Day with the Charros, part 1

When we arrived at Roca Azul Park plans were afoot for a trip to Guadalajara on the Sunday (Jan. 29) to see a rodeo.  A bus was arranged, to be cost-shared, and the park’s owner, Rafael Sanchez Barba, would meet us in the city to take us to the rodeo.  We signed on and 20 of us made the hour-long bus trip into town. 

Rafa had a surprise for us.  He directed the bus to his grandfather’s house and, once there, gave us some history of his family and of the Mexican version of rodeo.  His grandfather, Don Carlos Sanchez Llaguno, was Mexico's most famous charro (roughly translated as rodeo cowboy).  The house had a large enclosed garden and this huge wall display showing four generations of the family, beginning with Don Carlos and Juanita who had 16 children.

Don Carlos was at the top of his sport in the 1950s and 60s and passed away in 1998. The house was filled with mementos of the many honours the great charro had received, including recognition by Mexican presidents and the pope.  Several descendants of Don Carlos, both male and female, had taken up the sport for which he was so famous.  Their portraits lined the walls.  The large house had been adapted to accommodate the needs of Don Carlos who was blind and partially paralyzed during the last several decades of his life.  All stairways had been replaced by ramps.  

For more about Don Carlos Sanchez see http://www.decharros.com/noticia/csm_jal/06/csm_mar5.htm