Let's RODEO!

I am waaayyy behind on my blog, but here is what happened on dieciocho, the Bicentenial Independence Day Celebration. This info is going to be separated into numerous blogs because I know my family has a very short attention span, and I don't want to bore the rest of you!


The cowboys, or huasos, are skilled horsemen that wear the most beautiful ponchos, hats and spurs. Their saddles also use the wooden stirrups that are so gorgeous. Richard, Tina and Chris bought a pair of those stirrups that, kindly, remain here with us, and are so intricate and lovely that it is hard to imagine the work for which they were made! Here is a website about the rodeo, and we will try to post a video (good luck to us, as we don't seem to "get" how to do it).


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilean_rodeo

NOW- the POOR COW! The two cowboys, who are dressed alike in the colorful ponchos, ride these incredible horses on either side of the poor cow around the perimeter of the arena. The cowboys then guide the outside horse to pin the cow and make it go down against the side of the arena. We never did get scoring process, but we just cheered when everyone else did, and shouted out an OOOHHHH! when others did as well. We all acted like real Chileanos, but they all knew better. The blonde people were sitting there getting surburned. Just pick out the pink people. They don't belong. As they used to sing on Sesame Street- "One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn't belong....."