I saw my first bullfight tonight with Jordana and her sister this afternoon. It was a somewhat disturbing spectacle, since a Corrida de Toros consists of sitting and watching six bulls die in a two hour period. If you try and overlook the goriness, however, it was definitely interesting to watch. The whole thing is done in artistic way, with the toreros dressed up in traditional Spanish clothing and performing their parts gracefully. Each bullfight is divided into 3 stages: the picador comes in on a horse and lances the bull to initially weaken it (which can be dangerous for the horse: one was pushed over by a bull while the picador attempted to lance it), then the banderillo does a little dance over to the bull to place the darts in the bull's back, and the matador is the one who finally kills the bull. Each time one of the toreros looks like he's in trouble, a bunch of people run out with bright pink flags to distract the bull until the torero's safe again. The bull really doesn't have much of a chance.
A lot of people in the audience seemed like the went to bull fights semi-regularly, and yelled at the toreros just as if they were watching a soccer game or something. It was mostly middle-aged couples, with the women batting their Spanish fans in the heat while the men shouted profanities at the toreros. Quite colorful.
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