Rodeos and Volcanoes

When I had only been in Chile for a few months, I would title posts things like, "Day Three" or "Three Weeks." Now I feel like I should be doing the opposite of that. If I switched to that system, this post would be called "Forty-Nine Days." That doesn't roll of the tongue as well as "Rodeos and Volcanoes" does, though. And it's a bit too heavy for my taste. I've been catching myself avoiding thinking about my return. I am excited to go back, but it will mean saying goodbye to lots of good friends.

With such little time left in Chile, I've been doing all that I can to make the most of it. I spend almost every day with friends, often Chileans. I've taken day trips to see things that I hadn't seen yet. One of these trips included a day at the National Rodeo with my host grandfather and brother.

The national sport of Chile is the Chilean rodeo. It is massively popular. So popular, in fact, that in 2004, more Chileans attended rodeos than professional soccer matches. Rodeos here are pretty different from a rodeo you might see in North America. In a Chilean rodeo, a pair of "cowboys" (called Huasos here) chase a cow around an arena and use their horses to slam the cow into predetermined points in the wall. Points are given to the pair of huasos depending on what part of the cow is pinned against the wall. The cow usually collapses from exhaustion and needs to be stabbed with a sharp stick, kicked, or have sand thrown in its eyes before it gets up and is chased again.
I really did enjoy taking part in such a unique cultural experience (and missing school), but it was hard for me to not see it as animal abuse.

The national sport

While what I usually see in public places is a sea of brown hair, at the rodeo I saw a sea of tan and gray hats. The huaso garb is clearly defined and extravagantly priced. The essential (obligatory for the riders) huaso outfit consists of: boots with spurs, pin-striped pants or jeans, a checkered button-up shirt (cigarettes in the chest pocket are typical but not required), a tight-fitting jacket, a sash, a poncho, and the most important part, the gorro, or hat. I was shocked by how Chileans treat their gorros. They need to be picked up a certain way as to not bend the brim. They need special holders as to not bend the brim. No one can wear another person's gorro, as they are all custom-made. I was a little less surprised by the care of these little-used clothing items when I learned how much they all cost. Chileans will shell out thousands of dollars for a genuine huaso outfit, even if they only use it once a year (or less). I couldn't help feeling like it was a little absurd, all of these city-slickers (myself included) dressing up in their four-layer costume in 90 degree weather.

Fun fact: The underside of a huaso's poncho actually burns hotter than the surface of the sun.

Speaking of heat, it's time to move on to the second part of this blog. Pictures are much more interesting than words when it comes to volcanoes, so I'll tone it back a bit.

Some of my friends at school joke that I brought bad luck. This is the third volcanic eruption since I arrived here. There have been other natural disasters in my time here, like the 6.6 earthquake on my first day and the flooding in the North.

This particular volcano, Calbuco, erupted twice in a 24 hour period this week. This is the first time that it has erupted in 40 years. The ash cloud seen here and above reached 10 km into the sky. 

While it made for some good photos, this was, after all, a "disaster." Over 4,000 people were evacuated from their homes around the volcano. 

A lot of the ash was carried by the wind east to Argentina. In parts of both Argentina and Chile, people can't leave their houses without using face-masks. They are preparing for a possible third eruption.

I'll end this blog with a shout out to my good friends Rachel and Jimmy, who I had a fun weekend with and who asked me to include them in my next post. Rachel doesn't know what she wants me to say, but she "definitely called a shout out on the seth blog." Jimmy asked me to "just mention how hardcore he is." Jimmy is actually pretty hardcore. He will be returning to the United States (or at least most of the way there) by bus. He will be leaving in mid-May, which will give him about a month of travel time. Jimmy has invited me several times to join him on his trip, on which he will be raising money for charity by talking to local Rotary Clubs, but unfortunately, there's no way I can make it.