This morning, at 8am I entered La Misericordia, the Plaza de Toros of Zaragoza. They had vaquillas. What an atmosphere. During the Fiestas del Pilar, they have vaquillas every morning at 8am and then a "corrida" ( bull fights) at 6pm.
I saw the vaquillas from all angles. We even went down to the Ruedo ( the skirt around the ring) and as luck would have it, the vaquilla ( which is not small like the name suggests) jumped into it around 5 times. One time it came charging through where we were standing and I wound up jumping into the arena. Jajaja! I was scared shitless. Stampeding steer, drunken crowds... and me so heavy footed.
One thing I can say, the adrenaline rush I got made me forget I had only slept 3 hours, and that my back has been hurting like crazy for the past 2 days. What a rush. Pablo and me wanted out of there fast!
After Pablo left, I went up to the highest point in the Plaza for a different view. The vaquillas caught this one guy and smashed him into the ground where he lay motionless. He had to be carried out. I later asked at the infirmary, and they said he was concious when they took him away to the hospital.
I've seen bullfights on tv, the running of the bulls, vaquillas, and I've seen steers in DR behind pens. BUT! It was so different in here. First, the vaquilla, which is very young and crazy, is small compared to the bull, but it's still a very big animal. The ruedo is lower than I thought from watching on TV, and the ring is also smaller ( at least here in ZGZ. Don't know yet if there's a standard ring size).
The view from everywhere in the Plaza is basically great. The noise level in this event is incredible with all the Peñas music bands playing. Basically the crowd is a mix of people who have been up all night drinking, families, tourists and aficionados. There are some actual idiots in the arena, who are so drunk that they attempt foolish stunts, but there are also those who seem to be waiting all year for this, and who run each vaquilla at least 5 or 6 times. I saw at least 3 guys who were very adept at what they were doing, and these were usually the ones who got the most applause.
It was funny to see a kid taunt the vaquilla with his jacket and when the animal started to paw at the ground in preparation for a charge, the kid blinked and got out of the way before it started it's charge. When I went down to the ruedo, even before the vaquilla was released, I was asking myself "what the heck am I doing in here?" I told Pablo jokingly "Imagine I get killed today." Tourists or "guiris" as they are known here( I qualify) are usually the ones who get hurt in these types of things. When the Vaquila jumped into the ruedo, Pablo and I almost ran into the corral through where they leave. I actually told the porter that let us into the Ruedo, "Let me out, please" and he said "sorry, can't open until the vaquilla is out of the Plaza".
I was "acojonado", as they say here. My instincts to run work!
I can understand why most of these kids, the vast majority late- teens, early 20's and curiosly, no girls, jump in there. If my brief minute of running around and feeling the fear of having the vaquilla jump straight into the ruedo, gave me such an adrenaline rush that lasted almost 10 minutes, then they must get a crazy rush from jumping in there so much or just being around the boards of the ruedo.
Can't wait to actually see a bullfight. I know it will be a strange moment to witness the killing of the animals.
When the guy got smashed into the ground today, I put away my camara and felt akward for a few minutes. The craziness did not stop, though people reacted really fast. A lot of people get bruised, but it's part of it. The risk, the excitement. The crowd would applaud the most daring, the one's that got the vaquilla to actually charge and got away from them with the most grace.
Didn't see any of the abuse I had been told I would see. Yes, some kids smack the rear end of the vaquilla in an attempt to get it's attention, or try to grab it's horns, but this can hardly hurt an animal who jumps into el Ruedo full speed and then runs all around it, and comes out charging.
Amazing when the Ox (Buey) comes out, strolling with it's herder behind, and the young vaquilla stops the craziness and leaves with it.
A lot of thoughts ran through my head this morning about traditions, about animal rights, about all these things that people say, about drunkeness, about chaos.
I literally felt the release of tension in this hectic outpouring of semi-controlled rowdiness. The smiles on people's faces as they left the arena, the worry when someone apparentely got trampled too severely, the cheers... It's a spectacle, yes.
It's also, in my opinion, a necessary release. I understand why all over Spain, these festivies ( in general, not just animal related things ) are necessary for the religious, for the fans of bulls, for the youth that organizes the Peñas and strolls the streets with their music bands, singing and drinking.
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