Excursion #1: Day 3 Fiesta de Palmares

This is the last post of our busy first weekend excursion. We wanted to experience the "biggest fiesta in Costa Rica", Fiesta de Palmares. Bull fighting is advertised for this, so we decided to go to the rodeo on Sunday afternoon since the other rodeos are all in the evenings. We didn't really want to be out that late.

Palmares is a town a little "up the mountain" and north of Alejuala. Alejuala is near to the airport so the traffic can be a bit crowded. We had about 40 miles to drive and it took an hour and a quarter. When we reached the gate of the fiesta, the police were trying to communicate something about our water bottle but because we couldn't understand and maybe looked like dumb gringos, they figured we were harmless and let us go through without arguing. 

We found the ticket booth for the rodeo and discovered a car show in the middle of the fairgrounds. We wandered through there for a bit and watched a community marching band play. This isn't your typical marching band. This is Tico-style.

Are antique Land rovers a thing in Costa Rica?

Cool vintage Ford

The players dance, spin, and tap their feet as they play and march.

The percussion band similar to one Clark saw in Coronado his first weekend.

The rodeo arena. Those blow-up arches are a carnival attraction for kids to ride pedal trikes similar to "Hotwheels"; meant to resemble a go-cart track. 

Carnie tents.

Zoom in to see this attraction for kids. These are motorized dinosaur go-carts. 

There were food carnies all up and down the fairway. There was an art exhibit. Interesting enough, the art was free, but we had to pay 500 colones ($1) to use the bathroom! It was clean so for me, completely worth it instead of waiting in line for a porta-potty like I often have at other fairs. 

We went into the rodeo. At first there weren't a lot of people there and I thought we wasted our money but as the event went on more people came in. This was quite the experience! Cowboy Ticos are SO creative, brave, and maybe a little crazy! There were tiny kids competing and the horse's manes and tails are trimmed differently. The horses were gorgeous. 

We witnessed a rodeo style three-legged race, rodeo style musical tires (instead of chairs), and capture the bull, all of which were "play at your own risk" for the cowboys. One guy was hauled off on a stretcher, Rose watched a cowboy pop another cowboy's knee back in place and multiple Ticos had to be assisted off the arena floor. 

Inside the arena.

Opening ceremony.

Look closely...you can see the manes are shaved and the tails are clipped short.

This was #5: the grumpiest bull calf out there. He had two modes...fight or freeze. He chased the cabelleros and head butted the horses. If he was tied up, he played dead and refused to get up. He knows how to entertain a crowd!

This event included a kid standing on a barrel and the cowboy would ride by and scoop the kid up on the back of the horse without stopping. The papa here has it down to an artform.

The cabelleros were pretty tough on the bulls. I wouldn't want to move for them either after having my ears and tail pulled that way! They literally dragged the bulls around the arena.

Here is game where kids get in a barrel cut in half and get dragged to one end of the arena and back. When they get back the kid topples out and another jumps in. There were 4 kids per relay team. Sometimes the barrel flips over before reaching the finish and they have to go back and start where they fell out. One girl held on as the barrel pulled her upside down and then she flipped back over. She was the champion that day...little lady made of steel!

Here we have rodeo-style musical chairs except they use tires. A few cowboys were injured in this trick.

The final event of the afternoon was when the bulls were let out and the cowboy teams came on the arena. They were supposed to tie two bulls together. Whoever did it first was the winner. If you zoom in to the upper right of this picture, there are two bulls tied together. A few cowboys were injured in this event. It was rough but entertaining!

There was a special treat between the kids barrel racing and the rest of the events. A marching band performed!! Instead of pom-squad dancers, the band was led by latin dancing couples in traditional skirts and balero dress. It was fantastic! The uniforms were colorful with side capes similar to our Lamar band uniforms. There was a color guard team following the band. 

After the rodeo we walked around the fairgrounds to take in the rest of the carnival. It was like a county fair. Games, rides, beer and concert tents, expensive food trucks. It almost felt like home!