Spain - A Land of Contrasts

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So I went to a bullfight. It´s not something that I´ve ever really been attracted to (certainly not in the Ernest Hemingway way...). But it was fiesta in Burgos and it was there! So along I trotted with Henrik from Sweden and we watched three bulls killed before we´d had enough. Then we went and had hamburgers...

Bullfights are always held up as the quintessentially Spanish thing - that which shows that Spain is different from everywhere else - both in a positive sense (the heroic individual facing death with casual disregard) and negatively (the bulls die!!!!) We are told that the Spanish passionately cling to this difference and the bullfights as a consequence.

Well not on a hot Tuesday night in June they didn´t. The corrida was as best half-full (about 3000) people and it reminded me of a midweek race meeting - full of middle-aged men and bored kids. This was the middle of their fiesta, and it was VERY hot that day, but I´m not sure what kind of impediment to numbers that was. The Plaza de Toros reminded me of a VFA footy ground from the mid-70´s in terms of capacity and facilities - which is not a compliment.

On the plus side, it was a genuine crowd of fans (and Henrik and I) - this was not a show put on for the tourist. I think that very soon there may not be this type of event - which may be no bad thing. It may go same way as the VFA - be subsumed into a more popular sport (in this case soccer). The passion for the Euro cup and Spain´s domination puts what I saw at the bullfight into the shade.

And while I could see the attraction of the bullfight ONCE, it became very repetitive and there was no sense that the bulls had much chance really

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Photos

Matador Stuff!
I get the grace and beauty in this but... does anything need to die for it?

The Outcome
What is particularly gruesome is the bands all play happy marching music as the bull is carted off...