Advertisement
Published: October 14th 2005
After you hit the sack at 5am, there's nothing quite like a 7am march to the local bullring to set the tone for the day (er, yeah right!) But regardless, at the invite of Anna that's where we went...to watch the Pilar 'festivities' of the
Vaquillas. The occasion is pretty-much an early morning concession to the Pamplona-wannabees, who after a night of heavy boozing can think of nothing they'd rather do ,but be chased by young bullocks in a very 'machissmo' (sp?) attempt at proving their *coughcough* 'manhood' - i think you can gage my level of impressed-ness by my tone here.
The only reason i went (after my half-hearted attendance at the insistence of others in previous years) was that here no bulls are actually killed, but merely given a chance to hit cocky young lads right where it hurts, as you should do in such instances anway i think young bulls. Having never fully grasped the appeal of full-on bullfights (why? you always know how it's going to end anyway?) i was willing to try to get into the spirit of 'spain' (because i
really do love it here) and make a show. in all fairness, the music
The Band
Think Buena Vista Social Club on crack...loved it!!!was fantastic, each little peña of the city (interesting, change one letter and you get the spanish for penis) supplies their own brass band to get the party going and the atmosphere is buzzing. But when you get the young bullocks out, so overwhelmed they cant do anything but remained glued to the spot and crap themselves, and you see one idiot kicking sand in there eyes to attempt to rile them, my heart just went out. As with last time i watched a few bulls charge a few idiots, each round finishing with the animal running like little children after their first day of school back to the bovines when allowed, and then left...with a sour taste in my mouth.
God i'm glad i'm a veggie. But i can appreciate the spectacle and the tradition of the events (i think) - I'm just glad i myself don't have to go again. Adrianna, my spanish flatmate, is part of the anti-bullfighting coalition, and so, what with Johanna wanting to go to a real one when she gets back from Barcelona (there with her preggers finnis cousin at the mo), looks like we'll all be finding excuses not to go...
Anyway, this blog sounds far too doom and gloom for how i'm feeling at the mo; after my smug sunny month the rain's kicked in (but nothing i'm not used too), and i'm relishing a settled routine which is now going to give me a chance to travel a round a bit at the weekends too (wow, non-zaragoza-related blogs coming up, brace yourselves!!!) Zaragoza is, and remains, a great city!
A very happy birthday too, to Katie and Nick, so sorry i can't be there but i love you lots and lots, and if you send me your new uni addresses i can post you your presents.
Hasta luego people,
Ali x x x
Advertisement
Tot: 0.073s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 31; dbt: 0.0309s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
