Let’s be honest. Part of the reason gauchos hold such fascination is because they look so damn cool. Driving to an estancia one day I saw two gauchos trotting alongside the country road lazily flicking up their leather whips and smiling briefly as we sped past. They are wearing traditional beret-like boinas and fastened around their midriffs we glimpse hefty knifes in silver sheaths.
It’s the sport of kings, a playing field for the super rich, a game where the world’s most proficient horse riders get to show off their skills. Polo is surely not for any old day-tripping horse botherer. Or is it? Around Buenos Aires, an increasing number of estancias are offering “polo days”, where even novices can get in the saddle and start swinging a mallet. One such place is…
Following up on last month’s post about luxury activities in Buenos Aires, we realised that it’s credit-crunch time (soaring inflation and energy subsidy cuts, anyone?) and have unearthed some economical Buenos Aires days out, including a downtown spa, French tea-time treats and sightseeing with a difference.
Although many visitors make a beeline for Argentina because of the peso’s good value compared with the pound or dollar, why not spend some of that saved cash on some luxury activities in Buenos Aires? From spa sessions to polo lessons, Buenos Aires serves up these days out, and more, on a spoon so silver it could have been dipped in the River Plate circa 1810.
“When I first heard about Santi, I thought he was like all the other kids that play polo – rich, privileged and born with a silver spoon in his mouth,” says Nathaniel McCullogh, the English director of the recently released documentary film ‘The Polo Kid‘.
The film follows Santi as he tries to climb the ladder towards the pinnacle of a 10-goal handicap. It moves from Florida to Mexico and then to Argentina, the game’s spiritual home and birthplace of Santi’s polo-playing father to whom the film is dedicated. Miguel Torres was a professional player who emigrated to America in the 1980s and who died during filming…
Notwithstanding what happened recently in South Africa, there is one sport where Argentina dominates the world, and has done for over seventy years. Polo is a true national sport in the country and its popularity is second only to football. Championship matches in Argentina’s two biggest polo fields, in Palermo (in downtown Buenos Aires) and at the Hurlingham Club in the suburbs, attract huge crowds. During the season, games are televised almost daily…