Archives of #documentary

Photo taken at Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

I arrived in Ushuaia, the Southernmost city in the planet. The end of the world will also mark the end of my trip. I tried to get a last minute cruise to Antartica but it was too expensive for my pockets. So I will board a ship that will reach Cap Horn and the then explore the Chilean fiords all the way up to Punta Arenas in the Strait of Magellan. That is one of the least explored area in the world

Photo taken at Chascomús

I feel really grateful for the time I spent here with Luis and his family. The Pampa is such a peaceful place and all things considered the life of gauchos is not so far from the one that I experienced growing up in the countryside in Basilicata. After almost ten months of traveling, here I felt like I was already back home

Photo taken at Chascomús

Luis is really passionate and devoted to traditional gaucho lifestyle, a kind of gaucho that is more and more difficult to find in a increasingly modern country like Argentina. Most modern gaucho today have abandoned traditional clothing and use a quad instead of horse

Photo taken at Chascomús

Traditional gaucho clothing is really straightforward: a shirt (camisa), a pair of large trousers (bombacha) with a faja around the hip and a big belt (rastra) that can feature prices won at competitions. Finally the gaucho always wears a hat (sombrero surer or gorra) and a pañuelo around the neck

Photo taken at Chascomús

“La tropilla” is an old gaucho tradition. Once the fields used to be really big and a man had to change horse during the day in order to avoid the animal getting too tired or injured. So he kept a group of house together with a “madrina”, a horse with a bell that every other horse would follow. When he needed to change ride he would just get down and catch a new horse. Today the tradition is still alive thanks to traditional events and competitions

Photo taken at Chascomús

It goes without saying that the diet of a Gaucho is largely based on meat. However, in a way similar to the one observed in my hometown, this is based on a direct relationship with the animal. Every pork, sheep or beef that is consumed here was born, fed and raised right here in the field

Photo taken at Chascomús

The horse is really important in the life of a traditional gaucho. Luis likes to keep his well groomed: “it’s like a car I use everyday. I want it to be always in the best condition. The horse is really important to me. Without some of my daily task wouldn’t be possibile

Photo taken at Chascomús

I spent the first the day in the Pampa riding a horse to follow Luis in his daily activity in the field. Checking on livestock health, repairing broken fences and capturing sheep with a old school lasso technique

Photo taken at Chascomús

After a quick stop in Buenos Aires, I headed south to a smaller city called Chacosmus. Here an ancestor of mine arrived from Basilicata when he was just 15 years old and gave birth to a big Chiacchio family in Argentina. Years ago I met one of his descendants, Marcelo, on Facebook and now I finally met him in person. Marcelo helped me finding a traditional gaucho family in the Argentinian pampa that would host me in its household for a week. This place is so peaceful

Photo taken at Salar de uyuni

Leaving the salar and heading to Argentina. Visiting this unique place was really inspiring and useful to understand how in some places tourism and the exploitation of natural resources can coexist