Polo Day

Monday, myself and three other random travellers (from Poland, Ireland, and Cuba) were driven to a Polo Club on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. The very wealthy club owner Ruben Jabib conducts what he calls a Polo Day, it's his endeavour to open up the sport of Polo to everyone. I have to be honest and admit, not being a horse person I was filled with trepidation ..... especially about riding a horse. The day starts out with some wine and empanadas (an awesome way to start any event in my humble opinion), a tour of the club with some integrated discussion about Polo from the club volunteers - young people from abroad wanting to expand own their Spanish and work with horses. They're fantastic, nice, helpful, and incredibly enthusiastic. Shortly after, we're moved (with our wine and empanadas) to the prepared Polo field as spectators for the Polo match about to commence. During the earlier discussion we were explained the details of ranking and handicapping, and that the some of the player we were about to see held very good handicaps. OMG, I've seen Polo before and these guys were going for it, they were fair dinkum! Anyway, in between each chukka (the game is divided into periods called chukkas) we were taught the finer techniques of the various mallet strokes..... I won't go into the details. Once the match was over, we all moved to the outdoor dining area for some lunch - traditional argentinian style meat cooked on the asado. Oh yeah, just in case I hadn't mentioned before, if you're a vegetarian then Argentina probably isn't going to be your first choice of travel destination. After the magnificent feast that was lunch, it was time to get on a horse and practice what we'd learnt. As I mentioned earlier, not being a horse person and somewhat nervous, I was offered a horse that I was assured had a relaxed personality and would not bolt on me if things got out of control. Well, to cut to the chase, after a couple of hours of some practice and a match with the volunteers and stable hands, I wished I'd been on a horse with a little more 'spirit'. It was an awesome experience, so much so that I'm inclined to spend more time to improve my Gaucho skills.









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