When Taryn and I visited Salento, of course I googled things and read through Lonely Planet to ensure we didn't miss anything exciting.
One thing they both had in common was Tejo. And basically all either one said was 'It's throwing rocks at gunpowder, go try it'
So we did. And it was.
It's something akin to horseshoes. There is a slanted wooden target maybe 2.5 feet square, filled with clay. In the center, squished in the clay is a metal ring, maybe 6in diameter. (I forgot my measuring tape that night so all measurements are approximate) you stand back, and throw flat, couple-pound (also forgot my scale) palm sized round disc rocks at the target, trying to get the rock to stick the clay. Ideally in the center of the ring.
But wait, there's more.
Around the ring are 4 little paper triangles filled with gunpowder. Hit one of those suckers just right and they explode.
Throwing rocks at gunpowder.
We weren't very good at it. The old cowboy looking Colombian running the place gave us a rundown on the scoring system, then of course put us right in front of the group of young guys having a drink.
I think they were laughing internally.
We improved some with practice, and a couple of them tried to give pointers. Due to language barriers and accents this was met with a limited amount of success.
We did start hitting and sticking the target though.
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| The first time we got both rocks to stick at the same time |
We exploded maybe 4 triangles all together. I jumped and yelped at each one.
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| My first exploded paper! |
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| The place was filled with the smell of gunpowder. It was so nice. Reminded me of rockets and fireworks. |
We were throwing maybe 15 feet at the targets. There were other Colombians there playing on the big kid pitch which meant more like 40 feet.
And they were hitting the target. *head shake*
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