“Ten cuidado”, (Be careful) said the taxi driver as he dropped me off in a run-down
area of Buenos Aires known as Mataderos (the Slaughterhouses). This used to be the
location of the stock yards and slaughterhouses serving the city. Every weekend La
Feria de Mataderos, with craft booths, food booths, street dances, folklore performances,
pony cart rides for the kids and the main attraction, Gauchos riding in the heart
pounding Carrera de Sortija, or Race of the Ring, provides a counterpoint to the
urban sophistication of Buenos Aires. Crowds, mostly Porteños, as residents of Buenos
Aires are called, along with a few tourists, line both sides of the street. .
At one end of the street, riders await their turn. At the other, a ring, the sortija,
hangs from a short piece of rubber tubing. The first rider, his horse prancing and
rearing in excitement, suddenly spurs his mount and away they gallop at full speed.
Standing in his stirrups, the Gaucho attempts to spear the ring with a small lance
not much larger than a pencil as he passes beneath it.
If he’s successful, he then rides triumphantly back, carrying the ring high, to the
applause of an appreciative crowd.
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