Friday saw the beginning of 5 days of festivities to celebrate 37 years of Cantonisation (whatever that is??). It kicked off with the fireworks display and a beauty pageant.

Late afternoon the black clouds came rolling in, rain was imminent. We were ashore doing internet and laundry, but we had left the hatches open on the boat, so we had to get back before the rain set in.

As we reached the dinghy the first light smattering started, ‘great’ we thought, we would get back before anything got too wet.

That was before we came across the tiny little ‘pulpos tour’ boat, being towed by a single swimmer.

We went over and took a line and towed them ashore.

The young man had been swimming for half an hour and had only made it half way, he explained that his fuel had been stolen (presumably he didn’t check before he set off??).

No problem, except the rain was now a steady downpour, not only was the boat getting wet, but so were we and the newly washed and dried laundry. But hey, a friend in need and all that and you never know when you might need a hand!

Once he was safely back ashore we headed back out into the anchorage.

We rushed aboard once we got back to Beaujolais quickly closing hatches and mopping up the water that had got in. The Roger set about setting up our new rain water catching system. It’s funny, we had only been talking earlier about where we could buy some water and ‘voila’ here was all the water we wanted.

The rain continued to fall. A heavy squall, the type that flattened the seas around you, it was perfect, running into our tanks like someone had left the tap on. Whilst we wanted the rain, we hoped it wouldn’t continue and spoil the carnival.

There was still 2 hours before the carnival was due to start and there were signs of the rain abating, so our good fortune wasn’t at the expense of other.

We decided not to go ashore, choosing instead to watch the fireworks from the boat. I was surprised how good they were.

After another heavy rainfall during the night gave us a total of 70 gallons of water, collected. Great, the system worked well. We have been tweeking it as we go along, making it easier and quicker to install, adding filters and the like.

Now, Roger had wanted to do the volcano trip. We had spoken with Luis (he owns the supermarket Danielitas and is also a Nature guide) about booking a trip. The price was $200, so the more people he got the cheaper it would be.

So Roger had spent the previous day going around the anchorage drumming up business. But he had gone further than just the volcano trip.

He had also sold the trip to the rodeo on Saturday and the trip to the farm on Sunday.

We joked how we were now Beaujolais Tour operators and we could also sell Beaujolais bottled water on the trips.

So Saturday lunchtime (Luis is not the best time keeper and 12 noon turned into 1pm), no less than 15 adults and 9 children, piled into the back of a cattle truck for the half hour trip to the highlands to see the rodeo.

Now we knew what cattle felt like when they are being taken to market!!

But it was great fun, the children singing songs while the men,  who though asked to sit down (on the floor), chose to stand, had to duck as we went under overhanging trees at the roadside. We also saw much more of the scenery than we would have done sitting in a bus!

As we climbed higher into the hills, the temperature dropped, it brought welcome relief from the heat of the town. The landscape changed too, becoming more lush as we went further inland.

We arrived at our destination and found the proceedings well under way.

We were surprised how well attended the rodeo was, families had turned out for the celebration. There were fun races for the parents and then the attention turned to the main ring.

There were lots of little gazebos set up around the grounds, selling ‘Pollo con arroz’ (chicken and rice) or freshly made empanadas (which incidentally were delicious), hot dogs with papas fritas, as well as the coldest beers we had seen since being on the island.

There was also plenty of covered seating, albeit a little primitive ( black plastic stretched over roughly made frames) which would be pretty handy later that day.

The arena was also pretty basic, but it did the job.

I couldn’t help comparing the set up to the rodeo in Nabiac, near our home in Australia. They had spent thousands of dollars on that rodeo, building a big arena and I think it probably wasn’t as well attended or as enjoyable as this event.

We jostled our way in through the crowds to see what was going on. That in itself wa no easy feat, so I ended up following the locals example and climbing on the back of a bus for a better view!!!

I was not happy to see it was cockfighting.

There were all the locals, little children included, sitting, eagerly waiting for the fight to begin.

It was amusing (from a female point of view, I hasten to add) to watch the owners posturing. It was a classic display of Latin Machismo (the first of many we would see that day).

I watched as the owners fixed spurs to the cocks feet, to inflict more damage.

The prize money was $100, a significant amount and that didn’t include the side betting that was going on. So there was not only ego and status at stake here.

Then they brought a pig into the arena, tied it to the tree in the middle, greased it fully, recruited 2 women from the audience ( I can’t work out why it was women and not men??) to try and catch it and let it go.

It was funny, watching them chasing round trying to grab its back legs.

After the greasy pig came the clowns. They were excellent, getting the crowd excited with their antics.

But they had a more sinister role to play, which was revealed, when the bull was brought into the ring. After having been unceremoniously dragged off the back of a truck.

It too was tied to the tree, but in such a way as it couldn’t stand.

Eventually they let it go and the clowns, acted like matadors, goading it and chasing it.

It was all relatively harmless, until one clown brought out 2 small spears ( I know there is a proper name for them, but I don’t know what it is, nor do I particularly want to know) and thrust them into the bulls shoulders. Well, the bull went wild and I decided I had seen enough.

The afternoon wore on with riding competitions, festivities and more food and drink.

Many of the local boys and men arrived on horseback.

The horses dressed in all their finery, often more so than their riders.

Then it was time for the bucking broncos.

 For $10 the local tough guys could pit themselves against an untamed horse (though with the benefit of spurs)

Once again the sacrificial animal was brought in and tied to the tree. They then put their hands over its eyes and the rider came out, complete with spurs and got on.

We were surprised to see Fabrisio (our dive master and subsequent tour guide) was the first rider. The best part about this event was watching the riders fall off, bruising their egos as much as their butts!

These were not horses, no they were more like ponies, there was one which was an albino.

A very sorry looking creature, who when he was mounted, fell back and sat down.

He was not interested in participating and the rider was kicking and digging his spurs in. Once again, I had seen enough and left.

By 17.30 we were ready to head back and went in search of the children. We found them playing football with the local kids, Gringos versus locals. It was really nice to see.

We all piled back into the truck and headed back to the jetty, but not before a quick stop at the Pastelleria to pickup cakes for supper.

It was a great day out, we got a real flavour of local life and we saw the highlands and all for $5 per boat!!!

Well done Roger.