It´s Mostly the People

As Landon says, we had such a good time in Rio Mayo. About 20 miles before we got to town, a car was stalled along side the road, and we stopped to see if we could help. It was a couple and their little girl headed to Rio Mayo. They asked us if we could send a tow truck. We continued into town, stopped at the first store we saw, and had the pleasure of meeting these folks who owned the store. They were great. They helped arrange for a police truck to go get the family in the broken car. Then they showed us their new store next door, and invited us to the grand opening the next day, and to stay for the big celebration Landon wrote about. We decided to take them up on the offer and give ourselves a break-

These cherries reminded me of home in Nebraska. I picked a few and enjoyed them.

Same with these currants.

This is another picture of the owners on the day of their celebration and grand opening. We met a lot of local folks then.

Here´s a picture of their daughter and her friend. They liked our stories and made us laugh.

Then we ran into the couple whose car had stalled along the road. Their car was fixed, and they gave us mate cups. We had the pleasure of seeing them several times in the next few days. They were selling local handicrafts at the fairgrounds.

Landon showed pictures of the rodeo and other events at the fairgrounds. Here are some pictures from the closing parade.

I like this one of the queen and her gaucho


This little guy was watching the parade with us. If it had not have been for the couple and their little girl stranded alongside the road 20 miles from Rio Mayo, we would have driven right through town and missed it all.

Two days ago we went to Punta Tombo and saw the largest penguin colony in the world--over 300,000. Here are two maturing chicks who are very fond of each other.

Now we are in Santa Rosa. Does this qualify as wearing a helmet? We´ve seen several bikers riding around with their headgear on their arms.

The windscreen on my bike finally went too far. The right bracket broke several months ago and I had it welded in San Jose, Costa Rica. But in December it broke again in the Patagonian wind. I braced it with duct tape and a bent piece of re bar I found in the parking lot. Then last week the other bracket cracked, and I made another brace out of a stick and duct tape for the other side. It all got a little shaky yesterday when it finally broke too. I ran into Jorge, a welder, in the hardware store this morning and went to his shop this afternoon. They were so great. They were surprised that we had driven all the way from Texas and interested about where we had been. He and his assistant, Abel, helped me get the windscreen off the bike, weld the brackets and paint them, and get it back on the bike. Then they broke out the ice water and ice cream bars. When I asked them how much it was, they said nothing. Just send us a post card when you get home so we know you made it okay. This photo is of them. It´s mostly the people that make this trip so wonderful and make me happy and proud to be human.

Festival Nacional de la Esquila

During our stay in Rio Mayo, we attended the National Festival of Sheep Shearing Competition. Quite suprising that a town of 3,000 people would host a National competition, pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but yes, they did. There was a pageant for reinita and gauchito, little queen and little gaucho.

Of course there was the shearing competition, judged both on time and quality.

Some not so willing participants

Later, the gauchos had the rodeo, gaucho style. No chutes here, half the fun was getting on the horse.

The time for the ride seemed to be about 15 seconds

It was hard to tell because not alot of riders made it. The ground wasn't what you would call soft, either. Between rides the crowd was entertained by singing comedians who would ad-lib songs about the gauchos and their hometowns.

Sometimes it was kinda tough to watch. At least the ambulances were always at the gate, ready to go.

On Saturday night there was an award ceremony with the selection of a new Queen and a dance. The Queen was selected at 3 am and I didn't have the energy to stay for the dance, so I have no idea how it turned out.

On Sunday morning the gauchos paraded through town in their finest, it was quite the parade.