Over the Easter weekend every year there is a rodeo held in Guyana. It’s located in Lethem, which is in Region 9, the southern part of the country, and this year I was able to go with several other PCV’s. When I think of a “rodeo” several things come to mind: cowboy boots and hats, lots of cattle, horses, country/western music, and plenty of Texans making sure I know exactly where they’re from as I take their order (well maybe that last one was from working at Ted’s when the stock show came to Denver). None of those things come to mind when I think about Guyana, a Caribbean country where Bob Marley is a more accurate icon than say Ted Turner. Yet Lethem seems like it’s located in a completely different country all together.
On the 21+ hour bus ride to get there from Georgetown there
are three separate passport checks. This seemed completely unnecessary since
the checks are nowhere near any border but in the middle of the country.
However, once I arrived in Lethem it seemed oddly symbolic of going to another
country as I didn’t even feel like I was in Guyana anymore. The landscape is
completely different moving from the tropical scenes of palm and banana trees
that line the coast to grassy savannahs and “mountains” (they’re more like big
hills), reminiscent of driving through eastern Colorado. The people are also
different whereas on the coast of Guyana one finds mostly a mix of Black and
Indian Guyanese; here it’s mostly Amerindian and Brazilians (with Lethem’s
close proximity to the border with Brazil). The regions name is “Rupununi,” and
like most Lone Star Citizens introduce themselves as from Texas before America,
the same holds true for the people here; they are proud to be from The Rupununi
and let you know it. The style of food is also slightly different, where greens
are hard to find, cassava and its products (cassava bread, farine, cassareep,
etc.) are everywhere. The cost of meat is also substantially less, which made
eating plenty of grilled meat throughout my trip a delight. For the same price
of a small snack ($300) I could get a large skewer of meat fresh off a grill
(beef, pork, or chicken).
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| mmmmmmmmmm meat! |
The rodeo was held on Saturday-Monday with main events happening the first two days. I was skeptical as to what this “rodeo” was going to be like, but once I arrived I was surprised to see that it was just like what I expected an “American” rodeo to be like. Plenty of trucks driving into a dirt fair ground, amusement park rides and side show games for the kids, fenced off central ground with bandstands around for spectators, lots of food and beverage stalls, and country music blasting everywhere. It was nuts, I didn’t feel like I was in Guyana for one bit, but rather in some strange small American town. Now there obviously were some major distinctions, like people speaking to me in Portuguese and prices quoted in Reals, I’m not too sure I could find a good lawyer if I flew off the rickety old loop-d-loop, and instead of drinking Budweiser it was cans of Schin. But by far the best and craziest difference was the footwear. The vaqueros wore the same clothes as in America: wide brim hats, chaps, button down shirts, denim jeans, spurs, etc. but no boots. Instead they were riding barefoot with spurs wrapped around their ankles! Not to say that it’s easy, or even I could do it, but I’m wondering how many American bull riders would be willing to ride barefoot? I’m guessing none. That was crazy to watch all these riders stay on their animal whether a bull, horse, or run around the ground roping cattle either in a pair of slippers (flip-flops) or completely barefoot.
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| Note the slippers and spurs |
My weekend at the rodeo consisted of running off to get more meat-on-a-stick, delicious fresh blended drinks (pick any two fruits and any bottle of Guyanese/Brazilian rum (with a complimentary top off while hanging around and gaffing), watching all the rodeo events, learning how to two-step, running off for a cold Schin, learning how to dance forro (pronounced "faha"), and taking in the amazing scenery around the area. I had an absolute blast. Granted, this was the only rodeo I've actually been to and only had stereotypes of what I thought American rodeos would be like, I would definitely love to go to an American one, but will probably be comparing it to my first Guyanese experience and wondering “what are all these cowboys doing riding with boots on?”
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| Pine/Lime a winning combination |
