Traveling around Chile, you can feel the influence of the estancias – the ranches. Tied in with that is the rodeo and the rodeo is a part of life in many of the towns across the country, in particular the regions where we have been traveling. Sandy was doing some research recently and found that the National Rodeo Championships were taking place near Santiago while we would be able to be in that area. The championships take place in a city of 274,000 people called Rancagua and it is about an hour south of Santiago by train. From a tourist standpoint, there isn’t much there and anytime we would tell a Chilean that we were headed to Rancagua for a few days, they would invariably respond with some form of “what the hell are you going there for?”
We took the train down on Tuesday afternoon. Based on our checkout time from the apartment in Santiago we had time to spare at the train station. We picked up sandwiches at Starbucks and hung out there in the station. I walked about ten minutes down the road to the bus terminal to get our bus tickets for our next move after Rancagua. We boarded the train about 30 minutes before the 1pm departure, which was great because it got crowded enough that many people had to stand in the aisle. We ate our sandwiches on the train and arrived at Rancagua a few minutes after 2. Our new apartment was only a ten-minute walk and we hung out in the park for a little bit before checking in. After getting settled, we went out to explore Rancaugua. Again, not a lot to see, but it was a pleasant enough town. Nice pedestrian walking area near the main plaza and we spent a little time at the town museum to see replicas of rooms from different periods in the 19th century when Chile was battling Spain for its independence. A significant battle took place here in Rancagua where the freedom fighters lost to the Spanish forces, but obviously Chile won at the end of the day. For dinner, we had chicken quesadillas at Schopdog and then made plans for the rodeo tomorrow. Before going to bed, we watched two movies. Wild Life, which is a very interesting documentary about Doug and Kris Tompkins. They are a married American couple who purchased a significant amount of land in Chile in order to preserve and protect it. They donated the majority of the land to form several national parks. And also, the movie Brats, about Andrew McCarthy’s reconnections with some of the actors from the great movies in the 80s. We enjoyed both movies.
We spent two days at the rodeo – it is a five-day festival and we were there for the first two days. We had a great experience. Beyond the actual rodeo, the festival also includes the national cueca dancing championships, an agricultural expo showing off all kinds of modern farming equipment, a grilling competition which took place the last three days so we missed that, lots of craft artisans, several brewery stalls, and lots of food options. There are so many things grilling throughout the day that the smells kept me hungry for anything coming off the grill all day long.
We checked out the craft markets but of course didn’t buy anything because we don’t have room to carry anything else with us. We tried several of the craft brew offerings and our favorite (both of us) was the avellana chocolate from Cerveza Aguilas Bravas. For food, we had a full meal the first day of steak, salad, potatoes or rice. The grillmasters gave us a taste of the steak early in the day, which was smart – it was awesome so we had to go back. Unfortunately, what we were served later had been off the grill for a long time and was cooked too long. Oh well. The next day we just snacked our way through the food vendors. There were a couple of ice cream vendors and one said it was the best ice cream in the world. We had to try that. It was very good – not sure I can go so far as to say it is the best in the world, but I’d have no problem having a couple of scoops again right now. We shared pork skewers and beef skewers. The beef skewer wasn’t too good (again overcooked), so to end our food journey, we stopped by Patricio’s restaurant, one of the vendors who had been trying to get us to come see him every time we walked by, which was quite often. We had a pork skewer and it was an excellent way to finish the food journey.
The days we were there had mostly cueca dancing from kids aged around eight up to 18 and then one competition among young adults. This was definitely a highlight. The cueca dance is the national dance of Chile and is basically a courtship dance. The dresses are beautiful and the dancers take on their characters extremely well. Granted we were seeing some of the best in the country – the competitors had won competitions in their regions to even get the opportunity to dance here at the national championships. Great experience to see.
The rodeo takes place in the stadium called the medialuna. It’s a circular stadium and there are different styles of competition. Unlike in the US, it focuses on skill instead of speed. Nothing is timed. The first competition we watched was controlling the horse. Each competitor would perform the same routine of running the horse across the stadium floor to a standstill, turn and go the other way with another quick stop, and then turn with a run back to the center and a quick stop in front of the judges. Then they would trot in various patterns across the stadium floor. They would get scores for each segment and then get an overall score.
The next competition we watched was when two riders would team up on their horses to “corral” a calf. They would work together to get the calf to run around the outside of the stadium floor ring and then when they got to a cushioned part, they would do their best to pin the calf against the cushion. The goal was to pin the hind quarter of the calf and the closer they got to that objective the more points they would get up to a maximum of four. They had three opportunities to pin the calf and if they scored 12 points, they could also earn a bonus point based on the skill. It was great fun to watch both of these and the crowd really gets into it with their cheers and their jeers when they don’t agree with the judges’ scoring.
We also watched an event where children (guessing ages 4 – 8) competed. During the competition, two children would take the stadium floor at a time and gallop on their stick horses while carrying a stuffed animal that looked like a calf and try to pin the calf against the cushioned wall. Great way to keep the tradition going by starting the next generation at a young age. It was super cute.
Overall, the rodeo was a great view into traditional Chilean life. In our two days there, we did not see a single non-Chilean – at least from what we can tell. We’re very happy to have found this opportunity and taken advantage of getting to see it.
The only other thing to report from Rancagua was our other dinner. Sandy found a healthy spot that was about a 35-minute walk from our apartment. We had delicious bowls at a place called Sant Bol. They were very friendly. We had been told that it was best to not be out after dark in Rancagua so we heeded the advice and grabbed an Uber back after dinner. Our last night (Thursday) we were still full from all the snacking we did at the rodeo and didn’t head out for dinner.
Quick stop here in Rancagua but totally worth it.
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