You all know by now how much I love to travel! How I can’t stay in one place for too long. And how the road is always calling my name.
But to be completely honest, a little part of me didn’t want to leave Rio Grande do Sul. To say I fell in love with the land of the Gauchos is absolutely true. The people, music, culture, food, horses… It’s basically disneyland for a cowboy.
The 21st century is not fit for a man who wears boots reeking of stale horse manure. A cowboy’s knowledge of the land and animals is no longer needed in the age of “catching Pokemon.” Fact is, through most of the countries I rode through the cowboy is marginalized. Misunderstood. Often times hated.
In my own home, Espirito Santo do Pinhal, Sao Paulo, a town of 30 000 people with a large horse community, the rodeo has been banned. Animal Rights activists persuaded the local judge to pass a law stating that no sport events including horses, spurs, ropes or flank straps can take place.
As a lover of the rodeo, I feel cheated. I know the rodeo does not abuse animals. I was born in the arena. Yet because modern society does not UNDERSTAND it, they judge it. They assume it abuses animals and therefore create an opinion based on an assumption alone. No study, proof, understanding…
This makes me very sad.
And what I discovered in Rio Grande do Sul, is that the culture I am absolutely captivated by, is still alive and doing well. Sure they deal with some of the same problems, like folks from the big city not completely understanding what they are doing, but it’s to a much lesser degree.
I think one day I’m going to move to this rustic land, buy some Criollos, marry a Gaucha and raise a little Gaucho! But for now I must keep riding.
I either arrive at the end of the world on horseback or I return home in a wooden box.
