Carnaval de Toros - Ciudad Rodrigo

Hola amigos,

Yesterday I traveled with a group of peers from my program to celebrate Carnaval in Ciudad Rodrigo, a small town within the province of Salamanca about an hour away from where I live. Carnaval is a festival that occurs shortly before Lent and is celebrated all over the world with parades, costumes, street parties and general ridiculousness. The most famous Carnaval celebrations in Spain happen in Cádiz, a port city of southwestern Spain, and in the Canary Islands. However, Ciudad Rodrigo is one of the most well known Carnaval celebrations in the north of Spain, known for the unique way that it combines traditional Carnaval festivities and corridas, bullfights.

Standing on the old city walls, built in the XII century by Ferdinand II,
waiting for the bulls to run through to the Plaza Mayor. Cathedral
of Ciudad Rodrigo visible in background.

We got sick of waiting for the bulls and changed locations to the Plaza Mayor!
This is one of my friends from the trip, Eliza. She was dressed as a fly and I dressed as the ocean.
Shout out of thanks to mi madre for the blue dress :D

The bulls ran through to the Plaza Mayor around 1 pm, but the the corridas wouldn't begin for about 3 more hours. We wandered throughout the city, scoping out the street fair rides, trying different foods, pastries and graciously accepting free sangria. The weather was beautiful, about 60 degrees, so we sat out in the sun while observing the variety ridiculously dressed, intoxicated individuals. It was incredibly entertaining, as I'm sure you can imagine.

View of the Plaza Mayor in anticipation of the afternoon corridas

The time for the corridas finally arrived and I was completely unsure of what to expect. My host mom told us that bulls were not going to be killed at these corridas... it became apparent very early on that this was far from true.

Bull fight - up close and personal 

Watching the bull fight was a totally surreal experience and even a day later I'm still processing my reactions to what I saw. I was sitting directly next to the local band that plays specific songs depending on the stage of the corrida (also what stage of death the bull was experiencing). Men called bandilleros, who assist the bullfighter in the initial stages of the fight, stabbed the bull's shoulders with barbed sticks called bandilleras. Then the torero, matador, and the bull go face to face in a dramatic series of charges, swerves and passes (and stabs...)  At the climax of the fight, the torero corners the bull and delivers the final blow with his sword, stabbing it in between the shoulder blades, directly in the heart. If the fight was an exceptional performance, the torero is awarded with the ear of the bull he has just killed.

It is one thing to describe the step by step action of a corrida  as I just did. It was another to experience it first-hand. Although some may describe me as an emotional person (:p), I wasn't expecting to shed a tear over the bulls. But during the third corrida, the bull was cornered and killed right in front of us, and I was simply overwhelmed. I wept (shocking, I know). I think my emotions were a combination of the following factors.

- The bizarre sensation of witnessing something in person that I'd only ever before seen on T.V.
- The intensity of the culture and history of the corrida mixed with the divided opinions of the world population regarding the tradition.
- Watching the bull struggle for it's life, its breathing growing increasingly heavier with each passing moment.
- The blood
- The suspense
- Experiencing torn loyalties - rooting for the torero one moment and then for the bull the next.

I am so glad that I was able to witness this important tradition yesterday. I feel that my experiences at Carnaval helped to build the growing understanding I have of Spain, its history, culture, and people.

Hasta la próxima aventura,
AB