Sunday Bloody Sunday

The Winner

Before: So from my own personal experience and what I have heard from others a few common weekend activities include listening/dancing to deafening music (Champeta, Vallentato, Reggae, and Reggeaton), going to the beach (and getting burned if you are a gringo), drinking adult beverages, and going to the Sunday cock fights.  Last Sunday when I first arrived my host ‘Father‘ and I went on a nice walk along the beach and on the way back stubbled upon a large group of people circled around something and shouting loudly.  I was really intrigued and later asked what all the people were doing.  To my surprise my host ‘father‘ casually explained that it was a cock fight and that in La Boquilla every Sunday is marked with the LEGAL cockfights; He even explained that the betting provides a good means of commerce for many of La Boquilla’s citizens and coming from a Padre you gotta believe it.  So I figure what better way to integrate myself than go to this important aspect of the local culture.  I will report back with all of the bloody, not the british usage, details.

After: Although that was not my first cockfight, thanks to Jeremy Bhatia and the nice people of Costa Rica, I can’t unsee what I just experienced.  The crowed at the ‘ring’ was circled around a few rows deep and I was really shocked to see the majority of the spectators were school aged children whom I will probably be teaching.....I guess I can start the first unit with some cock fighting vocab: rooster, blood, death, betting, and beer!     

My friend and I showed up at around 6:15ish as he said they usually start around 6:00.  However, in true Colombian fashion, the fight did not start until 7:15.  So what happens is they first have to weight the roosters and find two that weight the same amount, the owners then tape up their legs and melt wax onto a really sharp talon type thing, they then stick that talon above the roosters claws and add another layer of tape so it doesn’t fall off during the fight.  Then once they are prepared the betting starts.  The bets are placed before the fight as the owners circle the inside of the ring and try and talk up their animals.  If you want to bet on one you give your money to that owner and give him your name so he can find you after if he wins to give you your money.  The most common bet is probably 20,000 pesos ($10), but with my living stipend this was a little too rich for my blood so I placed a 10,000 peso ($5) bet on this guy.  However, the owners put even more money down and I literally saw 6 and 7 year old kids betting 1,000 and 2,000 pesos (25 and 50 cents)!

So after waiting for an hour the fight finally started and the eardrum shattering yelling began. After about two minutes into the fight it was obvious the rooster I bet on was going to win and eventually the other owner called the fight.  So after all that waiting the fight only lasted three minutes, but on the bright side no roosters actually died.  We were then told that it was too late to start another and headed home.  So I left with a great cultural integration experience and 10,000 pesos richer.           

On another note I started reading Hunger Games and it is incredible!  Thanks Mom and Dad for sending it down. 

Note the amount of young kids watching