Opera Pampa

All jobs have their perks - some are better than others.  When I interned at VML we had half day Fridays, free bananas and apples, free soda, free beer ON TAP…the list goes on.  Obviously, VML has its perks. 

While at the current job we do not have free draft beer, nor do we have half day Fridays, we do have the chance to go to the shows and tours throughout Buenos Aires.  My coworkers and I love to take advantage of our passes to tango shows, kayak tours, city tours, etc.  Because there happens to be somewhere around 100 tango shows in town, it obviously keeps us rather busy J.

We recently went to a show called Opera Pampa which really turned out to be a great show and evening. 

The evening starts at “La Rural” right in the heart of Palermo.  You are escorted into a large room with horse stables, a giant dining area and some local artisan kind of shops.  The smell of horses and hay is immediate and instantly transports you (mentally anyway) to a farm outside the city.  The people are dressed like gauchos and offer wine and empanadas.  The empanadas were humita and carne and so so tasty, we all had three!

After the reception it’s on to the show!  The show tells the story of Argentina from its history.  The performance bounces back between a traditional stage and a large arena.  They incorporate dancing, singing and horsemanship, yes, I said horsemanship!  The arena is quite large and in order to help tell the story of the original natives being taken advantage of and murdered, it’s best done with horses and men dressed in military uniforms.  Both the Indians and the “white men” show off some excellent horse skills and kept us all very entertained. 

After the show we went to the dining hall and had a really great meal.  We started with chorizo and morcilla as an appetizer.  Well, I didn’t start with morcilla because it makes me gag, but everyone else did.  Then we went on to ribs, steak, salad, and dessert.  Of course the wine is flowing the whole time too. 

Overall it was a really lovely experience and I’m excited to be able to recommend it to my clients.  The only downside is it’s all in Spanish.  I think anyone gets the general gist of the songs and story-but obviously subtleties are lost with the language.  Maybe that’s part of travel though, no?