On a Hoof and a Prayer: Exploring Argentina at a Gallop

by Polly Evans | Travel |
ISBN: 0385341105 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingGoryDetailswing of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 12/16/2016
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2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wingGoryDetailswing from Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Friday, December 16, 2016
I got this fair-condition softcover at a local Goodwill thrift shop. I've done a weekend inn-to-inn-on-horseback trip, which was very enjoyable, but the idea of riding across Argentina boggles the mind! (If it turns out she doesn't actually ride everywhere I'll be a wee bit disappointed {wry grin}.)

Later: OK, she doesn't actually ride everywhere - but she does ride quite a lot, and even the non-horse-related bits are entertaining. Her adventure begins in high style, with a stay at a luxurious guest ranch, where the horses are easygoing, the meals are fabulous, and the setting spectacular - which begs the question, how can the rest of the trip top this? (She's tempted to simply cancel it and stay there the whole time, but opts not to.)

The author's writing style is open and chatty, covering everything from the history of each region to the details of individual horses - or of getting confused and missing a bus, or of suddenly understanding why the horse ranches seem to stock huge quantities of ibuprofin {wry grin}.

All is not sunshine, of course; in some places, she encounters demonstrations of varying degrees of severity - political unrest seems pretty common in the cities. And she visits the scenes of past revolutions, with tie-ins to the Peron era, and a discussion of Evita and her legend. The history is woven in among the travelogue, to good effect. And whenever she gets to a new ranch and meets new horses, it's entertaining to see how they differ - the personalities of the animals are as varied as the terrain, from lush grassy meadows to sere desert. (Eventually she gets to the far southern point of Argentina, very near Antarctica, so in addition to the horses she gets to meet some penguins!)

Vinyards and polo matches, surprisingly luxurious long-distance bus rides, always-entertaining horseback rides, and plenty of characters - local and fellow-tourist - add to the tale. (There's even one cautionary bit that would have been helpful to me a few months back - at one point she discovers that, because she skipped one leg of her flight plan, the rest of her plane tickets were cancelled! I had that happen to me, and was not happy about it; if I'd realized I had to let them know that skipping one leg didn't mean skipping the whole flight plan, things would have gone more smoothly.)

All in all, she had a good trip - despite the few hiccoughs here and there - and I enjoyed it along with her. Recommended!

Journal Entry 2 by wingGoryDetailswing at Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Released 6 yrs ago (3/30/2017 UTC) at Nashua, New Hampshire USA

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I'm adding this book to thegoaliegirl's Travel Narrative bookbox (see the bookbox journal here). Enjoy!

*** Released for the 2017 Oh, the Places We Can Go release challenge. ***

Journal Entry 3 by wing6of8wing at Silver Spring, Maryland USA on Saturday, April 8, 2017
I picked this one from the box because I have a 666 project going and I am struggling to get books for South America.

Journal Entry 4 by wing6of8wing at Silver Spring, Maryland USA on Wednesday, November 23, 2022
his book has sat on my shelf for some time and my imaginings of what it was about were shaped by the title more than they ought to have been. I selected it to read in November because of the Genreland prompt of "Where You Want to Visit". I cannot say I particularly want to visit Argentina, but South Amrerica is on my list. Argentina might not be a bad choice, though after reading this book.

The author decided to combine her lifelong wish to learn to ride horses with her trip to Argentina, where horses have driven the development of the country and where horseback riding is de rigeur. However, only about half of this book involves horses -- the rest of the time is buses and cars and planes. Many years ago (30ish) I took a course in Latin American history and that included tango lessons to help us understand the soul of Argentina. What I don't remember learning about is the variety of landscapes encompassed in this one country -- desert, mountains, swamps, shores, volcanic ruins, broad plains, and idyllic alpine lakes. The author spent two months exploring the country and worked hard to see all of it. She found it beautiful in all its flavors and made it so in her wiritng. She captured people who are warm and alive and to some extent weighed down by their history, back to the original settlements and to more recent corrupt governments.

I learned a great deal about history here that I had not managed to glean from any other lessons in the past. I finally understand at least of some of what the big deal is about Che Guevara (I only ever knew he was connected to Castro, although I knew he was Argentinian). I learned more about the Peron government and the reign of terror of the generals afterwards. I learned some more about Charles Darwin (although I am still a bit puzzled as to why his ocean voyage spent so much time ashore in Argentina) and I learned about the history of the Falkland Islands and that brief war with Great Britain in my childhood. (Given the British colonial history, I had assumed that the British were in the wrong on that one. However, it seemed that the locals did not want to be usurped by the Argentines despite the closer cultural ties because at that point in time the Argentine government was under the control of the generals who were abducting, torturing, and murdering their own citizens for minor or imagined infractions.)

In short, this was a good read and piqued my interest about a country I would otherwise have dismissed as only mildly intriguing. The one thing that was not covered in any depth was the connection to the Nazi regime and the resettlement of many Nazis after WWII. Other than that, any trepidation I would have had about visiting the country has been dispelled. This was a very informative and enjoyable exploration of a cultural not usually featured in travel narratives.

Journal Entry 5 by wing6of8wing at Rockville, Maryland USA on Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Released 1 yr ago (12/18/2022 UTC) at Rockville, Maryland USA

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This book is going on the book buffet at the BCinDC Holiday Party.

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