Corrida de Toros in Bilbao: Spanish students view

Last Sunday, on 10th May 2009, the students and interns at the Instituto Hemingway went to the first bullfight of the season here in Bilbao. The fight took place in the bullfighting arena called “Vista Alegre”, which is situated near Zabálburu plaza in the centre of the city. The arena was built in 1962 and can hold up to 14,700 people. The three young bullfighters from Cádiz were between 16 and 18 years old and were greeted by an orchestra, the president of the arena, and an enthusiastic audience.
The fight began with the “paseíllo”, in which the three trainee bullfighters, the “picadores” (horse trainers), and the “banderilleros” presented themselves to the audience and the president of the arena, who held the highest authority in the arena. Each trainee bullfighter had to kill two bulls, like the famous matadores themselves, even though they were still learning.
During the “Tercio de Varas”, the first part of the fight, the first bullfighter, Javier Cortés, tried to discover more about the strength and capability of his bull by provoking him with his cape. After a few minutes the bull received a series of stabs in the back from a lance held by a picador on horseback, in order to weaken the animal. One of the picadores actually did it too much and so the crowd booed and whistled, because they didn´t want the bull to be too weak to fight. In general, the audience was very enthusiastic. They were shouting out things like “olé!” and “guapo!”, and complained when the orchestra was not playing enough music.
Before Javier Cortés fought with the bull, some of the banderilleros stuck six banderillas (colourful sticks) into the back of the bull´s neck to revive him and distract him. Then the confrontation between the bull and the bullfighter took place, which is called the “Tercio del muerte”. After he had killed his bull, Juan Carlos Rey and Patrick Oliver, the two other trainee bullfighters, took their turns. On average they needed about twenty minutes to kill the bull, but the last two were more difficult to defeat. The bullfighters tried to stick the sword into the bull´s back but it continued to fall out of the wound and onto the ground. It was very difficult for us to watch this, because in our opinion the bull suffered far more than was necessary. However, we do not regret the experience, since we are glad to have witnessed an important part of Spanish culture.
Wibke Domma y Kirstine Bowen
Bacarias en el Instituto Hemingway