Bullfights in Mexico!

Hector invited me to go to the bullfight.

Hello All,

So, recently I had a very interesting/confusing experience. I went to see a bullfight for the first time live! I say confusing and interesting because even during the time I was in the stadium, there were times I was having a lot of fun and other times when I didn't like it, things I could appreciate and things that made me angry. It was a huge mixture of emotions, and very interesting to process. When the people I went with asked me if I liked it at the end, I wasn't sure how to respond. I just kept saying, I dont know.. I haven't figured it out yet.

First, we didn't go to a full out "Bull Fight", we went to whats called a Novillada. Its kinda like a junior bullfight. In the olden days, the Novilladas had a lot of different meanings and purposes. The three most common purposes/differences between corridas (normal bullfights) and novilladas that I found are the following. 

1.       Novilladas were celebrated in the winter months were corridas were more often in the summer. Now a days in Mexico, novilladas are like the preseason to corridas. There is a seasons for them before the corridas start to get people excited.... its like pre-season football. It doesn't count for anything but it makes you excited for football season.

2.       Originally in the novilladas, the bulls were not actually killed. They just played with them, making them run back and forth, they stuck the banner in their backs, but they did not kill them with sword. They were left to heal and continue growing into a full size bull after the show.

3.       The most important difference between a corrida and a novillada is the size of the bull. Novilladas are much much smaller bulls. They are younger than 3 years old and they are usually not as big... only between 350-500 kilos (750-1100lbs). No where as big as a normal torro.

From what the guys I went with told me, in Mexico, novilladas are used as like training for the bullfighters who aren't big enough or don't have the experience to actually fight against a real sized bull.  They use the smaller bulls to get practice and experience in their training to become a full "matador."  This  can be a good thing and a bad thing at the same time.  It's great for the torero because there is less danger and less risk, but its bad for the bulls and the audience because the less experiences toreros dont always know how to kill the bull properly or have a higher percentage in screwing up and making the bull suffer.  Which is the principle reason a lot of people don't like watching novilladas and prefer corridas.  They say it's a much better show.  

In the photo above, you can see the ranch the the bull grew up on, the bull's name "Gota de Agua", the number that is assigned to him by the ranch, and his weight, 390 kilos (about 800lbs.).  These signs are displayed in between each fight.  There are about 6 fights per week.  In our case, there were 8 bulls used instead of 6.  One was "saved" and one of the toreros bought another bull to have a second chance because he did such a horrible job the first time. 

What is means to save a bull, and I'm so glad I got to experience this first hand, when a bull comes out of the stockade and is very brave and strong and shows a lot of good qualities, is a bull that could very well beat a torero, sometimes the crowd will start to shout "Toro, Toro, Toro, Toro" and the judeges decide, which the help of the crowd, that the bull has proven himself to be worthy, they will save him.  They will take him out of the ring and cure all the wounds that he suffered up to that point and send him off to a life a easy.  The bravest most valiant bulls, go back to their ranches and get stuck with the task of producing more super brave valiant bulls!  Yes thats right.. they get to go back be in charge of producing a lot of baby bulls!  :) 

 

The judges that decide about the bulls fate and if the torero was successful enough to deserve a prize.

The these next to pictures what you are seeing is one of the preliminary bull fighters waiting for the bull to be let out of the stockade and then in the picture below he uses his cloth to usher the bull away from him instead of actually moving himself. They did this about 3 times throughout the day.  At one point the bull got so close that the man on his knees did actually get up and run.  It was kinda funny.  

So like I was saying before, I think going to a bullfight depends a lot of the company that you are with. If you go with a cool group of people who tell you about the culture and why the people are doing what they are doing it can be a lot of fun.  It was very artistic in the sense that I felt something very passionate and primal in watching man fight beast.  During other moments I was yelling at the toreros and at my friends because I didn't understand why they would let someone who had done such a horrible job killing the animal the first time (he took like 7 attempts stabbing the bull and still wasn't able to kill him) a second chance to do it again.  

For those of you that don't know, when the bull drops his head to attach the torero, there is a spot right behind his neck and right before his lungs were a torero can stab him and the sword will go all the way down into the animal and stab the bull right into the heart.  In doing this, the bull will drop and die almost immediately, and this is considered a very good humane kill.  When this happened the crowd cheered for the torero, and when this didn't happen, the crowd booed the torero.  There were many times during the fights that half the crowd or more was cheering for the bull.  Which to me was surprising but very interesting.  I was always cheering for the bull!  :)  

 The Family Zone, where beer wasn't allowed to be sold.  But right above us was a 6 month old and a two year old with his father learning the ropes of the toros, in the drinking section, because dad shouldn't be punished just because he brought his kids along!  hahahah 

It reminded me of when I told my sister to bring her 1 year old and 3 year old down to Mexico as a family vacation.  Everywhere in Mexico is the family zone, kids go anywhere the parents do.  Strollers in bars are not an uncommon thing, I mean the kids gotta sleep right?!?!?!  HAHAHAHAHA!!!  :)  

So overall it was an interesting experience.  I don't know if I will go back for a corrida to see what the difference is, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  It wasn't as gory or bloody, and I could definitely see what the appeal is for some people who love watching the toros. 

Below are some videos of different toreros.  If you are squeamish or are against animal violence I would suggest not watching them, but if you are curious, it is kinda cool.  Hope to hear your thoughts.  HASTA PRONTO!

