Jan. 8 – Mexico
Day 160 – This afternoon we were pulled over by the police. I just want to say that Acapulco is a big city, with a very crazy street system. Jason incorrectly pulled off the highway to exit by crossing the speedway. So many things seem loosely ruled in Mexico that we didn’t think it was illegal to do that. Though once the officer explained to us what we did wrong, we realized we shouldn’t do that again. He was very nice and even led us to the area we were trying to get to. We’ll just say that the ticket should have been 400 pesos, but he was nice enough to let us go with a tip for leading us to our destination.
We ended staying north of Acapulco at Pie de la Cuesta, next to Jesus’ casa on the beach. Jesus was a very nice man who runs a small restaurant out of his house on the beach and provides a place for campers to stay. Jason noticed that he had fighting roosters in his yard and mentioned that he wanted to see a cock fight. Jesus said in one hour they are going to one and we could come with him. It turned out that Jesus raises and trains the roosters, then sells them to the men who enter the roosters into the fights.
Palm trees and banana trees
more landscape — I love the trees
An hour later we were walking down the road with Jesus, Oscar, Freddy, and Bill. Oscar and Freddy are Jesus’s cronies and Bill was a traveler staying on Jesus’s land. We approached a tall concrete wall that had a big metal door for an entrance that trucks could have used. Inside was an open air arena with a tall cone shaped palapa covering most of the space. Under the center of the palapa is a ring especially made for cock fighting. A concrete arena stepped down into the ground to create stadium style seating around the ring. The roosters are kept in metal cages on the outside of the arena. We sat down near the cages and waited, not sure what to expect. There were about a hundred people sitting and standing around, eating ceviche with crackers and beer. Then four men and two roosters stepped into the middle of the ring, two men for each rooster, and they placed leashes on the roosters and walked them around the ring for all the spectators to see. Now the bets started and the men in the center of the ring walked over to a beautifully made wooden box. Pulling out a drawer from the box, the men picked out the proper blade for the fight. The blade is then secured onto the rooster’s leg with thread and tape. Once it is on they put a sheath over it to protect the handler and the rooster until the fight. The handler holds the rooster like a cat and strokes the head and wings to keep him calm. Next they bring in a third rooster to roust up the fighters and get them ready. The handlers bring the roosters to the center of the arena and after taking off the sheaths from the blades, they touch beaks and the fight begins. They fight so fast that it is hard to keep track of what is happening; with wings flying, legs kicking, and beaks pecking away. Later we learned the birds were given coca (not coca-cola) to increase their adrenaline to make for a better fight. The fight doesn’t last long, though it goes until one rooster completely dies, even if that means restarting the fight after they slow down. The winning handler receives 500 pesos and the loser receives nada. Sometimes even both birds died at the end, but the winner is the one who lasted the longest.
Tags: 08 - Mexico, mexico
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That is awful.
There’s a weekly flea market near to here, in central California, where vendors sell bootlegged Mexican cockfight videos. I’ve never bought one, though. I’m not sure if even my morbid sense of curiouslity could handle it.
Ew!
How exactly can you stand cokfighting’s terrible cruelty?
Where do they get the tiny gloves?