Oh yay Rodeo!
Today, I got to experience a real live rodeo.
I ran into one of my cousins (one of a set of twins, of a set of 11 children of my Aunt Martha) last night while I was hanging out in the Plaza with my cousin Angelina the Younger (versus her mom, my Aunt Angelina with whom I´m staying with during the break) So my Cousin 1 of 2 (okay, so I can recognize my cousin, arrange to hang out with her and her husband and child for the afternoon and not really get her name right, I think it is Maria) invites me to see the Bulls tomorrow, to go to "El Jaripeo", in the afternoon.
I got up late this morning, as I have been enjoying sleeping in for most of the week. Had breakfast, and walked up to the internet cafe to catch up on www.cnn.com and read e-mails, etc.
I´ve been snacking like crazy since I´ve been here as they have little stands selling all kinds of things at different times during the day.
A couple of nights ago, I had roasted garbanzo beans. These are very "young" beans that look like peas in a pod but they are only one or two per pod. They are salted and roasted and you basically peel them open and eat like you would peanuts, except they are soft and squishy and fairly tasty.
There are ice cream parlors that make their own ice cream, also very tasty. And they have all kinds of "paletas" which are basically popsicles, some made of fresh fruit others made of cream and walnuts, or strawberries or banana. Also very tasty.
But my favorite is the fresh sugar cane. They cut them up into little blocks and you can walk along the square chewing them up while they release their sweet liquid in your mouth, you keep chewing until you´re left with a soft fibrous bit that you toss out after you´ve sucked all the flavor out of it.
I bought some flowers, gladiolas, and took them to my grandfather´s house for a visit. Where I found my grandfather and one of his sons, a half-uncle of mine, sitting around preparing to skin a recently shot squirrel. So my afternoon was spent hanging out with my 90-year old grandfather watching him skillfully skin a squirrel which they were going to cook to eat. Needless to say, I didn´t stay for lunch or dinner, though I was curious to be able to identify little squirrel liver, squirrel stomach, squirrel kidneys and squirrel heart and lungs as my granfather went along cleaning out the viscera on the squirrel. This particular squirrel had been eating the maize that is used as feed for the animals. According to my grandfather they have caught 85 squirrels back there, and you can apparently eat squirrel, possum, raccoon... So there ya go, you need not go hungry...now whether you might want to go hungry if those where your meal choices is another matter. Which is not to imply that my grandfather does not have other means of food (he is not at the level of eating cat food out of a can), he has goats and chickens that could easily be killed and consumed, it´s more that he is rather infinitely pragmatic. These squirrels are a nuisance and since they´ve gone and killed them, they might as well eat them rather than let them go to waste.
Uhm, but I´m still not staying for dinner.
After agreeing to visit with my grandfather tomorrow before I head out for home, I walked back to my aunt´s store to meet up with my cousin, 1 of 2.
We then walked the few blocks to her house where we met up with her husband and 5 year old boy. We then rode out to what is essentially a moving rodeo. It is set up in someone´s ranch and moves around from ranch to ranch putting on shows. According to my cousin, they will be around for about 9 days before moving on to the next ranch. There are Hot dog stands, and "Hot KAKEs y Papas" for sale. People sit at tables and order beers, drinks, tacos, as well as buying chips, slices of cucumber or jamaica prepared with lemon, salt and chili while waiting for the bull riding to start. Then we all move to these stands with five rows to watch the show.
Now I´m not sure if this is what happens in Rodeos in the U.S. though I´m sure it´s not all that different, but basically three guys on horses wait in the middle of the ring. Then you wait about 10-15 minutes for the ropes to be tied around a bull that is "in the pit", then the ropes are checked and rechecked and the rider gets on, and the gate is pulled back. All the while there is a band in the stands (I got a picture of them out there) playing along either letting you know when the action is about to begin or just playing a nice ditty for the audience. So the rider tries to stay on as long as possible, then tries to get away as soon as possible once he is thrown and then the three riders take their turns throwing lassos and trying to get the rope around the bulls horns to lead him back into the stall.
Frankly, I had been curious what all of this was about ever since the last time we visited when we were kids. My father took my sister to see "los Toros" (the bulls) and I got left behind, of course I also missed out on eating some tacos from a stand there and then getting sick off of them and having to have fluids put into me, but I was still always curious.
So the afternoon was very much worth it as I am curious no longer.
Have to say it just makes me ever so greatful that my father left the town.
I like the visit here(and wouldn´t mind visiting again), but really wouldn´t care to live here. Aside from the rodeo, dancing that goes on there and it usually runs into 1:00 am in the morning, walking around the Plaza and the occasional dance/shinding put on by local families there is not much of a scene about town. The one rinky dinky theater that I remember from long ago and which I thought would have been a hoot to see a movie in is gone. This is no longer a 1 theater town, and definitely is not a one-Starbuck town either.
