La Chaza

Location:
Pasto, Colombia

Other Activity

By Lorraine Caputo

Down the streets of an east-side neighborhood I hear what sounds to be the thumping of drums. It is coming from a fenced yard where four- to eight-man teams are hitting a tennis ball back and forth down the 200-meter-long courts. I have arrived at this Sunday’s chaza de bombo game. Men of all ages sit on the low, concrete grandstands watching. All men—I am the only woman here (save the one guarding the bathrooms and the duet who just arrived to open the cafeteria), and I am quite an oddity.

One hands me a bombo. I heft the 80-centimeter-long, wooden racket. Its 22-centimeter-wide head is stretched with hide, much like a drum. Only in this style of chaza is the racket like this. In chaza de tabla, the racket head is wooden, studded with rubber. Then there is chaza de mano, in which the ball is hit with the bare hand. In these two forms of the game, the 800-gram ball is made of solid rubber. All three follow the rules of tennis, the men explain, only without the net. “No, women don’t play,” one man responds to my question. “They play tennis,” another adds. So I just take a place on the stands with them, to observe this game that has been played since before the Spaniards ever arrived to this side of the world.

Getting There
From Calle 17, between Carrera 21 and 22, catch buseta Ruta 18 “Barrio Florida” to Parque Bolívar; the Estadio de Chaza is across from Ferretería Argentina. To watch a game of chaza de tabla or chaza de mano, catch Ruta 6 as it passes along Calle 15

Travel Skills: None