Gauchos of Argentina, Uruguay and Southern Brazil

Wherever you have cattle, and cattle ranches, you

have people on horseback tending to them. They’re called by

many names: cowboy in the US; gaucho in Argentina,

Uruguay and southern Brazil; vaqueiro in northern Brazil;

huaso in Chile and llanero in Colombia and Venezuela.

In the great wide plains areas, called pampas, of

Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil, cattle raising is a

primary way of life.

The men who work the cattle are called gauchos,

from the Quechua huachu, which means orphan or vagabond.

Spanish settlers distinguished the two by calling orphans

gauchos and vagabonds gauchos, but over time the usage

melded into gaucho.

Much has been written, fact and fiction, about the

legendary Gauchos, the wanderers of the Pampas. The early

horsemen were skilled horsemen, loners, scrabbling out a life

on the sun-baked pampas, living off the land and tracking

down lost cattle for ranchers, their patrones for whom they

also provided protection, and in times of battle, military

service.

Their nomadic life meant little time spent at home,

which they might have shared with a common-law wife who

raised their children. Sons followed their father’s traditions.

Their clothing reflected their life on horseback: a wide hat,

a woolen poncho, long pleated trousers, or loose baggy pants

called bombachas and knee-high leather boots. They made

their boots by wrapping the hide of a freshly killed calf

around their legs and feet. As the hide dried, it took on the

form of the foot and leg. They owned nothing of value but

their horse and the long knife, the facón that they kept sharp,

and handy. The facón and the boleadora, stones bound in

leather strips and used as a lariat to trip cattle or other

animals by looping it around their legs.

They had no way of preserving meat, and after

butchering a cow, would cook it immediately over an open

fire. This was the beginning of the asado, still popular today.

Meat and mate were the mainstays of their diets and the

brewing and consumption of this herb called yerba mate was

a several times a day ritual.

Internet: gosouthamerica.about.com (adapted)