Rodeio Weekend

So last weekend here in Palmital we celebrated the city's 92nd birthday. To celebrate such a wonderful occasion we have Rodeio (Rodeo). I have to say that it is most similar to county fairs. Nothing but fried food, candy, ice cream, and junk food. There are rides and games but the main event happens on the weekend. That would be the rodeo of course. There are two contests. One is where two people on horse back have to rope a sprinting calf on the head and one of the feet and bring it down. The other is the bucking contest. You have to see how long you can stay on a bucking bull and let me tell you, most of them don't last long. Everyone gets really into the spirit of everything. Most of the people that go to the rodeo get dressed up. Like I'm talking plaid shirts, cowboy boots, jeans, hats and even fancy belts. It's a big deal and they talk about it weeks before it happens. They even have a queen and king of Rodeio. To go along with the country theme, música sertaneja (country music) is very popular. They have performers everyday. I have to say though that it is not my type. Besides the music it was a lot of fun. I did dress up as well because why go if your not going to participate? I would have stuck out like a sore thumb if I didn't anyways.

This is was a week long celebration so there were cultural things at different times during the week. There were films you could see and demonstrations to watch. One of the days my sister Flavia, my host mom, and I went to watch Capoeira. It's a Brazilian martial art. It was very cool to watch. They put a lot of work into perfecting it. I give them an A+.

Hope you enjoyed reading,
Tchau
Cori

 This is me and my host sister Flavia on the first day of Rodeio

 This me and my sister and her friends on the big opening night of Rodeio

 This is us at the Rodeio watching the contests. Lots of people showed up to see it as well

 This was the contest where you had to rope the calf. It's much harder than it looks.

 This is the stage at the front of the ring.

 This is the other side of the ring in which the contests took place.

This was the starting place for the bucking contest

Here is a video of the bucking contest. My camera refused to take a good picture and besides you get more action from a video. Enjoy!

 These two pictures are of Capoeira. Pretty cool right?