Rustic Detail

During our last vacation, we spent a bit of time hanging around a small town near my father's ranch in Argentina.  The town's name is Bovril, named after the English meat packing company. Two days spent in a small town is enough to drive anyone up the wall however, with camera in hand I set about to try to capture the essence of the town.

Before going on I should explain that the locals were very wary of me. A stranger running around snapping pictures was not something they were used to.  So I spent a bit of time just focusing on little details and stayed away from some shots of the local people or their homes.  This was a large limitation and one that impacted my photographic options, however after being warned that the police were keeping an eye on me I thought it would be best to calm everyone down.

I love the shot of the vegetable market with the old pickup parked out front.  In the back you have a part of the church, the tallest building in town.  The town is filled with very nice people and I did not want to bother them too much. I tried to stay as unobtrusive as possible and answer any questions that came my way.

The train station, once the life blood of the town, is now a museum. The old sign is still proudly visible and I could not pass up taking a few shots of it.  As mentioned above, the town name comes from a meat packing company that set up shot here years ago. They imported German workers and settled this empty area. The train allowed them to take in the cattle to the slaughter house and process their meat. 

You can still buy their product here in England. The locals spread it on bread however I prefer to mix it with hot water and make a wonderful broth.

It is fun to see the link from the small town I played around as a kid and the product being sold all the way in Europe. 

The town was established in 1904 and the company became a massive success. In fact, at their epoch the company owned land in Argentina that was larger than half of England!

The company was sold in the 1970's and later that decade the new owner sold their land in Argentina.