Carerra de Cintas

We learned of a fundraising event for a young man who has cancer. It turns out the young man is a cousin of Miguel's. 

We were told that there was a cultural event "Carerra de Cintas" in 'Canitas' which is a small area outside of Santa Elena. I'm not sure if you would call it an area or if it is big enough to call it a town?? Anyway, after asking a few questions I learned the approximate location of Canitas so Douglas and I set out on foot. I had no idea what we were going to, what 'Carerra de Cintas' meant and why this message came with the comment that we could participate even if we didn't have a horse?? but the longer we are here the more I have come to accept that I will not always have all of the answers.

I should have turned to my trusted Google sooner but I have since learned that Carerra de Cintas "is a traditional sport often played during the feria patronal in Spain and Latin America. In the carrera de cintas, short belts with loops on one end are hung from a wire suspended between two posts. Contestants, who may be on either horses or bicycles, ride towards the wire and attempt to capture a belt by putting a peg through the loop. Traditionally, the belts are given to a group of women who then award prizes. The origin of the sport is not known." That is the Wikipedia version. In this case it was a rope strung across the street. Clothes pegs were used to hang three very small metal hoops the size of a wedding ring. The men (yes it was very obvious that this was an all male activity) were given pegs which looked like a chopstick and then had to ride their horses very fast under the rope trying to put their peg through one of the tiny hoops. It was amazing. I could not even see the hoop much lest race towards one on a horse and try and put a chopstick into it LOL

Canitas turns out to be over 10 Kilometers away from our house. We walked for about an hour and 45 minutes and then managed to flag down a taxi driver to take us the last couple of Kilometers. Between this long walk and a late night out with a friend it took the rest of the weekend for my legs to recover.