Patria Gaucha

In Uruguay, the gaucho is a national symbol of ideal character: honest, self-sufficient, proud but humble, generous, brave, and free. The gaucho lifestyle is a solitary, nomadic life, filled with rich with traditions. In the open grasslands, gauchos round up cattle and hone skillful tricks to bend the will of large herds. Every year, in the small village of Tacuarembó, Uruguayan gauchos travel from all over the country for the Fiesta de la Patria Gaucha. They share the traditional tea (yerba mate), cook over open fires (asados) and compete against one another in games of skill with the animals. To watch untamed horses in the wild is to behold the spirit of life itself, expansive, driven, without limitation. These are the faces of the men whose lives are rooted in a tradition of breaking that spirit, to carry humanity farther and faster toward one another and into the unknown.