Mexican Rodeo and Show at Tierra Bonita

http://www.tierrabonita.com.mx/

This was the other part of our shore excursion in Progreso. Dzibilchaltun doesn't take all day, and so you can combine it with swimming in a cenote or this. I don't remember the cenote option, but it may just have been that we were planning on (and did) the underground river swim at Xcaret, so wanted to try something different.

I feel confident recommending Tierra Bonita, whether it is part of a shore excursion or not. There were four things that were going on there, all of which were good.

We went there for lunch, and the buffet was good. That is one point in its favor.

It was just lunch though; there was also a show. In fact, there were two shows.

One was the dancing. This is a fairly common part of various shows, where they will show you traditional dances and costumes from the different regions. There were some similar dances with the night show at Xcaret, but this was a smaller setting and you could see more. (Do not be fooled by the primitive camera I was using.) It has been a while now, but I believe we saw dances representative of Jalisco, Veracruz, and maybe Tabasco.

The dancing occurred on the veranda of the main building, but the rodeo happened in a small stadium. There was a procession and demonstrations of riding and roping.

I enjoyed it. My friend had been to "real" Mexican rodeos and said that they were a lot wilder, but it seems reasonable to me that an exhibition is going to be calmer than a competition, and that it's fine that way. It's certainly easier on the humans and animals. Bringing in the danger of a competition would certainly result in not only more regular wear and tear but probably also the occasional catastrophic injury, and that's not really great for the vacationers. I had never seen any real roping before, and it was interesting.

This was also the place where I found the best souvenirs. There were some really clever wooden toys and beautiful linens. You will find lots of people wanting to sell you souvenirs, but the best ones were here.

This is not specific to Tierra Bonita, but I had a really hard time with the bargaining, and I think I know how to do it better now. In each case I knew what I wanted to pay for the item, and I just said that right off, and they kept naming higher prices but I did not budge. At first I felt guilty, like maybe I really cheated them, but they did still accept the prices. So, I think decide what price you want to pay, and make it one that seems fair, but then name a ridiculously low price so you can work your way up to the fair price. I don't love the process, but it's a tradition.