Bull Fights and All That Jazz

So there is this festival here that is called "Los ferias del sol". It is five days of no school and a bunch of expos and parties. It is kind of similar to Carnaval in Brasil, in theory. In actuality it is nothing like it. However, there are some really interesting cultural events.

The most interesting was the bull fight. The day before the bull fight, there was a huge protest against it.

From what I have learned is that these bulls are raised for the sole purpose of this time of year where they are killed by the matadores. They supposedly don't see human life until they are brought in to fight, with the exception of the man who brings them food.

Scoring: a matador and a bull are scored on how well they deal with each other. If the matador is good, he can kill the bull in one swipe (however the bull is always injured before). If the bull is good, he doesn't get weak as easily and can pay attention and focus on the matadores and "Ole" a bunch. If it is an okay right, when the bull is dead the matador gets one ear. If it was a pretty good fight he gets two ears. If the matador was exceptional he gets the tail. If the bull is absolutely positively a amazing he can be granted amnesty and survive. I saw one bull live, because he was so bad and weak in the beginning (he broke his hoof) that people booed him off. There are judges who sit and watch and write down scores and then decide the fate of everything.

The crowd: waves white flags to show that they think the fight is going well and drinks a mixed drink of sangria, tequila, rum, beer, whiskey, vodka, pop and sometimes juice out of a cooler type container. So all in all they are drunk and enjoying the spectacle.

One bull jumped the fence into the crowd and kept people jumping out of the way which made things interesting. Also one of the matadores was on a horse which was different on many levels. One bull flipped over a horse and the matador and he still died, I was rooting for his survival.

The bull is injured multiple times before the final blow and there are multiple people involved which I didn't think was very fair. I wish it had been one on one. I wasn't a big fan of the fight, and maybe it was because I wasn't drunk, but I found it boring after the first three bulls (there were eight overall). It was very interesting and I am glad I went. I didn't find the killing all that bad, it is natural, but the unfairness on the bull's side was disappointing. I don't think I would go to such a long and monotonous event again, but I also don't think I will start protesting against it.

No one really knows what happens with the killed bulls. I hope they eat them. Although some people say they burn the bodies, which I find ridiculous and a waste, but then again they wreck a lot of the met in their dance to injure and kill the bull.

Nevertheless a race of bull exists for this sole purpose and they are expensive to raise. Without the bull fights they no longer have a purpose, so I guess it doesn't need to disappear but maybe it should be reformed.

Hasta luego.