Suns out, horns out

One of the 3 organs

El Expolio de Cristo

Yesterday we toured the beautiful city of Toledo, a Spanish medieval city about an hour from Madrid.  It's known for the coexistence of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish cultures for several several years.  We walked around the city which is basically on a mountain.  We took 5 escalators which were built for an easier access into the city.  The whole area is very traditional and looks absolutely beautiful!  The cathedral... it was huge and very old with parts of it's building dating back all the way to 666.  It makes you realize how young the United States really is, it's pretty crazy.  There was a painting by El Greco, one of the artists that I studied this past year.  The painting is called El Expolio de Cristo - or The Disrobing of Christ.  While we were there we got to see the inside of a mosque as well and the outside of a synagogue.  


 

Surprisingly just one part of this amazing Cathedral

For our lunch break we were free to do as we pleased, and we went to a restaurant and got paella.  It's kind of like the Spanish version of low country boil.  It's yellow rice mixed with either different types of seafood or different types of meat.  We got the traditional paella del mar, which came with shrimp, a mini looking lobster, clams, and mussels.  For those of you that don't know, I am not a seafood person and I definitely don't like to see my food look like it's living and that's basically what the dish looked like.  Well my friend cut up the shrimp and I pryed out the parts of the clam and mussel to try it for the first time and it was actually really good.  The mussel looked extremely weird but I had to close my eyes and eat it.  Overall, the paella was amazing.  

After Toledo, a group of students and I went to the bullfight.  None of us had ever been before so we were already nervous about it, which it didn't help that my friend Kelsey sent me a text basically saying "brace yourself it's graphic."  So we all went in thinking the worst and when we got to the Plaza del toros we had gotten there a little late and they said we couldn't come in "hasta que el toro muere" - which means until the bull dies.  So ... we got to watch that on the tv while we waited.  We were actually kind of grateful this happened cuz we could see it on the tv before seeing it in person.  The stadium holds 88,000 people - pretty crazy - which is the entire population of Toledo plus a few thousand.  It's a very traditional stadium, basically with just a circle of dirt with cement seats all around it.  There were three matadores, all of them either 20 or 21 who had been practicing since they were 12.  

The whole fight is a bit of a process, basically of wearing down the bull.  It was a crazy concept for us to really grasp our minds around just because we have absolutely nothing like it.  First, the bull comes out on his own in the ring running out with no idea what's about to happen.  
Next there's three banderilleros - or flag men - who basically taunt the bull with pink flags.  The matador always has a red flag so you can tell which one he is.  A man on a very padded horse comes out with a giant vara, or a long stake with a spear on the end.  Usually the bull charges at the horse, who is blindfolded and has no idea what is happening and the the man on the horse stabs the bull in the shoulders with the vara.  Picadores - kind of like pickers or lancers, then come out with two stake like knives, or barbed sticks, that they jab into the shoulders of the bull.  I was thankful that the bulls were a dark color, so we couldn't see the blood too well.  Describing this whole scene makes it sound like it looked much more gorry than it actually was.  
After these picadores did there thing, which happened about 3 times, the matador came out and tired out the bull with his tricks with the red flag.  The bull is angered by the movement of these flags, rather than the color which has become more of a symbol, especially since bulls are color blind.  After tiring the bull out the matador gets one of his swords - the estoque (several different ones are used throughout the process), and he gets the bulls attention basically looking him in the eye and drawing his sword and gets him in the back.  It's so fast that we couldn't even realize it had happened until we noticed the clapping and that the matadors hands were empty.  The bull is still alive and charging and such.
Then the matador gets another sword, which he uses to first pull the sword out of the bull, then to stab him once more in the back of the neck.
Next the banderilleros come out one last time and surround the bull getting his orientation off until he falls.
Then, a puntillero comes out, which I think is the worst part to watch because he has a small dagger that he jabs in the back of the neck that finally kills the bull, basically putting it out of it's misery.  The reason it's so bad is because you really see the bulls reaction which is awful.
Finally, two horses with reigns and such come out and they tie the bull to rope that is hanging from the horses and drag it out of the arena.

Now that I've described the whole scene, which makes it sound awful when put into words, let me explain why they do all this.  It is a very traditional sport that has gone on for years.  As awful as it is, that is one of the main reasons it is still around because it is simply a tradition.  It is a huge controversy in almost every country it is practiced in, which I can recall from my stay in Mexico as well.  You can really see how traditional it is throughout the whole process as well just by looking at the outfits all of the participants wear and the way the arena is set up.  If this was done in the United States, it would have a jumbotron in the middle with live footage, ESPN set up in the corner, box office seats, and much more.  But no, this has no announcer or anything.  Before each bull comes out, a man with a sign walks into the middle showing the audience the weight of the bull as well as where it is from.  That's the most announcing that happens.  All of the seats are just concrete all the way around.  The one area that is not is the seats at the top that look like they are for royalty because they had flags with crowns on the outside.  The way tickets go are based on whether you are in the sun or shade and then by row.

Our favorite (Miguel) with all his sass

The first fight we saw was actually not finished by the initial matador because he got hurt.  We aren't really sure what happened but we saw that his arm looked dislocated then next thing we knew he was leaning against the wall as if he couldn't walk and was carried out of the stadium while holding his arm and his wrist just dangling there.  This is about the time ESPN would be making updated announcements about the matador but that's the last we saw of him.  Another matador, one that had already been competing stepped in for him.  Throughout the bullfight, there are 6 bullfights which are done by 3 alternating matadores.  The injured one was the youngest, 20, and had been to the arena in Madrid before, which is a big deal because it is so large.  The next was our favorite, he had so much sass with everything he did and would strut half the time in the arena.  He had a specific trick he did where he would shuffle forward right in front of the bull with the flag behind his back and get real close then throw him off by moving the flag in front of him.  It was his first time in the Madrid arena which could explain his sass.  The last one was the most experienced, although not our favorite he was still really good.

After the bullfights we went to dinner, surprisingly we did have an appetite after that.  We tried a few different types of tapas one of them being paella again, one was a dish from Castilla that tasted like potato casserole but juicier and with sweeter meat and it was amazing.  Now I'm excited and a little more prepared for my trip to Valencia, where paella originated, and for the running of the bulls this weekend.