Week 2: Border walking and Gaucho Dancing.
On tuesday Eli, Louisa and I follow the border posts East and head out of Livramento. The further we get the houses thin and pavements fall away and very soon we are just walking along a dirt track. The posts are concrete structures that are erected every 100 meters or so to mark the border between Uruguay and Southern Brazil. Look North and your gaze falls upon the small rolling hills of Rio Grande do Sol and look south you see the grassy agricultural flats of Uruguay.
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| Following the border East out of the town... |
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| and making some friends along the way... |
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| View looking north into Brazil |
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| Peeking into open doors |
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| VW van and horse and cart. Two of the most popular vehicles in town |
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| Experimental theatre at a border post. |
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| Eli |
On Wednesday we spend the afternoon with OS FRONTEIRAS - Livramento's Guacho folk dance troupe. They teach us some of their dances and later that evening in turn I teach them all some ceilidh dances. Despite the language barrier they pick the steps up remarkably quickly and in no time at all are stripping the willow with real gusto. Afterwards they get into their traditional costume and we are treated to a snippet of one of their dance performances.
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| Gaucho dance class |
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| OS Fronteiras dance show |
After the dancing, a local accordionist pitches up on his motorcyle (which parks right in the hall) and I find myself pushed into the middle of the circle with people clapping and chanting my name. "They want you to have an accordion-off" says Flavia into my ear. I want the ground to swallow me whole. "Its simple" she grins "he plays something, then you play something, then he plays something and so on". Rather self-consciously I rattle off a jig. Much to my delight he picks up the gist of it instantly and joins in and very soon the dancers are polkaing around the room. A guitarist appears from nowhere and the trio is completed.
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| My new band |
On friday evening we are invited by the dance group to attend a live radio broadcast at the local community hall where a battle of the bands is taking place (but Gaucho style). All the local men come dressed in their leather boots, berets and red neckerchiefs and the music plays until late into the evening.
Mate tea is drunk along with beer and beef stew is cooked up for all.
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| Battle of the bands, Gaucho style |
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| Sarah and I captivated. |
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| Livramento's answer to Bruce Springsteen |
