So like I said, the whole game was pretty disappointing for Liga. However during the game spirits remained high for last season Liga were the champions of all of South America, nothing could take that away from the dedicated fans. The guy I was sitting next to had the teams logo tattooed on his bicep, it looked to be pretty new, most likley he had it done following last season's victory.
Probably the most exciting part of the game, actually happened afterward. I was kind of expecting huge brawls inside the stadium, but the police, who were out in force and dressed in full riot gear, seemed to have things under control. I got on the bus, which was almost empty, leaned back and closed my eyes to rest, glad to be away from all those sweaty, screaming men. All of a sudden my peaceful moment was rudely interrupted by shouting outside the bus window. Annoyed at the disturbance, I opened my eyes and looked out to see what was going on. Two guys, one wearing a Liga jersey, the other wearing a Deportiva Quito jersey, were shouting at each other in a parking lot. The two andvanced and shouts quickly turned to blows. After about a minute the Liga fan was on the ground getting pummeled by his opponent and someone tried to pull them apart, unfortunately for him, he only succeeded in getting punched in the face. So, pissed off, he grabbed a few of his buddies and jumped into the fight as well, within seconds the two man scuffle in the lot turned into a full out brawl of about 30 people. I was pretty thankful to be on the bus, it looked pretty nasty. It all ended when one side fled for cover inside a fast food restaurant.
On monday Alex and I went to one of the bullfights that take place every day this week. We knew practically nothing about what we were doing. Only that the first of December was going to be the best day and that we should get to the Plaza de Torros at about 10. We sort of had a choice, buy cheap tickets and go on the best day, or buy better seats to a not so good day. So we figured best day + cheap seats to be the better decision.
We got there at about 9:30 thinking we would have to look for our tickets a bit, but no there were literally scalpers everywhere. They are sneaky too, I think they must all meet and agree on prices because no one would bargain or anything. So we paid about 110% mark-up for our tickets but whatever, they were still pretty cheap.
The plaza was pretty empty when we went in, so we walked around for while. The bullfights are obviously hugely endorsed because everything was covered in logos of phone companies, beer companies and the likes. There were a bunch of stages being set up, presumably for dance parties after the bullfight.
We went inside the ring after a little while to secure our seats. It wasn't until we were inside that we saw that our seats were actually pretty far apart, obviously this wasn't going to stand so we just ignored the numbers on our tickets. We met up with another exchange student from Alex's program and his friend so we all sat together. They told us how the had bought their tickets in September, at retail price. This made me feel a little dumb, but we were there so nothing really mattered. In fact, Alex's friend was had been to the two fights previously and was also going on Tuesday. I can't say that I would want to go 4 days in a row, but thats just me.
It seemed like every 15 minutes or so a group of people would come walking down the row, stick their tickets in our faces, and ask that we vacate their seats. As the ring filed with people, finding 4 seats together every time we moved proved to be more and more difficult. Eventually we just ended up sitting on the stairs, packed like sardines along side people who were probably kicked out of their seats too.
As soon as the first bull came out everyone forgot the discomfort were instantly captivated. Actually beforehand, all the matadors, picadors, horsemen and everyone else who was to play a role in the fights marched into the ring and presented themselves to the president of the event.
Like I said before I really had no idea what to expect, seeing the bull inside the ring for the first time was strange, definitely seemed out of place. Anyway, Il give you a breakdown of how each fight goes.
So first, obviously, they let the bull into the ring. It usually runs in, stops, looks around very confused and then charges and one or more men waving bright pink capes. These guy wave he capes and then jump behind wooden barricades on the side of the ring. Sometime the bulls rams into the barricade and the crowd gasps, but usually it stop just short and looks confused as to where the cape went. Then someone on the other side of the ring will do the same thing. All the initial running tires the bull out a bit hence making the whole process easier.
Next a man enters on a horse, he carries a long spear with a very sharp blade on the end. One side of the horse is protected by a large, elaborately decorated sheet of armor, as is the horseman's leg. Upon seeing the horse the bulls usually attacks, but doesn't get very far due to the armor. The job of the rider is to plunge the spear into the back of the bulls neck, this cuts some of the muscles and tendons and starts the bleeding. The muscles are cut so that the bull cannot raise its head easily and gore the matador, or anyone else for that matter. If the horseman spend too much time with his spear in the bull's neck, the crowd whistles and jeers, signaling that they think it is unfair. The bull is right up against the horse this whole time and thrashing around violently, several times the bull nearly toppled the horse which would have been bad news. It is kind of disturbing to see the bull bleed for the first time. After the spear is removed, you can literally see blood gushing rhythmically out of the wound in time with the bull's heartbeats.
