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Published: October 23rd 2005
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The Motely Crew
Almost a perfect picture of an sampling of my more adventurous classmates. A Little Piece of America & The Last Bullfight
Although it’s more of a visual experience, I should mention that I took a little tour of the Plaza de Las Americas today and got a few more pictures of the fantastic Plaza de España while looking for a place to do a painting. The doves are glorious in the little plaza out front, appropriately named “La Gloria de Las Palomas”, while brides and grooms abounded, getting their wedding pictures taken. Both of these amazing locals were built for World’s Fair exhibitions in the early 1900s. Currently a global culture exhibition around the Plaza de Las Americas offers a spectacular sampling of real food from way more countries than I have ever seen represented at such an event: from Pakistan to real Cuban. I have a new favorite drink that I don’t expect I’ll encounter many times in my life: Greek Lemonade. I’m not sure what composes it, but it’s all fresh fruits and really not sour at all.
The Sunday night after we got back from Madrid, several of us went to the last bullfight of the season (minus the national holiday fight). In short, like the
Warming Up
Several matadors' assistants warm up showing off their skills before the first bull enters. bullfight I went to in Puebla, Mexico all of the same rituals were followed. However, a few things differed: horse mounted Spanish dragoons frequently appeared without ever doing anything of note, the audience was not nearly as lively and I never heard a single comment about the bullfighter’s mother shouted when he messed up, finally, the tickets were ridiculously expensive even for the cheap seats. Apparently, that’s all normal to Spaniards, so I’ll chalk it up to cultural differences, though the lack of audience participation, even in the form of maternal insults, was kind of disappointing. In case you’ve never seen a bullfight, and are considering, I should add a piece of vital information that some of our girls lacked: THEY KILL THE BULLS… MORE THAN ONE. Yes, it’s barbaric, yes it’s bloody and, yes, Spaniards live for it. Just one more interesting contrast in our ‘modern’ world. I’ll paste underneath here the summary I wrote about a Corrida de los Toros en Puebla, Mexico I wrote; just in case anybody is interested in what exactly happens at a bullfight.
June 2004, Puebla, Mexico
Friday night, we went to the Torreros (bullfights) and that was a totally
Nice Cape
Some Spanish Dragoons canter around the ring, for why, I have no idea. They soon leave. new site for me. I finally learned how it all works and I took some really great video of it. They have 3 matadors and they go through six bulls (2 each) in the evening. It was really funny to see the popcorn and drink guys walking around offering all kinds of lime and chile covered chips and such along with candy, beer, and Cuban cigars, all from the same box! Everybody liked the torreros, except I think that one of the girls was pretty disgusted by the kills. I would have killed to have been able to do this place for my ritual and ethnography study last year. The whole ordeal is full of rituals and customs that kind of remind you of sacrificing an animal, it's full of a lot of respect while simultaneously a throwback to the kind of respect involved in pagan rituals of sacrifice. For example, if the bull gets injured (as in, in the leg or something) during the fight, the matador will not fight it, because it is disrespectful to the bull to continue.
Each fight has four stages. First the matador gets the bull to run at his cape and
Yeah, you better run
This bull just ran this guy behind one of the doorway barriers, at which point the bull promptly split an entire panel off the side of the barrier with his horn, turning it into a cloud of splinters and wood chips to the shock of the bullfighters I think. tries to read how the bull charges. In the second two men come out on horseback and pike the bull's shoulder muscles to whatever extent the matador commands with lances. The bull usually charges the horses anyway (who are blindfolded and padded, otherwise they would be uncontrollable) and the piking ends up being more self-defense as it were. They aim for the hump-like muscle in the bull's back to cause a weakening and force it to lower its head & horns when it charges. Once it is at a certain level (too much is concerned disrespectful, and the crowd sure let's the matador know it) they move on to the next stage. The matador reads the bulls charge to see if it is straight and he or his assistants stick 3 pairs of short spears covered in bright cloth (they're called banderias) into one side or the other of the bull's shoulders to weaken one side and straighten its charge. This is probably the harriest part, because the guys actually charge at the bull as the bull charges them and then jump and turn out of the way as they stick the banderias and avoid getting stuck in turn. Finally,
Piking
These guys are distracting the bull away from the Piker who has been stabbing him with a spear. the matador does the whole ordeal with his cape and reads the charge again, trying to add a certain show of his skill in how close he can make the bull pass by him.
Often, a good matador should be able to get so close that there is a smear of blood on his tight, pastel-colored outfit (which the girls seem to like). Eventually, the bull is worn to the point of slowing down severely and the matador holds a sword up and points it as the bull advances. This part is always done in complete silence (theoretically) from the band that is playing as well as the audience. The matador then aims to stick the sword in a certain point that has been exposed by the lowered head which will, if done perfectly, pierce the nervous system, the lungs, and the heart. The problem is that this point is REALLY small, a few inches long and several inches wide at best. If he is succesful the bull collapses and dies almost instaneously. It's all really noisy and the crowd really controls much of it. If they like the matador or the bull, they get really crazy. If
Woah there.
I just gotta think this horse is not really satisfied with the present situation that he's in. he executes everything well, including the kill, they may throw roses and hats, etc. into the ring. Otherwise, there is much yelling, and cursing, and taunts about the matador's mother, and throwing of seat cushions (which can be rented at the door).
Mr. Lloyd put it all very much in perspective when he summed his sentiments as a romantic, "I know I'd rather live the pampered life that one of these fighting bulls lives (and it is extremely pampered) and die a glorious death with the slightest chance to live, rather than to live and die in some stockyard as beef cow, perpetually covered in mud and smelling of... cow poop." Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that if the bull fights incredibly bravely and fiercely, the president of the ring may grant that bull pardon and he will be put out to seed. No bull ever fights more than once. And get this, if he is pardoned his name becomes famous; in fact, every one of Lamborgini's car models is named after such a bull. Needless to say, this is rare, but it does happen.
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