If you want to understand Brazil, go to a rodeo. You'll love every Hicksville minute, writes Alanna Gallagher
IF YOUR PERCEPTION of Brazil is of bikinis, beaches and samba, then think again. In a country as vast as Brazil there's a whole lot more on offer. To really get inside the nation's hearts and minds you have to go native and experience a rodeo.
Brazil's cow country should be part of any explorer's itinerary. Upstate São Paulo, where you'll find a mix of farming and industry, became home to gaucho cowboys who migrated north from the southern states. The territory is lush, russet red in colour and ripe with vegetation. Sugar cane has become the plantation of choice, because of the country's progressive stance on ethanol production. Rubber plantations punctuate the sugar cane, and three-lane highways cut through the earth like a scythe.
All roads here lead to the city of São Paulo, a five-hour journey by car and decades ahead of the sedentary pace of life in the small colonial towns of the interior. This is cowboy country, and in upstate São Paulo they're rodeo mad. The rodeo rolls into town once a season, attracting every character from the surrounding hinterland.
I came across the rodeo while visiting the town of Mirassol. The stadium's smoke-filled air, heavy with the smell of barbecuing meat, was hard to resist. The surrounding sky is dark by 6pm in summer, so the floodlight-bleached arena is hard to miss. Plus there are beer and guarana stands everywhere.
Riding bulls and roping calves are two core spectacles. The mineral-rich red earth is beaten flat by bulls the size of double-decker buses, prime slabs of angry beef with little men trying to stay atop. The competition between man and beast feels both feral and fabulous as the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end in testimony to the thrill of it all. It's rough and raw and reeks of testosterone. The crowd goes wild every time a performer enters the ring, cheering and dancing on the terraces. The roar hits your diaphragm, and even though you don't understand a word you get the gist of what's going on. The experience is like a pimped-up circus, and I loved every Hicksville bit of it.
Rodeo was introduced to Brazil about 50 years ago, in an effort to preserve traditions that were dying out, says João Carlos Parkinson de Castro of the Brazilian embassy in Dublin. "The move of the capital from Rio to Brasilia represented a new celebration of country life. The rodeo formed part of that economical, cultural and social renaissance to promote national values as opposed to imported American values and culture."
And it has worked. Rodeo and the country life it represents are now fiercely fashionable even among designer-label-loving Paulistas. Pride of place extends to the cuisine and the music associated with the event.
Churrasco is an essential aspect of the rodeo experience. Barbecued meat was the staple of the gauchos of southern Brazil for centuries, before the cuisine migrated north. The meat comes on huge skewers and is sliced in front of you. For me the finest slice of Brazilian beef is the picanha, which has been coated in parsley salt and roasted in the hot flames. It melts in the mouth and is best savoured with a cold bottle of Bramha beer. This may be cachaca (or sugar-cane alcohol) country, but cocktails such as the caipirinha have no place at a celebration like this. A bottle of guarana, a soft drink with as much kick as the ringside bulls, will pep up your spirits if you find yourself getting drunk on the atmosphere.
Traditional country music forms another core element of the rodeo adventure. Sertanejo, or country music Brazil style, is a very different animal from its North American cousin. The same style of lament and suffering is present, but the delivery is very different. In a country with a population of more than 180 million, local stars can become very big fish indeed.
Details of rodeos are hard to find, and the events are off the tourist trail, but they're well worth a diversionary few days. The biggest and baddest rodeo of them all takes place in Barretos, in upstate São Paulo, in a cowboy park designed by Brazil's starchitect, Oscar Niemeyer.
This city of 100,000 swells to nine times its size for this end-of-August event. Advance booking of accommodation is essential to sample this slice of rural life, where you can get a feel for the real deal by making like Madonna and riding mechanical bulls.
There is little or no mention of the rodeos in any of the guidebooks. You are delightfully off-grid and experiencing the real Brazilian interior, not the postcard pictures we've come to expect. It's unvarnished and makes a delightful interlude from the well-worn tourist itineraries.
But it's not for everyone. Anyone squeamish or involved in animal rights might prefer not to engage. Vegetarians, too, might be upset by the volume of meat on display. But the thrill of the spectacle, and of finding something this popular that hasn't made it across the pond, is one in the eye for globalists.
Where to stay
Book accommodation - all of which is basic - now for next year.
Barretos Country Hotel.Via Pedro Vicentini 111, Jardim Aeroporto, Barretos, 00-55-17-33212323, www.barretoscountryhotel.com.br. Sprawling keep-it-country hotel with ranch styling and cooling swimming pool.
Castelo Branco Hotel. Avenida 43 537, Barretos, 00-55-17-33221933, www.castelobrancohotel.com.br. Very basic but clean studio and apartment accommodation.
Where to eat
The rodeo surroundings of Parque do Peão will be rich with barbecue options. Downtown, sample a slice of typical Paulista country cuisine at Sabor Mineiro (Rua 18 218, 00-55-17-33228403, www.sabormineiro.hpg.ig.com.br).
What to do
Make like Madonna and ride a mechanical bull. Numerous stands offer this harder-than-it-looks experience. Don't be tempted to try it after a few beers.
The Tocada de Boiada,or cattle drive, is one of the high points of the festival. The cattle are driven by a band of authentic cowboys, together with tourists on horseback.
You get to see country life and its sugar-cane, coffee and corn plantations, rubber trees and pastures. Local delicacies are also served.
Next year's rodeo
The 54rd Barretos rodeo, which takes place from August 20th to 30th next year, is expected to attract more than a million visitors. If you're booking accommodation, make sure it's in the town of Barretos, as beds there tend to get snapped up.
Don't expect anyone to understand or speak English. You will find some, but brush up on your hand gestures and pack a Portuguese phrase book.
See www.triptobrazil.com.
For more about the rodeo and associated events, see www.independentes.com.br.
Tam (www.tam.com.br), Air France (www.airfrance. ie), Lufthansa (www.luft hansa.com), Iberia (www. iberia.ie), Swiss (www. swiss.com) and KLM (www.klm.ie) fly from Dublin to São Paulo via their hubs. You can then
fly with Passaredo (www.voepassaredo.com.br) to Ribeirão Preto, about 120km from Barretos. Alternatively, Tako Travel, an agency in Brazil, has a five-day package to Barretos from Rio de Janerio. Call 00-55-22- 25211642 or see www.takotravel.com.br.