Now you know you're not in Doncaster!

 

Possibly one of the strangest New Years yet!

 

The rodeo came to Samara for about 4 days.  The wooden ring and stand was gradually constructed with fun fair rides and dance floor for 'non-bull' entertainment.  Rodeos appear to be a major tradition here for the New Year, and into January, and is even covered nightly on television. To be honest I approached this experience with mixed emotions and am still uneasy about the use of an animal for fun in this way. However, this tradition is part of normal life here and I wanted to see what was involved.

 

 

Unlike Spanish bullfighting the bull isn't killed (even if it kills a person), and can build up a reputation over years. I ended up thinking of it more as 'bull worrying' than fighting, especially with some bulls who looked particularly uninterested in all the young men trying to persude it to run after them and would occassionally break into a run more as if it was trying to 'join in the fun' than chase anyone.

 

 

The tradition has evolved from the cowboy/ranching work that is still a huge part of the culture in this part of Costa Rica and the expertise of the cowboys was something to see.  The horses were beautiful, well trained and totally controlled, whilst the cowboys could tear around the ring and lasso the bulls with incredible skill and accuracy - also avoiding all the young men in the ring. 

 



 

Each bull came into the ring with someone trying to ride it - a real bucking bronco. Obviously all the riders fell at some point and the crowd cheered louder the longer they managed to say on. The bull is then encouraged to chase the people who choose to go into the ring (this is a really macho event), and this is obviously not without danger (although self inflicted). Luckily we saw no nasty accidents, although one bloke did get his leg trampled on when trying to escape under the barrier, but he was bandaged and back in the ring later.

 



The only other casualty we saw was one of the riders who was unconcious when he fell off the bull.  He was quickly carried by 6 men and pushed through a square hole in the wall of the ring (a bit like a kitchen dumb waiter) where he was treated by an on site medical team.  I was horrified but the show wasn't stopped and he later appeared and walked across the ring (to much applause) although with his ribs bandaged up!

 

All this and a chap coming round to sell kebabs in any quiet moment in the proceedings!