On 10 May 15 I had the chance to see a corrida in Puerto. My favorite matador was Manuel Escribano. He is wearing the blue Traje de luces and I have a photo of each of his first bull’s three acts. He is from Sevilla and he got on his knees for some veronica passes. He placed his own banderillas (versus the other two who did not.) The band started to play during his passes with the muleta, a sign he is doing well. His kills were clean. He got ovations only. I am not sure why he did not get an ear. Only two ears were passed out over the night and no fighter got two; thus, no one got to leave the main door on shoulders. The picture of the judge with the white flag is the sign that an ear will be awarded. The individual dressed in 1700’s clothes with the ear then presents the ear to the matador.
It was a windy day with levant winds. You can see the matador putting water on the muleta to keep it down in the wind. It was a hot day also. This was the first time I bought a sol seat. The seats in the sun are much cheaper but hotter. By the 3rd bull I was in shade, so the cheaper price was a good idea.
The corrida featured six bulls from six different ranches. The photo with the brown bull coming out of the shoots show that the bull is 545 kg and five years old. Hemmingway mentions that bulls beyond three years are dangerous as they are too smart.
During the third act, the matador places his mantilla on the ground or gives it to someone as a sign of dedicating the fight to that person. It is bad luck when the mantilla falls bottom up. One of the pictures shows the mantilla bottom up. The matador discretely fixed this.
One of the photos shows Perez Mota attempting to place the estoque sword in the bulls aorta. He is standing to the side of the bull. He did not get the sword in the right spot or deep enough and the bull did not die as quickly as usual. You can see a spectator in the back holding his head in disgust. I have another photo of a David Galvan placing a wrist brace before the finale of the third act. I imagine a few thrusts in a charging thousand pound bull in vertebrae could cause wrist damage. A great kill like Escribano had means that the bull must charge the matador head on and the matador must expose himself to the bull. It likely takes great courage to not try to place the sword along the bulls side.
The bull with the banderillas all on the left hooked left during the first act. You can see his left horn is shredded versus his right when he hit the wood panels. My understanding is the banderillas were placed on the left to “straighten” the bull’s charges.
I really appreciate Allison allowing me to go to a bullfight on Mother’s day and abandon her with Owen. It was a nice fight.
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