Rodeo Time, Valle Simpson, Chile.

After all it was the weekend, so we decided to visit a Rodeo to see how a small village like Valle Simpson celebrates its fiesta.

When your time us up, please dismount the horse carefully….

It was late Friday afternoon when we arrived in Valle Simpson ( about 20kms south of Coyhaique) and at first we thought we were in the wrong place as there were no signs or posters indicating that there was a Rodeo happening in the village the next day, strange we thought.  However, we stopped and asked  two very elderly men who were out for their evening stroll, and they confirmed we were in the correct place with big smiles and laughter and kept saying Fiesta  Manana, Fiesta Manana.  Then we asked was it possible to park the trucks in the field where the Rodeo was and they said no problem, but just as we were asking the question a guy walking by said that we could park them both at his house , in his back garden without even blinking an eye, yes in his back garden so  we ended up spending two nights there, such hospitality from a family we had never met before and he didn’t know us from Adam!!! Just gives you an insight into how lovely, friendly and helpful the Chilean people are.

Some people from Valle Simpson

An official ticket checker.

2 riders waiting by the pole.

a spectator

a guy near the BBQ

This lady had to explain to us why she could not sell us beer. Tough lady.

Actually, the events permit had not been physically given to the police, so they would not allow any alcohol to be sold at the event. No worries when you have a truck with a fridge full of beer parked 50 metres away 🙂

Rodeo in Valle Simpson

Rodeo is a great sport of rural Chile , deriving from the round-ups of cattle for branding or sale.  These cattle were often almost wild and it was necessary to break a young cow by catching it between a horse and a wall and forcing it to the ground to be branded.

A Rodeo is always the centerpiece of a town’s fiesta and almost every town has a medialuna (arena).  Its a great opportunity to see HUASOS in their traditional finery of ponchos, wide-brimmed hats and spurs, displaying their equestrian skills with plenty of traditional food and drink,  food being at least 7 complete lambs done on the BBQ.

The format was to have 2 strong poles sticking out of the ground. A horse would be tied to one, a simple saddle put on them with a very tight girth, and a guy gets on board. Once he is all set, the horse is untied and all hell breaks loose. The horses try to get rid of the riders, the riders to stay on, and the spectators love to see what happens next.

These horses have great brakes!

This guy was amazing, he even controlled the horse towards the crowd who loved that.

I loved the concentration on their faces.

This is just after being released from the pole

The horses were pretty serious about getting rid of the riders.

The announcements all day long were accompanied by a guy playing guitar. He was pretty tired by the end of it all.