By the time we'd driven into Santa Cruz for the second time, the rumors of a rodeo coming to town had begun circulating around Playa Junquillal. As we pulled into town that afternoon, we noticed an arena-like structure being erected. Could it be for the rodeo we'd heard about? Naw...there's no way that rickety wooden skeleton could be sturdy enough for use by the weekend, right?
Well, let's just say Costa Rican building codes might not be up to par with those of the heavily-regulated U.S. Yep. That Saturday night, we actually paid to plant our butts in those very shaky seats! But first we spent a couple hours quaffing Imperial Cerveza, listening to the marimba ensembles who were stationed on several street corners, delighting in the rodeo horses and cowboys, and inspecting the street fair fare, much of which included greasy Chinese cuisine, apparently a local favorite. We stuck to the also greasy but yummy churros.
Following a raucous fireworks display, the rodeo commenced. In this case, the rodeo consisted mainly of a couple hundred drunken Ticos (locals) convened in the arena for the sheer purpose of taunting the series of bulls that was to emerge from their pens. And when the bulls did get fired-up, all our hearts were thumping!
