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Travel

The Drunken Horse Races of Guatemala

VICE goes to Todos Santos, Guatemala for a week-long rager to celebrate their independence and to watch the bravest men in town face off against each other in a wild, wasted horse race.

Every year at the end of October, the Mayan villagers in Todos Santos, Guatemala, throw a week-long rager to celebrate their independence. After days of drinking and dancing and barely sleeping, the bravest men in town face off against each other in a wild, wasted horse race.

It's not uncommon to see a drunk rider fly off his saddle and land on his neck, or to watch someone get trampled by another racer's horse. Most years at least one villager dies in the race. But after the Mayan townspeople have suffered through centuries of genocide by the Spanish and their government, dying drunk and free on the back of a horse isn't the worst way to go. At least it's on their terms.