21st Century Cowboys in Paraguay

Herding cattle across a river

Picture acres of undulating green fields, crops and woodland crisscrossed with rough red dirt tracks and dotted with cattle. A team of tanned, weather-worn horsemen, cigarettes hanging from the corner of their mouths and wearing large rimmed hats are driving a herd of bulls across a field. Another team is skillfully lassoing a calf in order to adminster some vital medicine. Sounds like something out of a western film and a far cry from modern civilisation. This though, is real life on a Paraguayan estancia and last week, I was lucky enough to be there. 

Wannabe cowgirl

My uncle is a cowboy in Paraguay. As well as owning his own small estancia, which has around 150 cattle, he is in charge of the team of cowboys or 'gauchos' on a big estancia called Parex, located in the South of Paraguay, midway between Ciudad del Este and Encarnacion. He moved there 30 years ago, proving his mettle as in the notoriously difficult and arid Chaco area before moving to his current job.

Lasso

 I spent six days living and working with my uncle and his team on the estancia and, despite the cold showers and mozzies I loved absolutely every moment. On day one, they took a no frills approach to my almsot non-existent experience riding horses, led me to my horse (embarassingly, I can't remember it's name...) and left me to it. Nothing like being thrown in at the deep end to get you up on a horse and trotting towards a field full of young bulls...

At the end of the week I was there, last years' calves were being sold in an online auction. Having been separated from their mothers a couple of weeks ago,  the 600 or so calves had to be split into eight homogeneous sized and coloured groups (apparently this makes a difference in the prices they can achieve), branded, weighed and filmed. I was drafted in to help (or observe!) where I could, and was also able to spend time with the guys looking after and rotating the rest of the cattle around the different types of grazing fields. Our working day started at 6.30am and was interspersed with breaks for the traditional 'terreré' - a cold herbal infusion. By the end of a full day of riding, I was absolutely shattered!  

Enjoying a terere with the team

 

Cattle rearing in South America is a male world, but the guys on the estancia and everyone else I met in Paraguay for that matter, were very welcoming, curious about me and what living in Europe was like. Many people I met, whether they were workers on the estancia, their wives and daughters

 or even shopkeepers, where incredibly grateful that I had come to their country and keen to tell me more about it, the sign of a place that has yet to see a tourist influx! 

A unique and amazing experience, which without doubt tops anything else I have ever done.  

Keeping the cattle in one corner for the filming

Cowboys