The Rodeo

Unfortunately I am unable to upload pictures at the moment.
The Rodeo makes it's way through these small towns. Easter week (Semana Santa) is when it is held here in Samara. It is something everybody seems to look forward to and we were told by many not to miss it. So Sunday night we made our way across town for the event. We were told the bull riding started at 8:00 so we arrived about 6:30 so we would have time to get some high quality eats and let the kids go on a ride or two.
It's kind like the county fair but about 2% as big. There is a few places selling food, one person selling fair type junk, a few games to play and 2 rides. Oh did I forget to mention the huge dance floor and bar area ? There was one spinning ride that Genevieve had to go on. Granted this ride was probably built in the US in 1953 and banned in 1968 because of some safety reasons but it appeared that most of the parts where there so we let her go for a spin. Zeke chose the marry go round. Amy, Dane and I watched. We then went to get some food, We started the kids with some fruit and quickly worked our way to the mystery meat on a stick and topped it off with a whole lot of churros.
At this point it was about time to go get our tickets and go into the bull riding area. There are 2 ticket options, the wooden bleachers or the barrier tickets. The bleacher seats are self explanatory but with the barrier tickets you can sit under the bleachers, stand behind the fence or sit on top of the arena fence.
We made our way up the bleachers and waited for the show to start.
Before things got going many of the guys who had barrier tickets were standing in the ring. Just before the first bull came out a "rasta"set a barrel upside down on the middle of the ring right in front of the chute and stood on it. When the bull came out he charged the barrel, the rasta leaped over the bull and the barrel went flying. Talk about some good entertainment. At this point there were about 40 guys in the ring. When a rider would fall off they would act as rodeo clowns helping the rider to safety and distracting the bull. The funny part is that this is part of the rodeo. It is totally fine for them to be in the ring while bulls are ridden and to taunt the bulls between riders. In fact at one point a bull was let into the ring without a rider, this bull had a red flag on its horn and the guys were told whoever got the flag would win 10 Mil ($20)
This sort of fun doesn't happen in the US for fear of lawsuits, but here there aren't those types of issues. If you are brave (or dumb depending on perspective) enough to get in the ring and you get horned by a bull it's your own fault.
We all had a lot of fun. In fact I came back the next night with some friends. Any guess where we sat ? Thats right, on the barrier. I did get in the ring and did a quick video and took a couple of pictures but I stayed far away from the bull. A bit more youth and alcohol seemed to be key factors with most of the guys in the ring.
I will never be able to enjoy a rodeo in the states again after seeing a Costa Rican rodeo.