Lethem Rodeo

For Easter break, many volunteers planned to go down to Region 9, at the bottom of the country bordering Brazil for the annual Rodeo! I went with two other volunteers, Carly and Emily, to the biggest ranch in Guyana, Dadanawa Ranch. It is almost three hours outside the main town in Region 9 called Lethem and pretty much in the middle of nowhere. We passed really small Amerindian villages but other than that it was open savannah as far as the eye could see! The ranch is famous because it made the infamous road to Georgetown from Lethem by driving cattle all the way there. The vaqueros would take hundreds of cattle and take almost a month hacking away at the jungle and losing 85% of the cattle along the way. Crazy. We spent a couple days on the ranch watching the cattle being sorted for rodeo, walking the savannah, and killing cows....

Carly, Emily and me!

The first morning, the ranch asked if we wanted to come with them to kill a cow out in the savannah because they had run out of meat and needed to prepare the tasso, or jerky for their ride with the cattle to rodeo. We said of course we'd like to come! Then on the way they jokingly asked if any of us wanted to try killing it and I said of course! I know this sounds morbid or crazy but it was a very interesting experience. Being in the middle of nowhere with this Amerindian tribe who raise these cows and depend on this meat to survive felt like an opportunity to experience something most people don't get to experience. They lassoed the cow, brought it down, handed me a knife and pointed at its neck. Here. It was a small blunt knife so I had to keep trying to puncture it when finally a different guy handed me a longer sharper knife. This made it easier, obviously. I blacked out during the whole thing and don't really remember it because I was so nervous. 

Then the Amerindians lay down some leaves and started skinning it right there. We all tried skinning it and then they started cutting it up. They were very precise and methodical, cutting different parts and preparing different sections for different people. It was amazing to watch. One lady emptied all the stomachs and even took that to be used later. Afterwards nothing was leftover expect the grass from its stomach. It was quite an experience!

They then took all the meat and hung it in to be dried. Some ladies ran over when we arrived and they hacked off some chunks for dinner that night and a next guy came to get the skin to take to the tannery. Nothing wasted!

Sunsets on the ranch

After the cattle had all been sorted, the vaqueros started the two day journey driving them to Lethem. It was very cool to watch the vaqueros circling them, cracking whips to get them in line and shouting different things to keep them moving, "Yahoooo!"

When we arrived in Lethem, we stayed at a volunteer's house who lives there, with about 10 other volunteers. We were definitely cozy and crowded but it was fun to all be there together. The sad part was the night before Rodeo was going to start, we were all at a pageant to open Rodeo and we got robbed. They broke into the volunteer's house when we were all gone and went through everything. I had money, my solar charger and my Peace Corps satellite phone stolen, but others had MacBooks, iPhones, cameras and more stolen. It was a long night and we were all exhausted by the end but thankfully no one was hurt and they didn't take passports or bank cards which would have been the biggest hassle. Our Safety and Security Manager had to fly down and start investigating with the police. It was sucky. 

We were able to go to the Rodeo! All of the cattle used during the events were all from the ranch we stayed at, and some of the vaqueros participated in the events. It was awesome to cheer for them and recognize some of the big bulls, lol.

"Say yes and you'll figure it out afterwards." - Tina Fey