All the pretty cowboys!A couple months ago the Bicycle Vendor asked if I'd like to go to the rodeo. He said that it was a big event, that there would be a lot of music, a lot of dancing, that people would come from all over the state. I marked the date on my calendar and so on Saturday we lead a caravan of gringos to Suaqui, a tiny pueblo which sits about 30 miles down a dirt road in the middle of the desert. Quite a few of the park residents - mostly Oregonians and Californians - went to the rodeo but nary a Canadian. The Canadians said they had seen the Calgary Rodeo, the granddaddy of all rodeos (at least according to them) and so why did they want to go to a Mexican rodeo. Did they miss out! Believe me, this was not your mother's rodeo - unless she happened to be Mexican.
First off, there was a group of musicians in the announcer's booth and they played music throughout the entire 5-hour rodeo. As it turned out, the music was an integral part of the day's events. After all, the dancing horses needed music to dance to:
And between bull-riding competitions, the young men and women needed musical accompaniment as they leaped off the rails and danced in the arena:
Even I got in on the dancing, held close by this young cowboy (who thankfully was wearing boots as I stepped on his feet about a gazillion times):
I don't imagine that rodeos in Canada or the U.S. let people sit on the rails while bulls try to buck their riders. Can you say LIABILITY?
This particular roper was one of my favorites. Not only was his horse beautiful, but between roping duties he sat astride his horse with a cigarette in one hand and a beer in the other.
And of course there were the children. They, too, were cowboyed up and they, too, danced in the arena between bull-riding competitions.
Considering that some of the people danced in the ring before the bull was caught and led back to the gate, and considering that they danced among the dancing horses, it is a wonder that only one person got hurt. A young cowboy got gored by the bull. I was very close to him and it looked as though he took a horn in the eye. I hope not. I hope the blood was from a gash in his forehead.
There was a big fiesta after the rodeo but we didn't stay. Driving Mexican roads in the dark is not a safe thing to do. But next year, next year I will be back for the rodeo. I will throw sleeping bags in the van and camp out at the rodeo grounds. By then the Bicycle Vendor will have completed his self-imposed three years of sobriety and so we will dance together (he said he only dances when he's been drinking). And if I can't get him to dance, hopefully I'll be able to fall into the arms of another pretty cowboy.
3 comments:
This is what I so love about Mexico! Number one, they know how to have a good time. Number two, the utter lack of "legal" control of every place and action. When I was in PV there were electrical boxes on the boardwalk with wires sticking out and no guardrail so if you didn't watch what you were doing you could fall and injure yourself bad. However, you have this feeling of freedom that I associate with my teenage years of reckless abandoment.
If you want to have fun in Mexico, you have to assess the risks. Or, in some cases, you don't know the risks until you are already having the fun! I think of it as really living not going through the familar safe motions.
hi rick. we often comment that life here is what it was like in the US in the 1950s. especially when it comes to the way families interact and play together. the whole family plays on the beach and in the water; no kids are sitting in motel rooms playing video games or pouting.
as far as rules go, i guess you could say mexico is a libertarian's dream :o)
Those were just wonderful pictures that really touched me. Thank you!
Post a Comment