Bullfight in Sevilla

I knew that being here for 5 months meant I'd have to go to a bullfight at some point. I have friends that decided it was something they didn't want to see, but for me bullfighting is such a big part of the Spanish culture that I knew I'd have to see one before I left. So on Monday I headed over to the plaza de toros and prepared myself for what I was about to see.

Ryan, Marrisa and Me outside of the plaza de toros

View from the terrace behind our seats

We walked in and eventually found our seats. We had bought the cheapest seats which meant we were directly in the sun for most of the bullfight. But the Sevilla bullfighting ring feels so small that there really isn't a bad seat in the whole place. When the first bull came out, I must admit I was shocked. Not only was the actual bull much bigger than I had imagined, it had so much energy that it immediately started trying to attack the toreros. The men were incredible at back peddling and could quickly run and hide behind built in shelters to escape the bull. 

The poor bull :( The white things are swords that the toreros have stuck in

Group shot from our seats

Dragging the bull out

For each bullfight, there are 6 different bulls that get killed. Each bull is supposed to last about 20 or 25 minutes, but for this particular bullfight the president of the match decided two bulls were not fighting back enough and so they were retired and replaced with different bulls. This extended the entire ordeal for an extra half hour, and I ended up leaving after the 5th bull died. 

It at times was really hard for me to watch. I understand that these bulls are raised for this purpose and live like kings in open fields before they are subjected to the ring, but it's so hard to watch them suffer. The first bull you could tell was absolutely terrified. He kept pooping and peeing himself and running around essentially in circles trying to hit the men. No one was hurt (well except for the bulls) in this particular bullfight which I was thankful for. At one point a bull attacked a horse and did a 360 degree flip in mid air. For those of you who don't know there are 2 men on horses (called picadores) in the second part of the fight that antagonize the bull and stab it with long swords. The horses are blindfolded but covered in armor. In the first bullfights, the horses were unprotected and more horses ended up dying than bulls.

You can see the bull picking up the horse if you look closely

I don't want to give the impression that I wish I hated the bullfight. For me, I tried to look at is as a cultural experience. But, that said, I don't think I'll be going to anymore bullfights anytime soon.

After the bullfight I went home for dinner and then Colleen and I went over to a friend's house for the start of Feria! I'll do a separate post a little later for that. I have the whole week off for Feria and no classes next Monday or Tuesday either. Needless to say, this is going to be a great week! Life is good.