The Saturday livestock auction on the outskirts of Ciudad Quesada is a straightforwardly agricultural event — cattle, pigs, and horses brought in from the surrounding farms for commercial sale — that happens to be one of the most interesting windows into the local economy available to a visitor. The auction is fast, loud, and conducted in a specialist Spanish that is hard to follow, but the atmosphere is entirely welcoming to observers.
Arrive before 8am if you want to see the early action. The auction is at the Feria de Ganadería, a permanent facility on the road toward Florencia. This is not a tourist spectacle, which is exactly the point — it runs whether or not anyone from outside is watching.