Recently, we had the opportunity to go to a traditional rodeo and festival in the nearby town of Cochrane–known as the Festival Costumbrista– apparently the biggest event of the year for the normally quiet town. Everyone was super excited though no one knew quite what to expect.
We pulled in just as it was starting, with families opening up their stand selling empanadas, sopapillas, beer, and juice; handcrafts made with leather or wool; or fresh produce from their farms. There were booths by the town government selling books on cultural history, people from the park explaining the goals and mission of the project here, and representatives from Patagonia Sin Represas selling stickers, buttons and t-shirts. Patagonia Sin Represas is a big campaign working to keep foreign companies for putting hydroelectric dams on rivers in Patagonia to power mining operations in the north of Chile. This has been a difficult fight because of the economic structure of Chile that has the majority of their resources and water rights owned by private international companies, making it so that the government can’t stop projects like this even if they wanted to.
Our group had a good time trying all the varieties of food available. The empanadas were an especially big hit with meat, onions, olives and one piece of hardboiled egg in each one. Other foods tried were sopapillas with salsa on top, kebobs with several varieties of meat from lamb to sausage interspersed with the occasional onion or pepper, and tarts called kuchen with raspberries or apples on top. Some people had some traditional asado: a full meal of lamb roaster over a campfire, complete with potato, sopapilla, salad of lettuce and tomato and a glass of wine. My favorite thing is the natural juice they make, it is so simple but so good, and they often have unusual flavors like rhubarb or grosea (a sour fruit with no english translation) in addition to the normal pineapple, strawberry or raspberry.
A smaller group stayed around for the actual rodeo part, which was supposed to start around 3pm but that is on Patagonian time, which means whenever-it-happens-drink-some-mate-while-you wait. Eventually we crowded into the stands facing the field and the action started–slowly, as the people involved finished their cigarettes. There were two gauchos on horses chasing a calf and more on foot attempting to lasso it. It took us a while to figure out what was going on, but it was a competition to see who can lasso the calf down and then they get to own that animal. This is followed by cutting its ear to show it is owned and then branding it. It was interesting to watch for the cultural significance and the skill involved, but after the hearing to terrified mooing of the poor calf, you inevitably ended up rooting for the cow to be free just a little longer and quietly celebrating when the lasso missed.
There were other events to follow; horse-breaking, bucking bronco and the like, but it was late and we could not bear to watch any more branding so we all headed back to camp for a delicious dinner made with local vegetables from the fair.
(Photos by Iris)
Delicious, delicious asado!
Men of the mountains.
Toros!
Nick enjoys his meat stick.
Just one of many beautiful horses at the rodeo.