Who are the gauchos?



Inodoro Pereyra y Medieta
Creaciones de Roberto Fontanarrosa
Some people may call them the Argentine cowboys, but gauchos are the most important figure of our tradition. Whenever you think of a gaucho the countryside comes to mind, horses and cows as well, and, of course, the typical mate.

Right now, we are just going to focus on the gaucho. People make different assumptions of what a gaucho is: a cowboy, someone who drinks mate all day long, someone who does not work and eats meat. But this is not true at all. The gaucho represents what it truly means to be Argentine.

Here you can watch a video from the National Geographic that gives you a better idea. 






The most popular gaucho in Argentine literature is Martín Fierro. The book “El Gaucho Martín Fierro”, written by José Hernández, is an epic poem published in two parts -the second part is called “La vuelta de Martín Fierro”. The main character of this book is Martín Fierro, a gaucho who deserts military service and returns home to find his farm abandoned and his family gone.

The poem was very well received both by readers and by critics, and it is still the most representative book of the gauchesque.



You can click here to see an English version of the two books:

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