Santa Fe Rodeo Festival

The Northern Zone of Costa Rica is known for its rodeos. Even the smallest of towns (Santa Fe has a mere 300 people) can put on some of the best rodeo shows in Costa Rica. In the Summer months, February through April, just about every town in the Northern Zone, no matter its size, has its Civic Festivals that include rodeos. Many towns have their own local bull riders and others hire traveling riding teams to put on the show. The bull riding is also accompanied by a number of other rodeo events, such as calf roping and horesback riding competitions.

See how the Santa Fe Women's Group achieved energy indpendence with its biogas project

Seeing a rural Costa Rican rodeo is something that would be of interest to many tourists, yet most tourists don't even know that they exist. With the inherent difficulties in communication between foreigners and rural Costa Rican communities, it is no wonder that rodeos in the Northern Zone are largely unknown to outsiders. This web site, however, will tell you of upcoming rodeo events, and will also document such rodeos with photos so that you can get a better idea of what they're like. So, contact us to arrange a rodeo visit.

Fiestas San Martín

The Fiestas San Martín 2006 were a big hit in Santa Fe. The weekend-long affair was filled with day-long parties that included soccer games during the day and rodeos during the afternoon. Then, at night locals filled the town hall to take dance cumbia, a traditional tropical dance of Costa Rica.

The rodeos during the festival included calf-roping, horse-maneuvering competitions, as well as a cow herding/milking competitions in which the contestants, who worked in pairs, had to track down a cow and fill a beer cup with milk before their any of their competitors. The crowd enjoyed all of the events, as they create a fun community atmosphere typical of rural Costa Rica.

Stop by the web site in the next few months to check on the dates for the 2007 Summer Festivals in Santa Fe, which hold the year's best rodeos. At the very least, check out this page in May 2007 to see how it went. You'll regret that you missed it.

Copyright 2007 Rural Costa Rica, a Costa Rica Travel Affiliate