Ole! That's Spanish for... Ole!

WARNING: THIS BLOG POST WILL BE GRUESOME! 

You've been warned.

On Tuesday, Mark and I had the afternoon off at the orphanage and we went into Trujillo to see our first bullfight. Well, it wasn't much of a fight. 

Spoiler alert: The bull lost. 

Not sure how many of you are familiar with what happens at a bull fight, so we'll give you the run-down. First, Superman and Little Black Sambo came into the arena. 

Holy racism, Batman!

Next, the matadors-in-training had an opportunity to strut their stuff. Because they were only training (and they couldn't have been more than 15 years old) they went up against a cow instead of a bull. The cow, however, was incredibly feisty. In this video, the mini-dor tries to look like a tough guy (which is hard to pull off in the outfit he's wearing) and taunts the cow. It did not go well.

The real matadors finally arrived and shook hands. The first matador was visiting from Spain and the second  was the hometown favorite. Our initial reaction was, "Wow! A bullfighter from Spain! This is going to be the real deal." Oh, how wrong we were. 

Fancy Pants

Before the matador contends with the bull, people called picadors come out and stab the bull in the back of the neck. This causes the bull to charge with its head down, allowing the matador to get a clear shot at the back of the bull's neck. The idea is that with one sword plunge, the bull is killed instantly. That's the idea, anyway. Unfortunately, (for us and for the bull) the Spanish matador really sucked at his job. After dancing around with the bull for about 15 minutes, it came time for the lethal blow. But it wasn't lethal. Nor was the second blow. Nor the third, fourth, fifth of sixth. What we witnessed was basically the bull being hacked to death. Oh, and there was blood pouring out of the bull's mouth, as well. The crowd was not impressed and started throwing bottles at the matador. The matador didn't seem to care and after the bull was dead he proceeded to do a 10 minute victory lap around the arena. He was strutting about like he was cock of the walk. But let me tell you something, the Spanish matador was cock of NOTHING.

(I'll spare you the 3 minute video of the first bull's death)

Next, the matador from Trujillo came out. He was actually quite impressive. 

This matador was much more skilled at murder and took the bull down with one thrust (and one head stab). Actually, the bull ran around for a bit before he fell down, but it was... well... less horrible. See for yourself.

 (Remember, you've been warned!)

There you have it.

 The good, the bad and the ugly of the bullfight.

(aka the pageantry, the racism and the death)

Please do not send us any protest letters. We will not be attending another bullfight. 

We promise.

Don't cry for me. I'm already dead. 

 FIN