Chagras

On Sunday we headed off with Gabriel, John and Aeyoung to look around the markets in Machachi and to watch Guido and Rodrigo, the two chagras from the hacienda, compete in the local rodeo.

The market was immense, stall after stall of fruit and vegetables, potatoes, pastas, grains, flours, pigs heads, chickens, fish - if you could eat it, it was there.  There was also lots of ready to eat food, including cuy (guinea pig).

The roping competition was in the next door town of Aloasi and on the way across we could see chagras riding there, on the overpass that crosses the Panamerican.  We also saw horses loaded in the back of pickups, but sadly not when the camera was handy!

The competition was relatively simple - two chagras, one bull, 4 minutes to rope the bull, tie his back legs, then release him.  They could only try three times.

However, simple didn't mean easy!  When you are dealing with a loop that's got about 6m of rope in it there's a lot that can go not quite right.

Ideally the bull runs and you gallop up behind him and get the rope over the horns.  Some of the bulls had not read the script, however, and weren't particularly obliging.  There were a lot of helpers on the ground to try to get the bull moving the right way and then to get it back in the chute once it was done.  When the bull runs, everyone scatters and leaps for the railings.

Some of the bulls were rather fierce.

Below is the chagra of the year - he and his team member were very skillful and quickly had their bull under control.

We watched about 20 bulls before Guido and Rodrigo, the chagras from Hacienda La Alegria, made their appearance.  In that time there were only two successful teams; many of whom didn't even get one rope on their bull - it is extremely difficult.

After a slightly sticky start involving the two ropes tangling, Guido was on the job.  He successfully caught the bull on his first pass.

Rodrigo's horse wasn't too keen to start with, but then improved and he also roped the bull on his first attempt.  Both horses kept the tension on the lines while the ground person got the heel rope on.

Unfortunately they didn't quite get inside the time, but they did a very good job.

It was a very entertaining couple of hours, complete with la banda, playing right next to us, and plenty of cerveza.  Just as well as it was incredibly dusty - at times almost nothing could be seen due to the huge clouds of dust.  Everything was well coated by the time we returned to the car.