Freedom, freedom dear...
Although the name may be different on both sides of the Andes, the Chilean huaso and the Argentine gaucho have an almost similar history and culture. The first gauchos were the sons of pioneers, mainly Andalusian, who settled in the Argentine pampas in the middle of the 16th century. The pampas, those vast fertile though desert plains, were then the immense territory of the indigenous peoples. Most of them were bachelors, left to a fate that led them to the end of the world, these new European arrivals met these first peoples and soon joined them. The mestizos resulting from these first relationships were the first gauchos. Immediately rejected by the tribes who did not consider them as their own and despised by the settlers who were then unleashing an unprecedented wave of conquests on their native lands, they were named gauchos, which means "orphan" in the Huacho language. Without their own identity and not belonging to either world, they established themselves in self-sufficiency, distrusting law and order. Lone wolf, in perpetual connection with the nature that surrounds him, the gaucho learned to tame the hostile and unknown lands of Patagonia. Eager for freedom, he joined the horse to become one with the great expanses of the pampas. It was not until the beginning of the Argentinean War of Independence that the legend of these nomadic horsemen gained momentum: thanks to their knowledge of the Patagonian Wild West and their well-honed skills, they played a key role in Argentina's independence from the Spanish Crown. After the war, they lost some of this power of freedom and began to settle in large agricultural estancias.
The man from the end of the world
In addition to hunting cattle and training horses, the gauchos ' work also consisted of preparing hides to be sold to merchants in the city. Nowadays, the gaucho 's work still consists of watching over his herd, which is used to roaming almost freely: the fence lines enclose nothing but empty space as far as the eye can see. However, the livestock is gathered once a year: the sheep are gathered for shearing and then the calves are marked. During the shearing period, the esquila, which takes place from December to February, the most skilled esquiladores can shear an animal in almost a minute and collect up to 6 kilos of wool! The calves are still branded in the old-fashioned way, as their ancestors did: the properties are so large that the gauchos have no choice but to brand their cows with iron (in case they lose their earrings). This traditional work is carried out according to a knowledge dictated by years of experience, it is a question of marking the hairy skin of the animal without ever burning its flesh. Changing the horses' shoes, unloading the cattle, gathering the manure... in this exceptionally masculine world, the work is physical and requires a certain rhythm
However, the gaucho is very proud of his appearance: renowned for his elegance, the gaucho is known for the way he dresses. According to the traditional costume, the gaucho wears his famous botas de potro, leather boots with silver spurs attached, or alpargatas, a kind of espadrilles. The bombacho trousers (baggy pants to facilitate its movements on horseback), held by different belts as the rastra (belt with silver coins), the shirt, the chaleco (vest) or the thick wool poncho, the uniform is completed by accessories such as the hat, the beret, the scarf around the neck, the facon (a large, long knife) and the boleadora (a kind of lasso with three balls).
The fantastic ride
If the figure of the gaucho is more popular in Argentina, it is Chile that gives pride of place to the faithful steed of these cowboys of the Deep South. Horses were introduced to America in 1493 during the second voyage of Christopher Columbus from Spain. Seventy-five stallions and mares, mainly Arab and Andalusian, were introduced to Chile in 1540 during an expedition led by the conquistador Pedro de Valdivia. Today, the caballo chileno - or criollo horse in Argentina - is considered the best breed in South America. Like the gaucho, it represents the history and geography of the region. Robust and endowed with exceptional endurance, criollos, despite their small size (1.50 m), have a prominent musculature. They were first domesticated in order to meet the need for travel. However, the construction of railroads and the advent of automobile construction did harm to the tireless steed. This noble and devoted breed was not abandoned, however. Since the end of the 19th century, the caballo chileno has been highlighted by a traditional discipline adored by gauchos: the rodeo(domas or jineteadas). However, this festive art is characterized by two distinct disciplines. In Argentina, the jineteadas, a cousin of the American rodeo, are more dedicated to the goal of staying at least twelve seconds on one's horse while remaining as elegant as possible. The horses are selected with great care, are still wild and spend most of the year in the fields in the open air. Declared a national sport in 1962, the Chilean rodeo brings together two huasos on horseback. Their mission is to block a bovine against a fence, thus reproducing the traditional practice of the cowboys who tamed their cattle.
The myths of the pampas
In 1925, Aimé Tschiffely, an ambitious and slightly crazy Swiss gaucho, undertook an expedition that was, to say the least, unusual: to travel from Buenos Aires to New York accompanied by his two faithful steeds Mancha and Gato. This journey, not without effort, ended on September 20, 1928, three and a half years after his departure. After 21,500 kilometers, his epic adventure through the Andes and the American deserts earned him the acclaim of the New York crowd. Designated as "true heroes" by the American president, the courageous rider and his two companions continue to inspire. The date of their feat is forever engraved in equestrian history and is now the national horse day in Argentina
On the other side of the Andes, in 1949, the horse Huaso and his rider Alberto Larraguibel broke the world record for high jump with 2.47 m. Alberto Larraguibel became a Chilean legend and the world record holder in show jumping. This feat has never been surpassed and is still considered a heroic act today, as it is one of the oldest records in the history of sport
But beyond these two characters with singular feats, it is to Martin Fierro that we owe the myth of the gaucho. True Christ of the pampas, this hero created from scratch by the author José Hernandez, restored the image of the gauchos. For a long time qualified as insignificant vagabonds or quarrelsome, the gauchos were not really respected until the publication, in 1872, of this epic poem, which became one of the major works of the Argentine literature. An eminently popular character, he embodies a gaucho now in the process of disappearing, prey to all the tribulations of his time. " I am a gaucho, let it be heard, as my language explains. For me, the world is small, how much bigger, neither the snake bites me nor the sun bakes me. My glory is to remain free, like a bird in the air. I do not make a nest on a land where one suffers so much to live; no one must follow me then, as I take off again.
