The gaucho is the Argentinean -- and Uruguayan -- cowboy. (For that matter, his counterpart is found in Chile and Brazil as well.) Today, he's a ranch manager or ranch hand, but in the early 19th century he was a guy imported from Spain's underclass to keep unfenced herds of cattle together. He was colorful, lived by his own code of honor, and often kept company with the country's indigenous Guarani, before the Guarani were wiped out in the 1870's. Here's a link with a brief overview: http://iq.lycos.co.uk/qa/show/118/Who+were+the+gauchos%3F/

San Antonio de Areco's gaucho flavor includes a gaucho museum, chiefly filled with artifacts derived from and about Ricardo Guiraldes (1886-1927), who wrote the definitive gaucho novel, Don Segundo Sombra. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardo_Güiraldes) The museum recalls an old estancia, with the main house fortified with a moat, though not a particularly deep one. Still, I suppose it afforded one the chance to lock and load. The veranda is pictured above. There are estancias all over the region, many of them catering to guests. They are Argentina's dude ranches.

Besides the museum, and gorgeously tooled spurs and whips and stirrups for sale everywhere, San Antonio has several old-time "pulperias," which were combination bar/general stores. The one in the photo, on the town square and named Esquina de Merti, or "Merti's Corner," has decor which any restauranteur would kill for: high beamed ceilings, exposed brick, floor to ceiling shelves with dusty staples. And. when I walked in, sitting in the corner were a quartet of leathery gents in riding boots and berets sharing a beer. Some Mozart suddenly ruffled the silence, and one of them answered his cellphone. The modern gaucho.