there will be blood: my first bullfight, madrid

olé!, originally uploaded by suddenly.

i went to my first bullfight in spain. but it wasn’t without some internal conflict; the animal-luvin angel on my shoulder said, “no! bullfights are cruel. don’t go.” while the hi-testosterone alpha male devil on my other shoulder said, “shut up, PETA alf. bullfighting is kewl and part of the culture.” well, needless to say, i let the devil talk me into it.

first a primer to the bullfighting culture in spain.

all right, now that that’s out of the way…this is how it went down:

we bought tickets in advance at TEYCI. the bullfight was at plaza de toros, a gorgeous open-air arena near las ventas metro station. we chose the cheaper seats in the sun and even though it started at 6:30 pm, the sun kept shining bright till the end, nearly 2 and a 1/2 hours later. (tip: wear sunglasses and a hat, they sell ‘em for 7 euros outside the ring.) the seats are not really chairs but a stone bench and the area where you sit your booty is marked by a number. you can rent a cushion, BYO, or just park your arse on the hard stone which is what we did

hey it’s a fiesta! the bullfight started with a procession of everyone involved, except the bulls. there were 6 corridas (runs) in total so that meant a lot of people in the ring. those toreros and matadors have some fierce costumes and get this, they wear hot pink tights! i especially luved their winged hats.

the corrida, a show in 4 acts. each corrida has 3 stages that lead to the final act which is when the matador kills the bull. matador literally means “killer” in español.

toreros, originally uploaded by suddenly.

in act I, a trumpet sounds to start the corrida. the assistants wave their pink capes around to get el toro going. the matador watches from the sidelines to assess the bull’s mood. um…i’mma gonna guess that el toro is pretty pissed off.

in act II, the picadores, guys on horses, jab el toro in the back with long sticks. the bull REALLY does NOT like this and starts charging the horse. poor horsey, he didn’t do anything wrong. the horse is blindfolded and padded by some kind of armor, and is completely clueless as to what’s going on. in one of the corridas, i saw el toro knock the horse over and go after the picador.

at this point, i saw that el toro was bleeding. a lot. call me naive, but i didn’t expect to see blood. i’m a little grossed out at this point. in act III, a couple of bad-ass banderilleros take a pair of colorful sticks that look like oversized fancy cocktail spears and ram them into the bulls back. then run away as fast as they can, ninja-style. yeah, they better motor because they don’t have capes to distract the bull. el toro oozes more blood. you can see the bright red of the blood on those fancy cocktail spears. i feel bad for el toro.

in the final act, the matador struts into the ring. and i do mean strut. he enters with a lotta bravado for a guy in a shiny red shirt, skin tight capri pants and hot pink tights. he plays with the bull waving around his red cape, putting on a good show for the crowd. this is when the audience yells olE! the matador sometimes stares down el toro exposing his entire body to the horns and this really gets the crowd going. when he’s done with his show, he pulls out his sword and kills el toro

in the 6 corridos i saw, the first one was the best. the matador showed his artistry and killed the bull on the first stab which is like hitting a home run in baseball since it usually takes a few slashes to bring down el toro. the bull is a hulking creature; over 1100 pounds and built like a cinder block. el toro’s knees buckled, he knelt on the ground and eventually keeled over. and began spewing about a liter of blood from his mouth. horrifying but the crowd went wild! whistling and waving white flags. guys on horses dragged el toro’s corpse away. the audience must’ve really loved this guy because he and his assistants circled the ring, people tossed the matador objects and he threw them back to the tossers. more fiesta!

then protesters jumped into the ring and broke out banners to abolish bullfighting. the matador was pissed that these guys rained on his fiesta. he snatched the signs out of their hands. then the rent-a-cops showed up and dragged them away, pulling one of the protestors away by his hair! the crowd booed the protesters. um…yeah, they’re kinda preaching to the wrong crowd.

the other corridas were not so successful:

2nd corrida: the matador killed el toro in 3 tries. the response was lukewarm. the matador seemed sad and slinked away quietly afterwards. no fiesta for him.

3rd corrida, matador got gored! but he got back up and finished. still no fiesta.

4th: el toro won! the matador tried and tried but could not kill the bull. the fighters, dejected, left the scene and they brought in a herd of other bulls/cows. it’s a fiesta for the bull! i think they were trying to lead the bull back out of the ring. el toro soaked up the admiration. si, he is mas macho. viva el toro

5th: the matador killed el toro with one unclean stroke so his posse showed up and stuck a dagger in the bull’s head all mafioso style

6th: it took the matador three tries to kill the bull. audience is meh. tough crowd at these bullfights.

all in all, i’m glad i got to see the bullfights. there was more blood than i thought there would be but i can see that it’s not just about killing the bull but more about the matador playing a mind game with el toro. i liked how the matador shows his artistry and flair through his cape movements. you gotta hand it to these guys, they have a lot of cajones.

alas, el toro’s death is not in complete vain. they eat him afterwards.
see the photos here and videos on my flickr photostream.