Archeologist for a Day!

A couple weeks ago I was invited by a friend... who just happens to be an archeologist... to go out with him on a site visit.  All he told me before we left was that this was a top secret mission and to wear good shoes and sunblock because we were going to be walking a lot!  Well, he wasn't exaggerating, but before I get to that, let me start with some background details. 

 

My friend, Pavel, is an archeologist for the state of Jalisco.  His main job is to walk the paths of new highways and freeways before they are built to make sure that they are not building over archeological ruin sites or important indigenous areas. He has to walk on average about 10-15 kilometros each day (thats 7-10 miles).  Its a lot of walking, BELIEVE ME!  He will walk in one direction for as long as he can, and then turn around and walk in the other direction back to the truck just to drive to a new spot and start walking from where he left off.  I really wanted to do that, but he said that he has already walked the route to write his report and now it was just going back to certain sites to take pictures and measurements.  

 We started out by going to Ciudad Guzman, about 2 hours from Guadalajara.  He has to meet with someone and while he was in his meeting, I explored the city.  Ciudad Guzman's patron saint is Saint Jose.  He just happens to be the father of Jesus, Saint Joseph.  The people of this town pray to Saint Joseph in order to get or improve their jobs.  When their prayers are answered they write their thanks of pieces of colorful fabric and put them as adornments on the Saint's statue.  This is their way of giving thanks to the Saint for listening to their prayers.  

Pavel and I continued walking around the city and visiting the different plazas before we went off to visit the first construction site, where I wasn't allowed to take pictures!  :)  We then visited a few other places because I got the long awaited question of, "Do you want to walk up to the Saint's Peak in the mountain?  They are going to be building up there?"  Of course, my responce was YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!  :)

We drove to a small trail behind a small town with a small cemetery where Pavel explained to me that each year on the day of their saint, the town carries flowers and gifts up to the crosses in the mountains to give them as offerings.  So we started our way up... and up... and up.. AND UP!!.

















It was beautiful... and exhausting!!  We were walking up the trail and we would see stones marked with white crosses to let us know that we were on the right trail.  Finally, we made it up to the top and it was a gorgeous, or at least I thought it was gorgeous.  Pavel was exhausted and decided to take a nap!  

The view was beautiful.  After Pavel's short nap, we went up the mountain even farther to another area that they were planning to build a through.  I couldn't take pictures of it because it is technically a construction site in progress and Pavel could get in trouble if picture got out.  Just imagine a corn field that has been dug up and that was pretty much it, but when we started walking back and forth through the field Pavel found some very interesting artifacts.  He found part of an arrowhead that was probably used for hunting and also a stone that was used to smooth over other stones.  There was even a thumb grip on the smoothing stone.  :)  

We kept walking and then Pavel showed me this spot where there is a small waterfall back in the trees. 

After making it down to the bottom I took a couple pictures of the mountain that we climbed up.  It wasn't the biggest mountain in the world, but it was still a lot of fun.  If you look really hard at the top of the mountain, you can see the crosses that we were standing behind. 


















 The ride back to Guadalajara was long and after a full day in the sun and walking, hiking and seeing a lot of really cool stuff, I was definitely exhausted when I got back to my apartment.  But it was really really cool.  I told Pavel that I would love to actually go on the trail walk with him.

Casa de los Perros

One of the most famous legends in Guadalajara es the legend of the House of the Dogs. It all started with a very very rich widow who's name was Don Jesus Flores and a very poor but beautiful seamstress named Doña Ana Gonzalez. Don Jesus and Doña Ana got married, and as a wedding present, Don Jesus built Doña Ana a two story house in the center of Guadalajara. In those days it was considered a huge luxury to have a two story house. Doña Ana, as a wedding present, bought 4 statues of dogs which she shipped from New York, to put one at each corner on the roof of the house, to "watch and guard their love." That is how the house became known as the "House of the Dogs."

After their marriage, they went to Europe on their honeymoon. on their way back, the boat was about to  capsize because of very strong, severe storms and in that moment the couple prayed that if at least one of them survived, that one would pray nine rosary prayers on the anniversary of that day for the rest of their lives. It turns out that both survived. 

However, time went on, and shortly thereafter Don Jesus passed away. Doña Ana Gonzales decided to remarry shortly after his death to a much younger rich neighbor named Don Jose Cuervo. After of year of marriage Doña Ana and Don Jose decided to move to a new house that he build on the other side of town, leaving the House of the Dogs. Doña Ana also forgot to pray for her survival and her husband like she had promised. 

The legend says that whomever prays the 9 prayers of the rosary in front of the mausoleum of Don Jesus Flores will recieve great forture. They even made it into a contest saying that whomever could recite the prays at exactly midnight with only the company of a candle would win a large sum of money. Hundreds of men and women tried, some to prove their bravery and others thinking that it would be easy money, but none succeeded. 

Some ran out after only 5 minutes saying they were possessed by the devil, other lasted so long that when people went in to look for them they found them fainted on the ground from terror. It is said that the problem is once you start reciting the prayers a voice from beyond the grave answers each of the rosary responses. No matter how brave a soul has tried, no one has been able to complete the 9 prayers of the rosary..... 

Thank you!! HASTA PRONTO!!!