Archive for the ‘Pampas’ tag
Five days in the campo
I spent the last few days outside of Buenos Aires, in an Argentina that felt to be of a different world entirely. The campo. From La Paz to Lavalle, I dwelled among cows, their caretakers and others studying and preserving this remarkably biodiverse landscape. I ate my weight in meat and washed it down with a mate straw, without the comforts of English or vegetables. In many stretches along the flat grasslands, the cows were so far away that they became tiny black dots along the plain.
Yesterday, I rode in a car with a conservationist and a nature photographer, both patient with my Spanish. Maria Elena snapped photos of such things as burrowing owls, ostriches, large rabbits and black-bellied ducks. Gustavo, the driver, was an endless trove of knowledge about the grasses native to this endangered habitat and ways to save them.
I think I understood Gustavo’s love for this place in a single moment, as we drove towards the farmhouse where, hours later, 15 of us would have an asado of one’s dreams. For a few moments, we rolled the windows down and listened as the grasses blew in the breeze, the clouds like cotton balls above. Dozens of cows stared at us from both sides. Perhaps sensing my quiet marvel, Gustavo turned to me from the driver’s seat and said, with a grin, “Esto es Argentina.” This is Argentina.
