Got back Wednesday with some business in Higuey on Thursday the 14th. I was reminded that the annual 4-day local celebration of Dominican Patron Saint La Virgen de Altagracia (the Virgen Mary) would begin on Thursday. The feast is marked by bovine (Higuey is known as the capital of cattle breeding) and equestrian displays punctuated by a "running of the bulls" on Sunday, the last day. On Thursday the highlight was on horses and horse culture.
Wednesday night I had a conversation w/a lady friend about my Thursday plans and she asked when I'd be back. I responded that I'd be back early if I weren't detained by female horse riders.
She replied in turn that I meant detained by the "Amazons," and qualified that female riders are called Amazons (Amazonas).
After my business early Thursday morn, I headed to the epicenter of the feast. All horse trails led to el bulevar or buleval (the boulevard), a two-block strip with a plaza in the middle that allowed for horses to park and parade around it. Very shortly riders and horses filled the voids until they were wall-to-wall.
I asked a variety of natives, riders included, about Amazons. One individual answered that there was a club of female horse riders called las Amazonas (the Amazons). Another said that every now and then (as recently as last month) lady horse riders gather to feast in "el Bulevar." Another had no clue (desconozco).
Finally I stopped a horseman who was accompanied by two young female riders who were ostensibly his daughters. The three, father and daughters, had matching white shirts with an emblem that seemed to identify them as a family/group. I asked the father about Amazons. He explained that Amazon is a common assignation for female riders in all of Latin America and that while he knew of no particular group called "las Amazonas," that there was a group called, to the best of my understanding, "las amafilas" (friends of Amazons perhaps).
The event, la "Feria de los Toros" (the feast of the bull), is another piece of "Dominicana" that defines the country. Its epicenter would move to Agani, a large corral on the road to la Otra Banda, in the following days. The event is unique to the uninitiated and a fixture in DR culture.
I'm partial to the horses. As such, any good horse stories. I know of the bad ones, i.e., poor care, horse dying on the road, etc. I'm particularly interested to know more about the Amazons and horse clubs in the DR. Thanks.
Wednesday night I had a conversation w/a lady friend about my Thursday plans and she asked when I'd be back. I responded that I'd be back early if I weren't detained by female horse riders.
She replied in turn that I meant detained by the "Amazons," and qualified that female riders are called Amazons (Amazonas). After my business early Thursday morn, I headed to the epicenter of the feast. All horse trails led to el bulevar or buleval (the boulevard), a two-block strip with a plaza in the middle that allowed for horses to park and parade around it. Very shortly riders and horses filled the voids until they were wall-to-wall.
I asked a variety of natives, riders included, about Amazons. One individual answered that there was a club of female horse riders called las Amazonas (the Amazons). Another said that every now and then (as recently as last month) lady horse riders gather to feast in "el Bulevar." Another had no clue (desconozco).
Finally I stopped a horseman who was accompanied by two young female riders who were ostensibly his daughters. The three, father and daughters, had matching white shirts with an emblem that seemed to identify them as a family/group. I asked the father about Amazons. He explained that Amazon is a common assignation for female riders in all of Latin America and that while he knew of no particular group called "las Amazonas," that there was a group called, to the best of my understanding, "las amafilas" (friends of Amazons perhaps).
The event, la "Feria de los Toros" (the feast of the bull), is another piece of "Dominicana" that defines the country. Its epicenter would move to Agani, a large corral on the road to la Otra Banda, in the following days. The event is unique to the uninitiated and a fixture in DR culture.
I'm partial to the horses. As such, any good horse stories. I know of the bad ones, i.e., poor care, horse dying on the road, etc. I'm particularly interested to know more about the Amazons and horse clubs in the DR. Thanks.
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