Sunday morning we were given the opportunity to sleep in, but I got up early and walked to the main plaza to go to mass at the cathedral at 8:00. The walk was so nice; the world seemed so peaceful and quiet that early in the morning, and the only people I passed on the way were cute old women heading the same direction as me. Mass was, of course, gorgeous. Going to church here in Argentina has such a different feeling to it than going to church back home: not necessarily better or worse, just different. The architecture of the churches is awe inspiring, and it takes complete concentration for me to figure out what they are saying. You would assume that that would lead to me paying less attention to what is going on, but the truth is actually the contrary. When I sat in my pew I was the only occupant, but by the time mass started I was situated between a very old woman and man, both of whom were adorable. I’m pretty sure I picked up on what the readings were about, and I was proud of myself because I have started to remember some of the Spanish responses. After mass I walked back to our hotel and hung out in the lobby as everyone began to appear for breakfast. Around 10:00 we loaded the bus and headed for El Bordo de las Lanzas Ranch. The ranch was about thirty minutes outside of Salta, and on the way they told us that it’s one of the oldest ranches in the area. It has been passed down through the family for many generations, and has historically been very successful in its agricultural production. They sometimes host weddings out there and people can pay (an extremely high price) to stay out at the ranch house, but what they do for the UT students every year is a special thing that they only do for us because we’re associated with the university. When we arrived we got off of the bus and Augustine, the son who currently manages the property, told us a brief history of the place. After that we were set free to just hang out all day and do whatever we wanted to. The grounds were beautiful! The Spanish-style ranch house was huge and surrounded by orange trees and gardens and flowers of every color. We all set our things down in one of the bedrooms and the first group of us set off to go ride the horses. The horses were waiting for us in the corral along with a few of the people who worked on the ranch who were dressed in traditional gaucho attire. My horse’s name was Mara and she had a baby who was allowed to come with us and was extremely cute! We rode down a path near some of the sugar cane fields and got to watch them using the machines to harvest it. We then rode to a previously harvested field and got to ride around it for a while. It was so much fun! After we returned to the corral the next group mounted the horses and our group went back to the house to wait for lunch. They were serving drinks so I got a glass of wine and was just sitting on the porch enjoying visiting, looking at the grounds, and trying some fresh sugar cane when Roxana (the program director) asked if a couple of us wanted a tour of the asado (Argentine barbecue). Of course I said yes; I had been hearing about this barbecue since Roxana had visited UT and I had met her in November! She walked us over to where the men were preparing the asado and you can’t believe the quantity of meat they had waiting to be cooked! Roxana pointed out the difference in the style of the Argentine barbecue in comparison to a normal American one. The men had built the fire far to the side of the meat, not underneath it. In order to cook it, once the fire got hot enough she explained that they would use the glowing embers and shovel little quantities at a time underneath the meat. Also, the only seasoning they used was a special type of salt that they showed us. It was extremely course and the granules were very large; apparently, this allows most of it to cook off so that the majority of it is not infused into the meat. Anyways, the whole explanation and “tour” was very interesting, and I kind of couldn’t believe that I enjoyed it so much. After a little more time the empanadas were ready and we all enjoyed our appetizer. Then, finally, after much anticipation it was time for us to experience what we had been told would be “el asado de nuestras vidas” (the barbecue of our lives)! Although I think many of us had been a little skeptical, it only took minutes for us to see what everyone had been talking about. The salad spread alone was one of the most beautifully extensive ones that I’ve ever seen (at least definitely since arriving in Argentina), and the steak was wonderful! Considering that I’m sure that everyone who is reading this knows my eating habits, I am assuming that you understand the weight behind those words. Even more, just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, the kitchen maids formed a dessert parade and carried all of the dessert dishes out to the table. I don’t even know what everything was, but it wasn’t flan and it was all outstanding! After the meal I’m pretty sure none of us ever wanted to see food again, and we all enjoyed lazily lounging around in the sun and visiting. After a couple of hours Augustine’s wife rounded everyone up and told us that “the kids were going to put on a dance show.” Not knowing what to expect, we all sat on the porch and waited for the show to begin. I am certain that this was one of the best surprises of the weekend! The “kids” were a group of children who take Folklore dance lessons; although I’m not sure when they arrived or where they came from, they were not only adorable, but amazing dancers! Although Argentina is known for Tango, we were told that it is mainly popular in the regions near Buenos Aires. Folklore is much more common in the area of the country that we were in, and being able to watch the kids was a wonderful cultural experience. After their final dance they came back and it was announced that each was going to choose a partner from the crowd to dance with them. I was one of the fortunate “chosen ones,” and I got to dance with Gustavo who couldn’t have been older than 9 and was super cute! We all had such a fun time dancing with them, and at the end of the one song I think we all would have been game for round two! After the performance we were served meriendas of tea, coffee, and freshly baked banana bread, orange bread, and regular bread. At 6:00 they unfortunately made us put an end to our wonderful day, and we were all forced to say good-bye to the ranch and load the bus to head back to Salta. Once there, we made a quick stop at the hotel to pick up our luggage and then started the long drive back to Córdoba that officially ended our wonderful weekend.
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