I know everyone has seen those Mexican rodeos on tv with the wooden arena and the riders with straw hats.  Well, I honestly didn’t think it could get any worse that that… until I went to the Honduran rodeo yesterday.  First of all, we were dangling 15 feet from the ground putting complete faith in a 20 year old termite ridden arena being held together with a total of 4 nails.  The riders, all my age or younger, were wearing mismatched clothes and old little league football helmets.  After the bulls got done humping each other, they were corralled into the waiting area underneath where we were precariously sitting.  They slapped the bulls with sugar cane to get them into the cage where the riders took mount.  The next part was just like any other rodeo.  The rider pulls on the bulls balls until he gets bucked off.  But this is the best part.  The prize was a beer for every second the rider stayed on the bull.  A 19-year-old kid who can stay on for 8 seconds rapidly drinks his 8 beers and then gets back on the bull to do it again.  Towards the end of the rodeo, everyone was too drunk to stay on even 2 seconds, so everyone went to the fair to eat some street food and drink more beer.  Oh let me finish with the fact that the rodeo and fair are part of a celebration for the patron saint of one of the Catholic churches here in town.