Every cowboy needs his hat and boots, especially on a day for celebrating cowboy culture. The Festa do Peao of Barretos is an annual rodeo festival in Brazil. Let's head to Barretos to check it out and find out what makes the town's boots so famous.
Barretos lies in the northern part of Sao Paulo. During the festival, that began in mid-August, cowboys walking in their shiny boots are a common sight on the streets here.
Time-honoured workshops for handmade boots are all over the city. Borges and her husband own one of the most successful.
"Our shop will be half a century old next year. Every year, we offer new styles and they are all made from leather by hand. From sizes designed for babies all the way up to size 48, we have everything," Borges said.
Barretos Boots have earned quite a reputation for design, quality and custom made service. Besides cow leather, crocodile, snake, and ostrich skin are also used.
As the most renowned cowboy festival in Latin America, the Festa do Peao has stimulated big sales for boots. Borges said the shop had a lot of customers during the festival, and sales have increased four times.
The sales during the festival account for 80 percent of the total annual income of the cobblers.