This Ain't My First Rodeo.

Ok.  Maybe this isn't my FIRST rodeo, but it was my first Tico (Costa Rican) rodeo.  And this was unlike any rodeo I have seen before.

The big festivities were held in Villa Real, the town next to Tamarindo;  no tourists, everyone and everything is even more relaxed here, and it has a nice 'small town/everyone knows each other here' feeling (and they really do! They ALL know each other).

First things first.  The rodeo arena is actually at the soccer field in the middle of town.  It kind of looks like some locals grabbed some old wooden planks, some 2x4s, and banged out a fenced-in ring and a grandstand, a few days before the event (which, they totally did, just that).

The arena.

The grandstands.

Grandstand seating.

The day of the rodeo, a small (and slightly unsafe) carnival sets up, some food stands pop up, and the bulls arrive.

Food stands.

Festival area.

Bullpen, and not the baseball kind.

Salsa and meringue.

About 25% of the attendees pay $2 bucks to sit in the stands, and everyone else just sits on top of the arena fence, or stands at the fence to watch.

They only have 1 rodeo event, bull riding, which lasts several hours.   In Costa Rica, ANYONE can volunteer to RIDE the bulls and ANYONE can get INTO the ring during the bull riding, to be 'rodeo clowns' ......ANYONE.  A-N-Y-O-N-E!

All the people who voluntarily stand inside the fence during bull riding.  Interested in being a rodeo clown?  Hop on through the fence, and you're good to go.

On a related note, the Red Cross is on-site to assist with any medical concerns.  Their medical booth actually backs right up against the ring, and the wall of the medical booth has a little gated window that looks into the ring, so they know when people are headed their way.  AND, yes, several people headed their way last night.   A couple random 'volunteer clowns' got tossed around by the bulls, shirts shredded, covered in dirt, and a little bloody too.

The Red Cross booth (pictured at 12 o'clock in this photo).  The window is 'closed,' but they popped it back open when the bull got a bit farther from their medical service area.

After each volunteer rides a bull, the local (what seems like) high school band plays, and they just leave the bulls in the ring for a few additional minutes for what seems like entertainment purposes. This is all thanks to the plethora of fools just standing around in the ring, for the bulls to pummel.

Bull and rodeo arena main gate.

Random dude getting tossed around by the bull. PS I was up in the grandstand at is point, and I wasn't even using the zoom on my camera.  Everything at this rodeo is just THAT close.

Again, no zoom.  Just an angry bull.....right there! 

The band that plays before/after rides. 

When the bulls are angrily running around in the ring, they are mere inches from a couple thousand bystanders.  At several points, I could have stretched my arm through the fence and touched a couple not-so-happy bulls. INSANE.  Even more nuts, is that, if those bulls really wanted too, they could easily bust through the toothpick and twine fence holding everything up.  Scary stuff.  Scary, but fun.  An experience unlike anything I have seen before.

Along with the bull riding, 'volunteer rodeo clown' watching, food, carnival activities, and live music, there were also fireworks. At one point, some guy just walked into the middle of the arena and shot off fireworks, from inside a piece of PVC pipe that he just set down and lit on fire with his cigarette.

Several times last night, I thought to myself, 'where am I?'

However, with all of that said, it was an incredible experience, and such a slice of Tico life.  I had a great time with my friends, met some really nice locals, heard some fun live salsa/meringue music, ate some really tasty new foods (El Salvadorian), and realized once again, that there are still many more adventures to be had. Pura Vida!

Enjoying some rodeo eats!

Stay tuned, my friends.....more adventures to come.