With traditional Mexican attire, lotería and music in Spanish, the UTRGV community celebrated Charro Days with its annual Charreada event last Wednesday on the Student Union lawn on the Brownsville campus.
Student organizations and UTRGV departmental offices decorated booths and tables, hosted games and sold Mexican antojitos.
Quesadillas, tostaditas, jicaletas, aguas frescas, bolis and corn in a cup was served by UTRGV organizations.
Several contests were held at the event, such as a grito contest, jalapeño-eating contest and a traditional Mexican costume contest.
Vicente Mendez, a biomedical sciences senior, ate five peppers to win the jalapeño-eating contest.
“It wasn’t that bad at the start,” Mendez said. “I think, like, at the fourth jalapeño, it started to kick in. It’s really bad right now because I don’t have any milk, but it wasn’t too bad.”
Mendez is also a member of the Volunteers Around the World club, which was selling aguas frescas.
“Right now, we have a medical brigade trip planned for Peru, so right now we are saving up money to get supplies and stuff like that,” he said.
The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, the Association of Accountants and Financial Professionals in Business, the Bilingual Education Student Organization, U Teach, PreDental Society, University Recreation, University Marketing and Communications, and International Student Admissions and Student Services were among the organizations present at the event.
The International Student Admissions and Student Services department hosted a traditional Spanish game called “¡Basta!” for students who visited its booth.
“¡Basta!” consists of a group of participants who receive a random letter from the alphabet and write a name, animal, thing, place, food and more that start with that letter. The first participant to finish yells “¡Basta!” and the other players have to stop and share their answers. No points are earned for answers that repeat among participants. Every correct answer earns a point and the player with the most points wins.
Angela M. Duarte, an exercise science senior, said the Charro Days festival is important for the community and should be preserved.
“Here, in Brownsville, since it’s a sister city with Matamoros, I think it’s very important to keep that connection, to keep that bond and show what our culture is about,” Duarte said.
During the event, attendees were able to take pictures at a photo booth, create flower crowns and play the “Meltdown” inflatable game, which tested the participants’ coordination as they tried to jump over revolving arms.
Bilingual education junior Delia Serrato (left) plays ring toss, a game hosted by the UTRGV Continuing Education department, last Wednesday during the Charreada on the Student Union lawn on the Brownsville campus. Also shown is Alondra Lucio, a bilingual education junior.