After this two or three men, picadors, enter the ring each with nothing but brightly colored bandilleras. These are barbed stakes, about 2 and a half feet long, that the picadors stab into the neck of the bull. In my opinion this is the most interesting part of the fight. You have to think about the situation first, the picador, being Latin American is generally a pretty short guy, and the bulls, usually selected for their size and power are pretty big. So in order to get the bandilleras in the bulls neck the picadors must jump really high and have perfect aim, all while dodging the charging bull and his horns. If it is done right, both bandilleras enter the bull at the exact same point and at the exact same time, if the picador fails to get both in he is usually whistled at by the crowd and does not get another try. Again, this process weakens the neck muscles of the bull and makes it bleed more.
After the picadors are finished the matador, or torreo, enters. He has the well known red cape and a sword. For about 10 minutes, he manipulates the bull to do his biding. Charging at the cape, running in circles or simply standing there, slowly dying, the bull is at the mercy of the matador at this point. The better matadors show off during this time as well, they kneel on the ground and get the bull to charge, dodging the animal by inches, other times they touch the bulls head while it is standing still, one even put his head in between the bulls horns and stayed like that for a few seconds. The crowd love these kinds of things and cheers loudly. Every time the matador makes a successful pass with the bull the crowd shouts "Ole!", I always thought that was just some kind of western perversion of bullfighting, but no. It is slightly different though, the accent is on the "o" not the "e" so its more like "Ole", not "oLE", I hope that made sense.
When the bull is obviously tired to the point where it is not longer a fight, the matador draws his sword. He stands in front of the bull, who is panting, bleeding and generally looking miserable. Sword extended fully, the matador takes careful aim. The idea is to go through the bulls neck and into it's heart, ensuring a quick(er) death. When he feels he is as ready as he will ever be, the matador begins to run at the bull, who also starts to charge, at the last second the matadors steps aside and plunges the sword into the bull. When done correclty all that is visible of the sword is the handle. If the matador misses, the sword hits the bulls shoulder blade and sticks out about half way. Instantly two more men, the same ones from the very beginning, enter the ring to distract the bull. They wave the brightly colored capes in front of the bull. The bull cannot decide which to charge at and pretty much remains in the same spot, waving it head back and forth. I have to say I didn't find this part much to my liking. Such a powerful, elegant animal is reduced to a staggering, confused mess in its final moments of life, soon it stumbles and hits the ground, not dead, but seconds away. A man with a short, wide knife carefully approaches the bull and finishes it by stabbing it just behind the skull. One final shudder and it finally dies, rolling over on its side, legs out stretched.
At this point the president of the Plaza makes the decision of how well the matador performed. In theory he can award up to two ears and a tail, but that is only for a truly historic show. 5 of the 6 matadors we saw on Monday received one ear, which is cut from the bull and presented to the matador. The bull is then harnessed to two huge horses and dragged out of the ring. If the bull put up an amazing fight, the horses drag it all the way around the arena, if not a small circle is made and then it is brought out. The matador then walks around the edge of the arena with the picadors and the horseman. If he did well, bouquets of flowers, and hats are thrown at hit. He and the other men try and throw the hats back to those who threw them, the crowd is really good about passing them back to their rightful owners.
So that is a brief description of a bullfight. On Monday we saw 3 matadors and 6 bulls. I was told that apart from some in Spain, Quito's bullfights are regarded as some of the best in the world. The main matador of the day was called Fandi, he is Spanish and is currently ranked the best matador in Spain.
The whole experience was really amazing. I do have mixed feelings about the morality of it all, it really all depends on the skill of the matador. For instance, Fandi killed the final bull perfectly, the sword went straight in, the men with the capes didn't even enter, the bull just collapsed. They didn't even need to the knife for its neck or anything. However another time, the bull refused to go down, it literally took minutes of just standing there for it to fall and die.
There is a big movement against bullfighting, but I doubt they will be able to do away with such a deeply rooted tradition.
I don't have school on Thursday which is nice, and we only have class until 10 on Friday. Yay Fiestas de Quito.
This is the ring before the first bull.
Here the horseman is cutting the neck muscles of the bull who is trying to gore the horse.
This is the picador putting the bandilleras in the bull's neck.
The bull's final moment, look carefully and you can see the matadors sword.
A job well done.
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