The Cowboy & the Gringo

Camerino Urbina AKA El Borrado & Yours Truly the gringo

gringo, ga.

Etim. disc.

gringo, ga.

Etim. disc.

1. adj. coloq. Extranjero, especialmente de habla inglesa, y en general hablante de una lengua que no sea la española. U. t. c. s.

2. adj. coloq. Dicho de una lengua: extranjera. U. t. c. s. m.

3. adj. Bol., Chile, Col., Cuba, Ec., El Salv., Hond., Nic., Par., Perú, Ur. y Ven. estadounidense. U. t. c. s.

4. adj. Ur. inglés (‖ natural de Inglaterra). U. t. c. s.

5. adj. Ur. ruso (‖ natural de Rusia). U. t. c. s.

6. m. y f. Bol., Hond., Nic. y Perú. Persona rubia y de tez blanca.

7. m. coloq. Lenguaje ininteligible.

Diccionario de la Real Academia Española (RAE)

A gringo has not always been a naive American tourist. In my Argentina of the 50s and even the 60s a gringo was a city born and living dweller visiting the interior Pampa. This gringo did not know how to ride a horse or have any inkling on how people not living in a city lived in the camp, from Spanish campo or field, (as Anglo-Argentines of my ilk called those ranch interiors).

Almost 10 years ago my wife and our two granddaughters drove our 2007 Chevrolet Malibu to south Texas and stayed with my former St. Edward’s High School classmate, Mike East who has a very large ranch called the Santa Fe.

I was allowed to shoot anything I wanted and the cowboys (most of Mexican extraction) all proudly posed for me.

The fact that I spoke very good Spanish did not make me less of a gringo in their eyes. But if they had any opinions on the matter they kept it to themselves. Those Mexican cowboys were polite.

My favourite of them all was Camerino Urbina also known as “El Borrado” or the hazy one because of the lovely gray colour of his eyes. Watching him ride a horse was no different from watching a prima ballerina dance. His clothes fit well and with his ramrod posture he was elegance at its best.

After I snapped this picture of him he suggested he take my portrait.

As a photographer who is always behind my camera I am not usually keen on this idea. But I was so thrilled that this man would want to photograph me that I consented.

Perhaps the one feature of what I am wearing to note is my Australian hat. In Vancouver’s Expo 86 I was assigned to photograph then Provincial NDP Leader Dave Barrett at the Australian pavilion. The Australian folks would not lend me the hat. I had to buy it for the photograph. I figured that a hat worn by Barrett would be just fine for me and I believe I plunked $120 for it.

There was one problem, Barrett’s head was smaller than mine so this hat has been ill-fitting since.

The Cowboys from the Santa Fe Ranch, Texas