Tuesday June 24th by Jaisel

    Today the plan was to go to an estancia, which is pretty much the Argentinian equivalent of a farm. The night before I asked my host family what it was, and they said that it was a just a farm with less stuff. The morning of was fairly uneventful, as the remaining exchange students gathered in the cafeteria once again.

      It seemed that we were all set to go, but Augenia came and stole a few students for a bit to go help with a class, so we had to wait for them. I just sat in the cafeteria taking to Luis and the others. Once they were back, we headed to the bus that would take us to where we needed to go. The ride there was uneventful, to say the least. Most of us just slept the whole time. Once we arrived, the people there offered us some empanadas and some drinks. Throughout our time there, they people there were very nice and welcoming. According to what I have heard, these people are called gauchos, and are essentially Argentinian cowboys. 

    We set out to explore the place a bit, as we were waiting for lunch to start. We took a ride in a horse carriage around the main field of the estancia, and we played soccer in the field in front of the main house. We also found a few dogs and a cat, who were all very friendly and loved some pets. Once lunch started, we all gathered at one long table and started to eat. In the middle of lunch, some performers came out on the stage in the middle of the dining hall, and started to do the tango. They changed up their rythem every few minutes, but still keeping pace with each other. Then the male dancer went on stage alone, and showed off his tap dancing skills. He also pulled out a pair of clacker balls for some extra rythem. 

    After the performance, we went to the back field where the horses were taken out. We watched as the trainers played a game where they had to catch a ring on a small stick while going full speed on horseback. A few student even placed some bets, small as they were. Afterwards we said our goodbyes and headed home, but not before picking up some souvenir. The ride who was as uneventful as the first, where everyone did mostly the same thing. As I got home, I just had a shower, at some dinner, and went to bed.