The feria

Here we are; ready to discover Zacatecas, where the far west comes alive. We start inquiring about the activities during the feria. After a visit to the tourist office, we end up buying tickets for tonight’s rodeo show and Sunday’s Corrida.

We also decide there is not much time to waste and go to the ‘instalaciones de la feria’, at the far end of the city to watch the ‘charreria’, a sport with a very Mexican identity, consisting in the art of handling and twisting ropes to catch livestock from the top of your horse. There are of course certain rules which we don’t fully understand but it doesn’t prevent us from enjoying the show. A group of three caballeros arrive on their horses in full traditional Mexican cowboy outfits with sombreros and tutti quantti. They first do some shows with the rope; then comes the bull, running all around and the caballeros have to catch it with the rope by the head and the feet. A few groups are doing it with more or less success.

Later on, the same thing is done but with young horses that could run much faster than the bull. I have to resign to the fact that this is part of the sports I’ll never learn in this life… On our side we also got busy catching Noemie running on the stadium and getting all excited with the music and saying ‘encore’ as soon as the music stops.

Later, we take the tour on the touristy bus that goes through the city explaining local legends and the landmarks. We chose to sit on top and of course… it started to rain. A bit, then heavily. We move downstairs but we can’t say we enjoyed the tour. The lady talks in a fast Spanish and makes some references that only Mexicans would understand.

We take a nap in the afternoon, in preparation for a night out. The Rodeo competition is also at the feria, in the plaza de toros, outside the city. We get there on time, but the real show doesn’t start until one hour later. We have time to grab our dinner. Inside, vendors are busy selling beer, drinks, tamales, and little snacks, passing in between the rows. There are singers on a side stage, then the orchestra entertaining the public. The ‘senores vaqueros’ (cowboys) enter the stage, each dressed in a most extravagant manner. They make their prayer ahead of the show and stay kneeling a long time. The atmosphere is definitely very far west and many people in the public have the full cowboy gear.  Then the clowns make an entrance while the cowboys are preparing the bulls.

First bull comes out and in less than 3 seconds, threw the cowboy down and starts running around. Scary. One after the others, the bulls are prepared, well tied and then set free with the cowboy on top. Twelve of them come in, some with good skills, others very young, around 17 years old, with helmets on. All of them have a kind of flag jacket on. It starts raining again and soon enough vendors selling ‘capas’ a kind of rain bag with a hood. Suddenly, the public is all dressed in either blue or yellow. From time to time, the action is interrupted by little shows, one of them quite dangerous, involving 10 participants from the public with 2 young bulls running around after them - which seems to never end, especially for participants; another show has little kids, as young as 4 years old, very skilled in handling the ropes who do a ‘Charros’ show very impressive for their ages. Outside, a huge tent hosts all kinds of activities. On a stage, someone is singing lousy songs; stands offer interesting but also lousy games, there are mock rodeo games, luck games, shooting games, real small horses for riding, trampoline and of course food. The festive feeling gets us moving around and around like teenagers.

Tips:

A taxi to the feria costs 30 pesos during the day and 40 at night.