It’s a hot Good Friday afternoon at Ruperte Village, North Rupununi. In the distance one can see bright lights approaching along the dusty, red roadway; vehicles fitted with customized roofs which are built to carry fuel and supplies. Their destination, the annual Rupununi Rodeo

at Lethem.

The event is termed the most popular attraction in the Rupununi each year at Easter time. This is evidenced by the dozens of persons who travel to the savannah region from all parts of the country, mainly the Coastland.
On Holy Thursday , two days before the rodeo begun , the bus services in the city which ply the Lethem-Georgetown route were overwhelmed with passengers. Outside Carly’s Bus Service in Robb Street, personnel at the service were busy trying to determine which buses persons would travel with. At the same time , several restless passengers , including families with children , were anticipating their departure for the Rupununi.
Later, the buses pulled-off from the city and as the night progressed, the bumpy ride to south-west Guyana begun.

Fast Forward to Holy Saturday. Its 9hrs at Annai Central and the village is quiet even though the roadway is busy with vehicles passing to and from Lethem. Ryan, a bus operator, who operates his bus within the North Rupununi , pulls-up . His bus is almost filled to capacity and his passenger list is still incomplete. Nevertheless, Ryan pulls off for Lethem, a two hours trip which is contrastingly smooth as compared to the rocky-ride north from Linden to Annai.

This year, the rodeo was threatened by the rains which began pouring intermittingly several days earlier. As the bus entered Lethem, dozens of shoppers can be seen outside the stores

at Lethem’s commercial zone , even as the rains poured once more.

Fortunately for rodeo fans, around 1300hrs, the bright skies could be seen and it was time to prepare for the most-anticipated Region nine events. At 14:00hrs, Minister of Indigenous Peoples Affairs, Sydney Allicock declared the rodeo open and it was time for the action to commence inside the arena at the Triple R Rodeo ground outside the town of Lethem.
The events commenced with the wild-cow milking competition, the best-dressed vaquero and steer roping. Then the excitement of the rodeo climaxed as the more anticipated events such as the bare back bronco and dangerous bull-riding competition commenced. These

events drew many “ooo” and “ahhs” from the spectators who filled the bleachers at the venue to capacity. But the rodeo isn’t always about cows, horses and vaqueros.

Outside the arena, a family-like atmosphere enveloped the venue as the evening progressed. Children and their parents ate and perused the many foot stalls where vendors sold a variety of foods including roast corn , beef and chicken kebabs, hot-dogs and a variety of finger-foods. In addition a play-park fitted with attractions such as a

Ferris wheel ignited the atmosphere, even as persons continued to pour into the venue as twilight stretched.
This year Minister of State, Joseph Harmon and Vice-President Allicock committed a $1M sum to support the rodeo and the facilities at the ground.

The event, according to most Rupununi residents is the most popular on the calendar in that part of the country. This was evident on Easter Monday when convoys of minibuses, SUVs

and even a few cars hurried to the Essequibo River Crossing at Kurupukari to make the first pontoon crossing on the way back to Georgetown.
Along the way to the capital city, the food stops at Mabura were characterized by hungry travellers and the cooks there were

back in the kitchen by midday, since many more persons were expected to converge there in search of food on their way from the Rupununi rodeo.