LOS CUATROS TOROS

Colleen, Sarah and I all decided we would dress up as fairy princesses for the carnival at Ciudad Rodrigo. We found the wings, wands and boas at a chino shop. We though it would be pretty easy to just wear normal clothes under our wings just in case nobody else dressed up. Alex dressed as an eighties girl with hot pink legging and plenty of sweat bands. We got to the bus station pretty earlier. Nobody was dressed up, so I was pretty glad we did not have our fairy accessories on yet, but our eighties girl Alex felt a little awkward in her gear. As more people showed up for the bus to Ciudad Rodrigo, we saw more and more costumes.

Our bus left at 9:15 and it was packed with people our age all ready to go celebrate at the carnival. We got to Ciudad in about an hour and everyone swarmed off the bus to get return tickets to Salamanca. We put on our fairy wings in the bus station. When I went to get my boa out of the bag, I realized that instead of buying a boa I had bought a bright pink feather cap thing. It was outrageous, but I made it work by putting my tiara on top. I looked like fool, but I guess all the other carnival people thought it was funny because they started taking pictures of my ridiculous hat.

Our group of ten or so left the bus station and headed for the center of town. We walked by fair rides and venders that would be opened later in the day. We reached the center of town to find the main plaza completely covered in sand with makeshift wooden bleachers set up around the buildings. We assumed this would be for the bullfight later in the day. Walking around through the city, we saw some pretty interesting costumes. There were a group of turkeys, knights, people dressed as the pink ladies from Greece, a joker, cowboys, tigers, anything you could think of there was probably someone dressed up as it.

The running of the bulls and the pre-show to the bullfight started at noon. We got seats and sat and watched as the bulls came running in from the gates. A bunch of people were running in front of them, so we saw this swarm of people running, then we heard the bells from the steers necks, and the steers came running into the arena. There were five steers and two bulls for this part of the show. This part of the festival was kind of a free for all with the bulls. Anyone could jump down from the stands and go provoke the bulls or hit the bulls. In fact the boys from our group, went down into the arena to get some one on one time with the bulls. William made some passes running by the bull and hitting its back. When he came back into the stands, he said that up close the bulls were more terrified by the people than they were angry or hostile. I felt bad for the bull. This free for all against the bull just looked like pure torture. The bull was getting exhausted and people just kept trying to provoke the bull. At one point they even got a rope out and tried tying up the bulls feet so he would fall over. One girl in our group, who was heavily intoxicated got really upset by the bull tormenting. I have to agree it was pretty cruel treatment of a harmless animal.

After the free for all we cleared the arena. The bullfight did not start until 4:30, so we had some time to walk around the streets and watch the drunken people in costume make fools of themselves. Tickets to the bullfight were 10 euros. The stands were packed so I pretty much felt like I was sitting on top of random Spaniards. The bullfight started with a procession of all the matadors, the ceremonial leader, and all these women dressed up with lace vales. As the procession cleared the arena, the matadors took their places behind the doors around the arena. The drums and bells from the tower started clanging and the first bull was released in the arena. The matadors stepped out from behind the doors and started provoking the bull by waving their capes. After the bull had been provoked, the main matador stepped our with the traditional red cape. He danced around the bull for a couple minutes. Then a horse that was completely covered and blind folded entered the arena. The horse carried a man who was holding giant spear. This man delivered the first wound to the bull. The bull would charge the horse and then the man would spear the bull in the back. After the first wound was delivered, the horse left the arena. Two other matadors then came out holding two spears each that were covered in white fabric. These matadors would run up to the bull one at a time and stab him in the back. The spears would stick in the bull and cause him to bleed profusely. The main matador then entered again. This time he performed closer to the bull, drawing the bull in with cape and then tricking him as the bull ran through the cape. If the matador was good, the bull became very tired and would stumble and fall through the cape. When the drums started again the matador changed his sword, signaling this as the final wound to the bull. The matador had to stick the bull in the back with the sword. The hard part was that the sword had to go all the way into the bull and stay there. The first matador did this without any trouble. The sword stuck in the bull and the bull started bleeding from the mouth. The bull fell down at this point and one of the matadors came over with a smaller knife and stuck it in the bull’s brains to make him die faster. The bull was then dragged away by the horses, and another bull would come out to fight.

There were four bullfights in all, each with a different main matador. All the fights followed the same pattern. The first and second and forth matador were very good and had no problem defeating the bull. The third matador was very young, and it took him several attempts to get the sword through the bulls back. We learned from the Spaniards sitting behind us that if the matador did a good job he was given an ear from the bull, if he did an excellent job he was given two ears, and if he was amazing he was given both ears and a horn from the bull. The last matador got both ears and the first and second got one ear. Sadly, the youngest matador did not receive any token for killing the bull because it took him to many tries.

I thought this was pretty gruesome, but I am glad I got to experience this unique Spanish tradition. I felt sorry for the bulls, but I did learn that the meat from the bull was given to homeless shelters and orphanages. We walked around some of the carnival rides and through the street venders as we headed back to the bus. All he riders looked like fair rides, cheesey and unsafe. Nobody wanted to take a chance, we were all ready to go back to Salamanca and our Madres.