Not My First Rodeo!
Except it is. Traveling towards Rio from the Pantanal, we stopped at a roadside stall for a pineapple juice and got talking to a Brazilian fellow camper. Aided once again by Google Translate (English is really not spoken here at all!) we established he was heading to Latin America’s largest annual rodeo festival at Barretos. After checking the map we realised it was close by and decided to pay a visit.
We parked up, paid our entrance fee and went in at about 5pm, thinking we might just catch the tail end of the day’s activities. Wrong! The day’s events were barely getting started! We wandered around the countless stores selling all things cowboy, the food stalls selling all things meat and the bars selling all things liquid. After a beer we entered the huge stadium at 8pm to watch the brave gauchos being tossed every which way by the angry bulls. Eight seconds is the target and some even made it! Once shed of its load, cowboys (and cowgirls!) with lassoos herded the bull back to the corral. All this accompanied by very loud music, commentary and bright lights. At 10:30pm the rodeo was over and we spilt out of the stadium to the fair and watched the first of three music acts on a concert style stage. The music went on into the wee small hours, but we returned to Big Bertha at midnight and retreated to a quieter roadside campspot for the night.
Now I can say “This ain’t my first rodeo!!”
Hey Cowgirl and Cowboy! Your experiences and adventures are beyond fascinating transporting us to unimaginable worlds of the Gene Autries and the Bob Steeles and the Tex Ritters! How wonderful to share in your adventures. The understatement of the day is: Thanks indeed!
Ya Hoo! Ride em cowboy!!
Fantastic, how lucky was that to drop on.
We were very lucky!
I saw close by Paraty city, and now I am following this fantastic adventure! Cheers from Sao Paulo!
Enjoy!
Gaby & Guilherme
Thank you Gaby & Guilherme, we are very much enjoying Brazil!
Bonjour ,
Enfin des voyageurs en MAN au Brésil, c’est exceptionnel.
Nous descendons vers Rio et il est passible que nous nous croisions.
Sur notre site http://www.epicureman.com vous aurez un compte rendu de nos voyages.
Si vous nous laissez un message, nous vous communiquerons le mot de passe pour voir notre position es temps réel grâce à Garmin InReach.
À plus tard peut être.
Nous voyageons pour le moment avec des amis aussi en MAN.
Caroline et Jean-Pierre