The festival of Jesus Maria is the final of Argentina’s national rodeo competition, held in January. It is a whopping ten days of music, rodeo and parties and for most gauchos it is the biggest date on their calendars.
Each province (along with Uruguay & Chile) has a regional competition to choose a riders for each category of the rodeo:
1. Crina Limpia or Potro Pelado – No Saddle or bridle
2. Gurupa Surera – basic saddle (without stirrups) and bridle
3. Basto con encimera – full saddle and bridle
Each rider rides once each night of the festival and though you only have to stay on between 8 – 15 (depending on your category) those few seconds are physically tremendously tough – I have heard it likened to playing a game of rugby compacted into a few seconds. The riders are thrown around like rag dolls and just to survive the festival without any injury is a huge achievement.
