous.....

I really enjoyed watching the Gauchos as they paraded their traditional costumes, their leather belts decorated with silver, their beatiful hats and their trademark knives never missing from their belts, I guess it's every man's dream to be able to live the life of a Gaucho, riding horses in the Argentinian Pampas....or at least it was mine, for a day !!!!!