Maggie's Farm

Watch the best polo ponies in the world at the Hurlingham Club in Buenos Aires....I remember as a kid each one had their own peon guarding them and crooning over them. Nervous as cats, flanks shuddering at the slightest thing, but glorious galloping. And no man so dashing as a polo player! I know, I know, just a cavalry charge up close.....

Also try to drive over the Andes, those hairpin bends are awesome. And the mountain towns with huge cathedrals musty and flickering votaries, and music in cafes on plazas ablaze with flowers (Los Fronterizos were popular when I was a wee bairn) and the best beef in the world. Tho not much for wine myself, and tho much of it does not travel well, the local vineyards produce good stuff.

Part of understanding the place is that they are the Texans of South America. Also that half the population are of Italian descent (after Sacco and Vanzetti, the immigrants went south of the border). Personally, I was more aware of the strong German presence in my neighborhood ( Olivos in BA) (a Bauhaus home sort of) and some of my friends with German daddies whom my childish nightmares saw as former SS officers (probably just insurance salesmen and engineers).

The politics, the torture, the kidnappings, the terrorism, the horror of recent years will not concern hunters and fishermen. Only those of us who wonder what happened to firebrand childhood playmates.

Beautiful country. Happy fishing and hunting!