In the meantime, though, I´m going to enjoy all the sugar cane I can get my hands on. =)
-Del
I ran into one of my cousins (one of a set of twins, of a set of 11 children of my Aunt Martha) last night while I was hanging out in the Plaza with my cousin Angelina the Younger (versus her mom, my Aunt Angelina with whom I´m staying with during the break) So my Cousin 1 of 2 (okay, so I can recognize my cousin, arrange to hang out with her and her husband and child for the afternoon and not really get her name right, I think it is Maria) invites me to see the Bulls tomorrow, to go to "El Jaripeo", in the afternoon.
I got up late this morning, as I have been enjoying sleeping in for most of the week. Had breakfast, and walked up to the internet cafe to catch up on www.cnn.com and read e-mails, etc.
I´ve been snacking like crazy since I´ve been here as they have little stands selling all kinds of things at different times during the day.
A couple of nights ago, I had roasted garbanzo beans. These are very "young" beans that look like peas in a pod but they are only one or two per pod. They are salted and roasted and you basically peel them open and eat like you would peanuts, except they are soft and squishy and fairly tasty.
There are ice cream parlors that make their own ice cream, also very tasty. And they have all kinds of "paletas" which are basically popsicles, some made of fresh fruit others made of cream and walnuts, or strawberries or banana. Also very tasty.
But my favorite is the fresh sugar cane. They cut them up into little blocks and you can walk along the square chewing them up while they release their sweet liquid in your mouth, you keep chewing until you´re left with a soft fibrous bit that you toss out after you´ve sucked all the flavor out of it.
I bought some flowers, gladiolas, and took them to my grandfather´s house for a visit. Where I found my grandfather and one of his sons, a half-uncle of mine, sitting around preparing to skin a recently shot squirrel. So my afternoon was spent hanging out with my 90-year old grandfather watching him skillfully skin a squirrel which they were going to cook to eat. Needless to say, I didn´t stay for lunch or dinner, though I was curious to be able to identify little squirrel liver, squirrel stomach, squirrel kidneys and squirrel heart and lungs as my granfather went along cleaning out the viscera on the squirrel. This particular squirrel had been eating the maize that is used as feed for the animals. According to my grandfather they have caught 85 squirrels back there, and you can apparently eat squirrel, possum, raccoon... So there ya go, you need not go hungry...now whether you might want to go hungry if those where your meal choices is another matter. Which is not to imply that my grandfather does not have other means of food (he is not at the level of eating cat food out of a can), he has goats and chickens that could easily be killed and consumed, it´s more that he is rather infinitely pragmatic. These squirrels are a nuisance and since they´ve gone and killed them, they might as well eat them rather than let them go to waste.
Uhm, but I´m still not staying for dinner.
After agreeing to visit with my grandfather tomorrow before I head out for home, I walked back to my aunt´s store to meet up with my cousin, 1 of 2.
We then walked the few blocks to her house where we met up with her husband and 5 year old boy. We then rode out to what is essentially a moving rodeo. It is set up in someone´s ranch and moves around from ranch to ranch putting on shows. According to my cousin, they will be around for about 9 days before moving on to the next ranch. There are Hot dog stands, and "Hot KAKEs y Papas" for sale. People sit at tables and order beers, drinks, tacos, as well as buying chips, slices of cucumber or jamaica prepared with lemon, salt and chili while waiting for the bull riding to start. Then we all move to these stands with five rows to watch the show.
Now I´m not sure if this is what happens in Rodeos in the U.S. though I´m sure it´s not all that different, but basically three guys on horses wait in the middle of the ring. Then you wait about 10-15 minutes for the ropes to be tied around a bull that is "in the pit", then the ropes are checked and rechecked and the rider gets on, and the gate is pulled back. All the while there is a band in the stands (I got a picture of them out there) playing along either letting you know when the action is about to begin or just playing a nice ditty for the audience. So the rider tries to stay on as long as possible, then tries to get away as soon as possible once he is thrown and then the three riders take their turns throwing lassos and trying to get the rope around the bulls horns to lead him back into the stall.
Frankly, I had been curious what all of this was about ever since the last time we visited when we were kids. My father took my sister to see "los Toros" (the bulls) and I got left behind, of course I also missed out on eating some tacos from a stand there and then getting sick off of them and having to have fluids put into me, but I was still always curious.
So the afternoon was very much worth it as I am curious no longer.
Have to say it just makes me ever so greatful that my father left the town.
I like the visit here(and wouldn´t mind visiting again), but really wouldn´t care to live here. Aside from the rodeo, dancing that goes on there and it usually runs into 1:00 am in the morning, walking around the Plaza and the occasional dance/shinding put on by local families there is not much of a scene about town. The one rinky dinky theater that I remember from long ago and which I thought would have been a hoot to see a movie in is gone. This is no longer a 1 theater town, and definitely is not a one-Starbuck town either.
In the meantime, though, I´m going to enjoy all the sugar cane I can get my hands on. =)
-Del