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Published: October 8th 2008
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Today, I went to work and same ‘ol same ‘ol. At lunch I talked to some of my co-workers to ask which cities they would recommend me to go to because I spontaneously decided that I’m going to take a day trip tomorrow. It took me awhile to decide where I wanted to go, but I finally decided on Sevilla because it’s close enough to do in a day, and I’m not sure if I’ll have another chance. I looked up the times, and the earliest train leaves at 7:30, so I’ll have to catch the Metro right when it opens because I haven’t bought my ticket yet. Sometimes being spontaneous is fun! Right after work, I headed to the Plaza de Toros de las Ventas to buy tickets for the show today. It starts at 5:30, and I got there around 4:15, but the ticket window was closed today and said that there weren’t anymore tickets. Unconvinced, I asked a woman if there was anywhere else I could buy tickets and she pointed to these booths set up in a row with different names across the top (which I later found out were the names of the seating areas in
The ring
Here's a picture from inside...oh, I forgot to mention...it was flowing with old men! I guess Toro shows are popular with them...and they come prepared with a pillow to sit on that has its own case and everything...they're serious aficionados! the arena). I found the cheapest (6€) and then headed off to find an Alimentación to get some munchies for during the game. Down one road I found one so I got some cookies and a popsicle…which was so good! Around 5 I went in to find my seat. It was all the way at the top which was actually good because I was in the shade, and it was a very sunny day. The show started with the matadors (they aren’t all technically matadors, but I’m not sure what the actual name is, so I’m calling any man in the costume with the “cape” a matador). And then a bull was let into the stadium. The 6 or so matadors would lure the bull over to them and then when it started running in their direction, they would run and hide behind a wooden panel (I didn’t really get the point). After this went on for a little while, the trumpets sounded and the 2 men on horses came out. Now the “matadors” lured the bull over to them where the man on the horse stabbed it in the back near the shoulders. This happened twice and then the
The death
The matador is waving around his trophy of either the tail or the ear of the bull, I'm not sure. trumpets sounded again and those men left. (I was actually mostly impressed with the training of the horses, no matter how hard they got hit by the bull, they wouldn’t move, they just resisted the force). Next, 3 of the “matadors” go in the middle with 2 “pokers” and they jab them into the same spot as the horsemen stabbed the bull. They go face to face with the bull and then jab them in, supposedly to show bravery. Then, the “real” matador came in and he does the well-known “dance” with the bull. This goes on for awhile, and what I collected from the crowd is that the object is to get really close and then get the bull to go in circles around the matador and finally going under the cape in the opposite direction because that’s when the crowd clapped and “ole-ed” the most. Next, the matador changes his sword and gets the bull to stand still, then aims and stabs the bull, and pretty quickly the bull dies (except for the last one that went, it took him literally like 15 stabs, that bull was NOT dying…I mean, people just started leaving and didn’t even clap when it finally did die). Then, some guys leading 3 mules come running out and the hook the bull up and drag it out of the ring. Every bull fight day, there are 2 “real” matadors and 6 bulls (they each have to kill 3).Oh, and when crowd likes what they see and they think that the matador should receive a high score and receive a trophy, they wave a white handkerchief. It was definitely an experience, and I’m glad I saw it, but I have to say, I’m definitely NOT a fan, and I really don’t quite see the point, and I really feel sorry for the bulls. Oh, and during this fight, 3 men got “horned”! So that was kind of exciting, I actually go one of them on video! When one of the “real” matadors got horned within the first couple minutes of his “fight”, he actually kept going, limping and gushing blood, and all! After the fight, I headed home to get some sleep, and get ready to wake up SO EARLY for my train to Sevilla! But actually, I couldn’t sleep, so I did some more planning of things to do in Madrid and made lists of all the things I need to do to get ready for all my travels this month. I finally went to sleep around 2:30.
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