¡La Vida de una Pumita en España!: El Corrido de Torros (THIS POST IS PG-13)

Sooo this week we went to the Corrido de Torros - the Bullfight. IT WAS FREAKING AWESOME. Okay, so before you judge me hardcore for loving the "animal violence" I have to explain myself. So, when they went for the first bull, yah, that was rough. I almost cried and it was rough and I felt so bad for the bull. But then this Spanish guy in front of us probably heard all of us gasping in sadness for the bull and he turns around and says "You guys don't get it do you" In English! We were like yah - we don't get it. And then for the rest of the corrido, he explained to us the rules and how it works and everything. All the culture, all the pomp - it was super cool. The bull fight president has a fancy special box and before a matador enters the arena to dance with the bull, he has to ask the presidents permission. It's pretty cool, he waves up to the presidents box and takes his hat off, and the president will stand up and give him permission. It's sweet. So this is what happens: (if you have a weak stomach or are a member of the PEETA organization, stop now)

Everyone coming out

IT POURED RAIN right before it started - like the biggest raindrops I've ever seen in my life. TONS of people bailed and went home, usually the stadium is packed full. Especially since it's a festival week.

Quality pano

Us and our new best friend Gabriel after the fight. He's the one who was telling us all the rules and keeping us in the loop.

Live band up there in the middle part.

1. The bull runs out. The first round is the torreros. Technically, everyone's a torero. But these guys are the banderilleros. They have hot pink capes and are also dressed up super snazzy. Everyone's dressed super snazzy. Their job is to tire the bull out a bit, make him run. So there's little walls where they will wave their capes and the bull will charge them, and then they duck behind the wall and the bull gets confused. They must not be able to see in 3D. Anyways, the first step is to tire him out by running.

2. The picadores. This is where it gets painful for the bull. These guys come out on horses. The horses are blindfolded and are wearing some pretty hefty body armor. These guys have long spears, and what happens is the banderilleros will lure the bull towards the horses and they stab the bull in the muscles up near his neck. However, the picador can't be too enthusiastic because if he is the bull can loose strength and energy, and it will be a dull fight when he reaches the matador stage. They stab the bull twice.

3. Back to the banderilleros. More running for the bull, and now they pull out these arrows. They have arrows, but most of it is made of wood. There are 6. The banderilleros have to rush at the bull head on, and they have to put the arrows through the bulls horns and land them into the top of his neck and close to the head as they can. It's super dangerous, and a lot of times they hand to run for their lives after getting the arrows in. The other banderilleros would usually have to jump in with their hot pink flags and distract the bull. The arrows stay there for the remainder of the fight

4. The matador. Mata in Spanish means kill. So guess what the matador does. His job is to kill the bull, but first they dance. The matador has his red cape and what he does is he gets the bull to "dance" with him. He tries to get the bull to go around him a circle with his head down and luring him around with his cape, trying to be as smooth as he can. He also isn't supposed to move his feet, which is why they move their hips so much. It's super cool. When the bull is moving around him in a circle and he isn't moving his feet, this is when people yell 'Olé'!! It's pretty fun. After the bull is totally exhausted and submissive, this is when the matador kills him. He stands in front of the bull with his sword drawn, and the bull is usually standing there with his head down totally submissive. Then he drives the sword into him. The goal is to kill him on the first try, but it's usually achieved on the second. Of course if they don't get it the first time, the bull gets angry and it drags on.

The purpose is to kill the bull quickly, but also to dance with the bull. If the people don't like the bull or don't think he's aggressive enough, they'll clap three times. And after the fight when the horses are dragging off the bull, everyone stands and applauds the bull. Then if they liked the matador they'll stay standing and applaud the matador. If they loved the matador they'll wave a white hankercheif in the air, and if the president agreed that the matador did it well then he'll wave his white hankercheif. That's pretty rare though. The 5th bull was super good though - tons of people were waving their handkerchiefs. Hard to see in these photos though.

However, during our bull fight, the second bull THREW THE MATADOR. Like knocked him unconscious and he had to be carried off by his other toreros, and the other matador had to come in and kill the bull for him. (There's 3 matadors and 6 bulls in a bullfight - each kills 2) Here are some photos I stole from the intranet.