Rodeo in Celestun

Steer chasing a Celestun cowboy after his lasso missed the mark

Celestun cowboy readying his lasso

A new event began in Celestun earlier this year that I was finally able to attend yesterday.  It is a "rodeo" of sorts with about a dozen local "cowboys" and a couple hundred spectators.  It was a very festive, family event with food vendors, and of course muchas cervezas being sold out of coolers.

In a field 1 km north of town, across the road from Casa de Celeste Vida, a large ring was built with a low, rough wooden fence.  Red, plastic chairs surrounded the fence with their backs against the boards so that the kids can stand up on them to see over.  People started gathering around 5pm and they were almost ready to get started when we arrived after dark around 6:30. Motorcycles and cars were parked all along the road so we joined them, parking our Honda Fit on the roadside and then walking into the field, carefully finding our way in the dark through the dozens of parked motorbikes, taxis, horses, etc.

The grounds were lit with just one spotlight, tied onto the top of an extension ladder, which was tied up against the railings, and a wire was strung from the roadside electric lines that someone had bravely climbed up and pirated for the event.

Everyone crowded close to the railing as a bunch of guys climbed up onto a wooden structure at one end.  It was apparently a sort of chute and after a lot of struggle, a small steer eventually was forced to walk out and then it just stood there.  Each cowboy rode around on a horse and tried to lasso the lazy steer, taking turns throwing their ropes at it.  Eventually a couple of cowboys were successful and then there was just as long a struggle to get the steer to leave as there had been to get it into the ring in the first place.

We waited for about 15 minutes for the next event and were rewarded with a little more excitement.  A much larger and aggressive steer ran out of the chute this time and immediately started chasing the cowboys and running full-speed around the ring, with large, pointed horns nearly scraping along the top railing causing everyone, including us, to jump back quickly before we were gored or the animal crashed through the rickety boards.  Luckily, nobody was injured, the cowboys managed to rope the steer and then they got it to leave again much more easily than the first one.

Apparently they just repeat this all evening until enough guys are drunk enough that they start climbing into the arena and let the steers charge them.  To the best of my knowledge, nobody has been killed or even seriously injured, yet.  But we had seen enough after 30 minutes so called it a night and headed home.