Gaucho, San Antonio de Areco, Argentina . . . by Andrew Gibson
© 2008 Andrew Gibson. All Rights Reserved (see policies). Contact for Use.
The town of San Antonio de Areco in Argentina is famous for it’s gauchos – the Argentinian cowboys famed for their horsemanship, hard work and love of the countryside. It’s a powerful, romantic image, attractive I think because of their strong sense of identity and purpose in a celebrity obsessed and possession orientated culture.
Every Friday afternoon, a group of gauchos attend a fogón by the river that runs through the north end of the town. A fogón is a meeting, a time and a place where the gauchos can relax and chat with each other, have lunch and a drink and play taba (a traditional game). San Antonio de Areco is a popular tourist destination in Argentina, and this particular fogón is organised for the benefit of the tourists that come here. A local restaurant supplies the meat for the asado (Argentinian barbecue), and the gauchos are happy to chat with and be photographed by anyone that comes along. They were a very friendly bunch of people and most of them belonged to the same family.
I took this portrait of one of the gauchos by natural light as he sat, looking into the distance and thinking, after lunch.
