Generally I only write about a book when it´s really worth it. When I gave them 4 or 5 stars. This books deserves none. Zero. So then, why I´m writting now 3 AM in the morning? Because I´m pissed! Because I´m argentinean, I´m from Buenos Aires, I´d been in polo matches, I know polo players, I spend some time in "estancias" (nobody calls them that way!!!) and I think I´ve enough backround to make a review straigthing some things. These is for the writter if she looks at reviews, and readers who wants an honest opinion.
First of all, when you write a book about a sport and/or country you have to make homework. You can´t make so many mistakes. A few ones are always allowed, we are all human. But this is a sloppy work.
A polo player in Argentina is not a national heroe, that´s only applies to a very few soccer players like Maradona. Polo players are not so well known around the country, it´s still an elite sport, although thanks to new generations is opening the horizon to reach more people. They don´t firm autographs like rockstars. When they dress for riding they used tight white jeans, not breaches (they would have a fit otherwise), and brown boots. never in a million years black ones! It´s a tradition born of the fact that the black leather mark stains on white jeans, because is a contact sport. Sure you can find some players really really wealthy but not at all millionaires with private jets (in plural) helicopters and towns. Stick cheeks are for soccer, not polo. Polo is more a family sport event. Certainly you would find girls hanging out, as well as boys because as I already said is a family sport, where people dress well enough if it´s happening in Palermo or another club, but surely nobody wears heels in an "estancia" match (again is not the proper word, we just say campo). NERO it´s not an argentinian name AT ALL, CARACAS is Venezuela capital city, not an argentinian last name. Men don´t use the world "chica" as girl, instead they maybe would say "nena" but I doubt it, because is not really a polish word. Women has nothing to do training polo ponies, that´s the players jobs, the employees from the player who are men and called petiseros, and some low handicap players, who also train horses for sale them afterwards. Women have their horses and matches for sure, but they don´t train horses for others, because it´s a chauvinist sport and you need really stamina for that. We have great amazones but in other horse sport disciplines. So, a "Nero" never would have a Bella taking care for his horses at the palenque, that´s the petiseros or grooms work. It´s insane to think that you have a doctor and a nurse as staff in an "Estancia". By the way, they don´t get named after the family name, traditionally they have saint´s names, or geographical names or whatever, and there, yes, can appear that beloved word...estancia...like "Estancia San Antonio" for example, but if you go there you just say "I´m going to San Antonio, or I´m going al campo". A gaucho it´s most a romantic way of calling a man who works really hard in the country (peon), an employee, and I really doubt that they know how to speak in english. If you drive from Ezeiza International Airport to the city, you´re going to reach the city in about only an hour. You can´t see from that highway the villa 31, and if you miraculous do, then you´re going to see the french embassy first and the obelisk at last. Porteños doesn´t dance tango in every corner. You´re going to find them dancing in San Telmo Fair, on weekends and if you´re lucky enough, walking through tourist points during weekends. "Criolla ponies" doesn´t exist, we have Criollos, and they are horses for farming and leisure riding not for playing polo. For that sport we have the best Polo Ponies in the world, so is highly improbable that a millionaire polo player with the best polo ponies in the world will offer whatever it takes for an english mare. We export polo ponies to the world, not otherwise around. Oh, and if you´re lucky enough to go to la pampa you are a superheroe with x vision if you can see mountains with snow peaks! La Pampa is flat, reaaaally flat. And the next mountain you have are Los Andes, far away, really far away, you need two days travelling by car, not horses, to get there. Yes Buenos Aires is or was often called the new Paris, yes we eat empanadas, we have milongas also (but not with checkered tableclothes like italians!). Yes is warm in Christmas time, and we have people named as María, Concepción (less), Ignacio, and Nacho that by the way is Ignacio´s nickname.