2004 Braganca Paulista
Images by Cidinha Franzao
Schedule of Events || List of Starters || Venue
Results
Steph's Stories:
Arrivals and a Quiet Week-End || Touring the Countryside
Ride Day at Haras Endurance International || On to the Finish || Finish daze in Brazil
Finish daze in Brazil
I finished the 80km at about the same time as Monica (Henrique's niece
riding the 120km) who was riding Henrique's horse, Kumparcita - a
small gray mare, nothing spectacular to look at, but amazing
performer. She took Monica to the Junior World Championship in Italy
last year, finishing (I think) 4th and receiving BC. They finished 4
at this ride (the Young Rider division) and Kumparcita was awarded BC
again. A very happy Monica and Henrique at the awards.
We hung around the crewing area for a while (it was a muddy mess from all the water used for crewing) and then back to the hotel for showers, and off to dinner. Henrique's family, the other riders, Elizabeth and the officials, Reuben and Theresa (from Chile) and lots of beer and Caipirinha. Nice evening, sitting outside in the warm air.
Since it was a 2-day ride, we were up again (too) early and back to the ride site. I told Elizabeth I would be happy to work today so she gave me a job as vet scribe for Pepe, my favorite Uruguayan vet! It is always interesting to be on the 'other side' of a competition , the perspective can be quite different. It was a fun day, punctuated in the afternoon by a heavy summer rain. It let loose just as the last riders were coming in, and really poured, but cleared up in time for the BC judging and awards.
Brazilian awards ceremonies are unlike anything I've ever seen...It's a very big deal, with microphone announcements and blaring music to anounce everyone, and everything. And Now, The Tenth Place Finisher Of The Sixth Annual Bragança Paulista Haras Endurance... etc, Ta ta ta da! For every rider it was a big deal.
And the top five finishers arranged themselves on a stepped platform, with the first place top and center. More music, photos, Ta dum. Theme music from Chariots of Fire, 2001 Space Odyssey, popular disco music, etc. It's grand fun!
The officials and VIP's line up to give the awards, the riders have to
run the gauntlet of handshakes and kisses before they recieve their
trophy and ribbons. Elizabeth spotted me taking photos when the awards
started and called me up (I heard lots of Portuguese words from the
announcer punctuated by 'Los Estados Unidos' 'Pinamar' 'Endurance Net'
'estephania teeteria') and then there I was handing out ribbons and
kisses and trophies with the others :) Fun.
Everybody left soon after the awards, and I left with Henrique, Amarilis and Theresa (a young vet student who would be apprenticing with Henrique for the next month). We went to Rueben's (Chile) hotel and Henrique decided to stay there for the night. The next day he would be taking Rueben to see some horses that were for sale, and the first horses were near Bragança, so another hotel, and one more day of adventure.
Monday was a fun day - a lot of driving - but a lot of new country and
landscape to see, and some great horses to look at. We stopped at one
place to see a horse that had previously been purchased for a fairly
large sum and did a few 80km races, but then the owner had financial
problems and the horse was no longer a prime interest. He was pretty
thin and scraggly, but obviously a well bred horse (Polish
bloodlines), tall and strong looking, and sound. (thumbs up - he would
go to Henrique's stable to put some weight back on and receive good
care). It was a very small, run-down little place. Theresa (with
Reuben) and I were wandering around looking at things, and peered into
an open shed area where two men were running sugar cane stalks through
a grinding machine for extracting the juice.
Curiosity got the best of the men (who were these women?) as well as
the horse shoppers, and eventually we were taken down below, into a
small closed shed, to find a still - they were extracting the sugar
cane juice and distilling it to make bootleg Cachaça, a type of rum
(used in Caipirinha drinks). It was quite the setup, with a wood
burning stove in one corner, a network of pipes for the juice, water
and distillate, and a bucket for the finished product which dripped
out, 'pinga'by 'pinga'. And of course they offered us all a shot glass
of the clear stuff, straight from the still. A most memorable moment,
in a dark shed in the backwoods of Brazil, tossing a shot of bootleg
'Pinga', Bragança Moonshine :)
That's Brazil...
Steph