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Articles Tagged ‘corrida’

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Corrida por Vida

Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008

Ok – probably bad Spanish but I have a moment to reflect on the bullfight and i wanted a rhyme.  As I indicated in an earlier post I wondered if it was best to go.  While I understand that life is brutal for many a man and animal, I don’t want to perpetuate brutality.  But as I’m wont to do, I set conditions side by side and evaluated them.

what is the greater threat and what is the greater tragedy?  I use the same methodology when evaluating things like the war on terror – again touched on in an earlier post. the fact is that many people do not experience fear in proportion to the threat. …..evolutionally it makes no sense but I guess reactions to more primal, physical dangers are what man has been hard-wired for, considering evolutionary timetables. And boy do the leaders of men like to exploit this fear, but I digress.  Back to the other kind of bull.

Coincidentally (or not) the slaughterhouse was near the arena, between the walk from my hotel to the corrida.  Huge carcasses hung in the entry – coming or going I do not know.  This got me thinking about the ways in which a bull can die.  Or better said, about the few ways in which a bull is likely to die these days.  One can be of the opinion that bulls should not ever die at the hands of man but let’s take one step at a time.  Plus, selfishly I like a good burger.  But while watching the fight I couldn’t help but ask myself “would I rather die by being electrocuted up the arse and packaged for consumption or would I rather die fighting the animal that wanted to eat me?”.  And in the grand scheme of things – not many bulls get the latter “opportunity”.

Yes, that last word will set some people off – so sorry.  and no, the bull is not given that choice, right?  but my debate is for those who do not deal in absolutes – whether that absolute is that everyone kills or that no one should.   Or maybe I am dealing with these nuances to justify my attendance beyond just saying I wanted the cultural experience.  no, wasn’t thrilled by the experience and won’t ever go to a second fight, but it was interesting to watch not only the locals, but the wide-eyed, gape-mouthed faces of the other gringos there :).

Posted in central america, Mexico, Travel | No Comments »

Chamula Market and a Corrida

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

In the morning I hopped the collectivo (80 cents) to San Juan Chamula for their Sunday market.  Armed with a little information after the tour I wanted to look around more and try to get some pics on-the-sly with my telephoto lens.  Actually, this is the only lens left that works and the auto-focus is quirky.  My camera gear has suffered and will be promptly shipped away to the camera-spa for recovery when I get home.  Anyhoo…

As I arrived and began heading down to the market in front of the church I found that a procession was heading from the church to the cemetery up the hill.  Small bands of musicians playing, men lugging pine-needle and flower decorated crosses and women carrying food were all heading in the opposite direction so I turned around and joined them – staking out a spot on the hill when they went into the cemetery.  I won’t go into all the local lore I learned, but this appeared to be a ceremony where new crosses are added to the graves and the living bring the dead food and soda-pop, sing and hang-out.  It was an amazing sight.  Every group had at least a carton of soda, which is poured on the graves and shared by the living.

I got some good pics and I’m glad because once I got down to the square most people would not allow pics when asked.  This was a shame because all the major-domos where gathered along-side the market in their very colorful traditional attire.  I met some lovely brits and we grabbed a soda at a nearby restaurant but the major-domo’s guards kept a close eye on us and anytime a camera appeared we were warned.  I found some pics on flickr that i will cross-blog.  Apparently when not on official business some aren’t so camera shy but I wasn’t so lucky.

San Juan Chamula does get tours that come through so it can get to feel a bit like a zoo.  I enjoyed cruising thru tenejapa as the only gringo and would highly recommend doing some visits like this solo, but chamula shouldn’t be missed and a guide on one of your visits can be very educational.

I was back in time to rest a little bit, grab a bite to eat and get ready for the bullfight aka. corrida.  The arena “la coleta” or “the ponytail” is south of town.  The carnival part of the spring fair is across the road so there was quite a bit of activity around.  I found a decent seat, asked someone to watch it for me and went to get a few beers (Sol beer was the sponsor).

Once the fight began I watched alternatively thru my eyes, my video function and my telephoto lens.  It’s really hard to describe but my photos and video will pretty much say it all.  Suffice to say there is blood, the bull is killed eventually and dragged away by horses that are darn spooked to be so close to a bull, dead or not. Or maybe it’s the smell of blood that makes them skiddish.

The first fight (I don’t say it’s a fair fight) was between the bull and a matador on prancing horse.  The next fight was with a matador on foot and another was with a matador that had a fancier technique and no spears and I’m not sure where this fight would have ended had the hail and rain storm not started.  This was fine with me as I felt I’d gotten to have “the experience” but hanging around for more would have been gratuitous.  I had to duck into a beer joint shortly after I left the arena due to another rain storm.  I drank a few more beers and let some kids watch video of the bull fight I’d taken with my camera.

Today was to be my last day and I was going to find my way to chiapo de corzo where one can take a boat trip through a beautiful canon del sumidero.  But I got a late start after struggling to find a laundry mat and waiting an hour for my breakfast so I decided today would be a lazy day for working on pics and writing and tomorrow I would pay $2 more for a tour of the canyon that leaves from San Cristobal.  Done independently it’s about $13 but agencies do them for about $15.  This means I’ll stay at least a day longer.

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