Pampa means in quechua “a plain without trees”. Most of its surface is represented by a vast region of fertile land.
The Pampas plains are amongst the richest areas in Argentina. They have the magic of wide-open spaces with an unlimited horizon, and they are the land of the gauchos, traditional Argentine country men.
The area is composed by the provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa and major parts of Santa Fe and Cordoba.
On of the most important towns of the Pampas is San Antonio de Areco. In 1725, it set the limit with the Indians´ territory and it was a compulsory stop on the road from Buenos Aires to Peru. One of the pulperias (typical mixture of grocery store, bar and gambling house) where the gauchos used to meet is still kept today as part of the Museo Gauchesco Ricardo Guiraldes (Gaucho Museum Ricardo Guiraldes). It is aldo possible to visit the atelier of some of the numerous artists that produce leather and silver artcrafts or drawings about the gaucho life.
The estancias (ranches) in the Argentine Pampas are remarkable because of their varied architecture. They were built in widely differing styles such as colonial Hispanic-American, English Tudor, and classic French. Many of them have been transformed into tourist accommodations.
GAUCHO
For many people, gaucho means orphan since they come from two civilizations (the European and the Indian). Possibly the first gauchos were people who broke their ties with the past and chose the loneliness of the great Pampa, where there was water and grass for the cows introduced by the European colonists to graze.
Only an hour away from Buenos Aires, visitors will be able to learn about the typical tasks in the Argentinean countryside, the life of the gaucho and his incredible skill with the "boleadoras" (three stones tied together with a rope which, when thrown, tangle with the legs of the cows and prevent them from escaping), the knife, the lasso, and the use of the correct techniques for salting the best meat in the world.
