Despite everyone we asked giving us false information and telling us that there were absolutely NO bullfights to witness in all of Spain during the summer season, Natalie and I managed to get tickets to the LAST one in Sevilla until September. Granted, all the bullfights after Semana Santa and Feria de Abril (Holy Week and the April festival) are just amateur matadors that are training, but it didn't matter to us! I was sooooo happy when we got tickets (for only 13 euros!!) that I was bouncing up and down and squealing with excitement outside the Maestranza (bull ring) and people were staring at me.. and that was like three days before we even went! We figured that our seats would be pretty far away because we paid a low price for them, buttttt actually we were right in the Front!!! ..well, on the sunny side, but it was still so close! The Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza is also the oldest bullring in all of Spain!
I wasn't really nervous about seeing a bullfight because I expected the bull to die. Plus, I already knew, from research for Spanish class presentations and such, about what happens during the fight and what the phases are. I just didn't want to watch a matador, picador, or a horse get gored. I ended up REALLY really enjoying the corrida and I didn't really think it was THAT gory at all, which is the consensus I got from my friends here who went to a bullfight before us.
Unlike a professional bullfight, where there are only three matadors who each kill two bulls, we got to see a bunch of amateur matadors in their colorful "traje de luces" (suit of lights). Natalie and I kept picking out our favorite matadors by the color of their outfits, haha.
We still saw six bulls, but all the matadors kind of worked together to distract the bull if the "main" matador at that time was in trouble. These extra matadors were in addition to the picadores and banderilleros (lancers on horseback and flagmen).
The bulls got bigger as the "show" went on and I was actually quite surprised that the bulls kind of had to be "called." I expected the bulls to run out of the gate and charge repeatedly at the first person or animal in their line of vision but that was not the case. The bull charged initially, but then kind of just stood there minding its own business until the matador yelled, "Ven toro, Vamos!" (Come here bull, Let's go!). Sometimes he had to yell at it a couple times to get it to charge towards the red cape. (btw, the cape is red so it doesn't show the blood as much-- bulls are colorblind!!)
So... quick recap of bullfight events:
1. Bull enters ring
2. Matador demonstrates "dominance" over the bull by bringing the bull as close as possible to his body with the cape
3. picadores on horseback use lances to stab bull in the back of the neck to weaken tendons that hold up the head (this is why the pictures of bulls charging are always shown with their head down low)
4. matadors/banderilleros stick "banderillas" (barbed spears) into the bulls shoulders to further weaken and anger the bull
5. matador again uses cape to attract the bull and maybe does some little tricks to show off
6. matador pierces bull with his sword and then they kind of wear it down by waving flags at it until it falls over dead, and then they stab it again just to put it out of its misery
7. Then they hook it to the horses and drag it around the ring and then out of the stadium
8. At the very end, the matador may be awarded with an ear of the bull or some other piece depending on how well he performed
...Yes, lovely I know, sorry for the gory details but it actually is an awesome experience. We actually did see two different matadors flipped over twice during the corrida- which almost gave me a heart attack. I may have been scarred for life if I had to watch a matador die in front of me. Luckily, they weren't hurt badly and kept going after they got a chance to pull themselves together! One of the bulls actually managed to get back up after it had fallen down! What a fighter! Also, the matadors did some cool tricks like getting on their knees and waving the bull through with the cape while they were kneeling.
Some of them kind of spun around or waved the bull through backwards. These made me kind of nervous, especially between tricks, when the matador would walk away with his back towards the bull, doing little poses for the audience like ice skaters in the Olympics. My favorite part of the corrida was at the end right before the matador stuck the sword in because every time the bull runs through the cape, the crowd gets to yell Ole! :) The rest of the time you kind of have to be quiet I think.. which, I am not good at. The matadors were kind of funny to watch because some of them just prance around the ring like ballerinas out there. They have to be quick so they stand on the balls of their feet and they have certain poses for accepting or inducing the crowd's applause. They also do some pretty strange lunges in order to bring the bull as close to their body as possible.
The bullfight was such a good night for us because we ended up getting so much more than we ever expected. Such as, our front row seats, AND meeting the matadors afterwards! I also managed to take over 300 pictures in the three-hour span that we were there! God knows how I did that.. After the corrida, the matadors just walk out the back door into the city streets, where they are mauled by fans (including me :) haha). Natalie and I got our picture taken with one of the matadors and I got his autograph too! Who knows? Maybe he'll be famous some day!
All in all-- awesome experience, highly recommended for anyone planning on travelling to España <3
