Bullfight

As mentioned previously, there was going to be a bullfight one evening. The day came, I could still get a ticket, but I had a group meeting/presentation to attend. I mentioned it to my manager, and being the cool guy he is, told me to go to the bullfight instead! (the meeting ended up being canceled so I'm really glad I didn't stick around for it). My manager's last day is today though, hope the new manager is similarly cool but I somehow doubt it.

Anyways, the bullfight was kindof as expected, and most of us had the same general feeling: glad to have done it once, just to have had the experience, but plan to never watch one again. It is quite simply cruelty to animals, euro-style. Viewer discretion is advised.

Firstly, everyone comes out on parade, an important looking guy, a bunch of bullfighty type guys, some horse guys, some shovel guys, etc. In total there were going to be three bullfighters, six bulls.

The bull's already got it's irritant thing in it's neck when it comes out. The bullfighter's cronies wave flags to get it excited and have it run around a bit, and hide behind baffles if it looks dangerous. Then, a couple horsed guys come out, and when the bull comes up to them, they stick their spear in it for a while. The horses are completely blindfolded so they don't freak out that a bull is thumping them in the side. The horse guys soon go away. The cronies tire out the bull again, and one of them or sometimes the main bullfighter stick some barbed tassley things in it's back. The main bullfighter then waves his flag for a while while the bull tries to hurt the flag. The crowd shouts "ole!" sometimes. The bull moans sometimes. The "best" guy went on his knees sometimes, or spanked the bull as it went by. After a while of this, he trades his flag-waving sword for a stabby sword. Now, when the bull charges by, he tries to stab it deep in the back. One guy was good at getting the sword completely buried in the bull. The other two guys only got it partway in, and tried a couple times. With the sword completely buried, the bull collapses pretty soon, and a cronie comes in with a little knife to the back of the neck to make sure. Without the sword going fully in during the few tries, the bullfighter trades his stabby sword for a "ski pole" sword. He approaches the bull, gives a quick but shallow (cause of the flat ski-poley part) stab to the back of the neck, and the bull dies. With lots of cheering, the harnessed horses come out, get hooked up, and drag the dead bull away, while the shovel guys smooth out the dirt of the bullring. There's something about the fans waving white things, and some important guy then showing a white thing (I didn't notice this) if he approves of the match. Something like that.

Then it all happens again.

Sometimes mildly entertaining. Sometimes making me feel sick. It is definitely designed for entertainment though, not as a real challenge. I think, given 3-5 days, I could go down there and "fight" the bull and win no problem. I just wouldn't be very entertaining. The bull is so focussed on the flag thing that the person's in no real danger unless they wave the flag between themselves and the bull and don't move themselves or the flag. Stampede bull riding is far more dangerous than this stuff here.

So now you have the full description, you don't need to go see one. But probably given a chance, you will to be able to say you have, and then choose to never watch one again, just as we did.