As I prepared to ride the final week on the road to Barretos I got a history lesson in Brazil’s cowboy culture and just how important this city was to the evolution of the cattle industry. Located in the state of Sao Paulo, Barretos built one of Latin America’s first slaughterhouses in the early 20th century.

“The slaughterhouse changed the cattle industry in Brazil and helped it get to where we are today… the largest exporter of cattle meat in the world,” my friend Milton Liso told me as we ate stakes at his farm.

For years and years, cowboys from all over Brazil drove cattle from far away cities to Barretos to be slaughtered.  Driving as many as 1000 head of cattle at a time, seven to ten cowboys, or comitiva, would travel for months down the lonely road.

“These cowboys would arrive in Barretos and have to wait weeks before delivering the cattle… They started to put on events like bull riding to pass the time,” Milton said.

And just like that the largest rodeo in Latin America – Festa do Peao de Barretos – was born. Celebrating fifty-nine years this year, the rodeo brings hundreds of thousands of people to Barretos every night for ten days at the end of august. The event has grown from small gatherings between bored cowboys settling bets, to one of the world’s most prestigious rodeos.

“From Rio Preto you will be travelling down this old cattle route that leads to Barretos which cowboys have been travelling for a century,” Milton told me.

Milton has his own comitiva, and every year they ride from Rio Preto to Barretos for the rodeo on twenty to thirty mules and burros, while partying and barbequing every night along the way. Lucky for me, Milton has called all of the ranches and farms he regularly stays at on the road, and this year they will be hosting me, Emma, the horses as well.

“Unfortunately we won’t be able to ride to Barretos with you as we are set on arriving four days after you. But I will trailer the animals to the rodeo so we can ride into the arena together,” Milton said.