Sunrise. The Raquete Club in San Juan Cosala. The sounds of bird song, dogs barking and donkeys braying drift up the hill as the village below comes to life.
The morning light on a Raquete Club home.
Afternoon view from Monte Coxala Spa, Raquete Club, San Juan Cosala.
To cap the end of pre-Lent festivities Ajijic holds a rodeo at the Lienzo Charro ring. It's packed with people of all ages - all dressed in fine clothes; dresses, pressed shirts & jeans, cowboy boots & hats. Young boys are smartly dressed like miniature versions of their Charro fathers.
Us - in the stands
A 20 piece Banda band plays live on stage during the entire event with a bouncy singer proudly crooning over blasts of trumpets, trombones, clarinets, sousaphone, accordion and drums.
A 20 piece band! - at a rodeo! How awesome. (You'll see them in the video below)
There was plenty of Tacate cervesas (beer) to be had but the local preference was Squirt soda with tequila. Rodeo fans came to their seats carrying big cardboard trays (box bottoms for cases of beer or soda) filled with 6-8 Squirt cans, plastic cups, a bag of ice and a quart of tequila laid flat. After they were seated they filled all the cups with ice and soda and passed them around to their neighbors - then, with everybody holding out their cups the ritual pouring of the tequila took place, it's golden stream arcing into each cup.... nice.
The rodeo was a lively event and the bulls got progressively bigger. Watch the video to see locals jumping in the ring to taunt the bulls and prove their manhood.
The most exciting part of the rodeo starts at 1:29 on the video - and unfortunately I was so caught up in the moment I took my eyes off the video camera and just watched. Listen to the crowd scream at 1:33. The bull targets a horse and rider, gets up under them and launches them out of the bull ring into a crowded alleyway of people. Holy sh@t! You can see the back of the horse in the alley at 1:38 after I realize I'm missing the action and pan the camera over there!
Great experience. I love getting out into community events when I travel and I love seeing this multi-generational way of life in Mexico. It's sad we've lost that in modern America.
We had some tasty street food on the way home. Drew got diarrhea. Ooops. :)
Bob is a travel writer and designer/ producer of interactive entertainment. He's traveled through Europe, North America and Australia. Bob loves immersing himself in local cultures and writes about the food, drinks, architecture, music, history, people and experiences along the way.
