Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain - Bullfight August 20

August 20, 2016

This bullfight was a novodillo sin picadors which is a novice bull fight without a picador placing a vara from horseback at the end of the first act. This fight involved five guys each taking on one bull.  Since these were novices the bulls were smaller and younger than normal.  The bulls were from the farm “Los Azores” a new breeder for me. The first torero (these are not matadors as you are not a matador until you have been presented in “Las Ventas” the bullring in Madrid.)  Anyhow, the first torero earned a de vuelta on a 345 kg 3 yo bull, he got gored once.  The second guy earned an oveja on a 350 kg 3 yo bull.  The 3rd guy earned one oveja on a 365 kg 2 yo bull.  He placed his own banderilla and got gored twice.  The fourth guy earned two ovejgas on a 360 kg 3 yo bull.  The last guy earned a de vuelta on a 350 kg 3 yo.  Both the fifth and third guy placed their own banderillas earned music on the second act.  All toreros had music on the third act.  I think the band plays more readily in novodillos.   A novodillo is interesting as you see lots of mistakes but also a lot of bravery as these guys are highly motivated to get noticed and move up in their profession.

Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain - Bullfight August 14

August 14, 2016

Curro Diaz faced a 500 kg 5 yo Pereda bull.  His cuadrilla placed 6/6 banderillas; however, the third guy fell in front of the bull after placement and got stomped on.  He earned music in the 3rd act, and his sword went in deep but in the left lung (blood from mouth) the bull died in less than 1 minute and his misplaced sword downgraded him to a de vuelta.  His second bull was a 530 kg 4 yo Dehesilla.  The bull was powerful and pushed the picadors horse around the arena.  One of his cuadrilla dropped his veronica.  The cuadrilla placed 4/8 banderillas (really bad- one guy placed only one of two while literally fleeing.)  Diaz earned music his third act but his sword failed to seat deep.  During a descabello attempt he dropped the muleta.  He placed a second sword slightly right of center and earned an ovation.  Diaz is from Jaen and while 40 years old and active since 1990 he fights little.  His 2014 he had only 13 festivals.

Manuel Jesus “El Cid” is a 42 yo famous bullfighter from Sevilla.  He faced a 480 kg 4 yo brown Pereda bull first and earned an ovation.  His cuadrilla did poorly with the banderillas placing 3/6.  His second bull was 530 kg 5 yo Pereda.  His picador did well but the bull was so pissed afterwards he ran across the arena and charged the second picador (first time I have seen this.)  The Cuadrilla did poorly with the banderillas placing ½ ½ and 2/2 flags.  He earned music the third act with a moving faena.  His sword was deep but a little to the side and a quick descabello brought down the bull quickly- he earned an ear.

David Galvan is a 24 yo from Cadiz.  He faced a 495 kg 5 yo Pereda and did some mariposa/butterfly turns on act one.  During the second act one of his cuadrilla fell while placing a flag but 6/6 went in.  His third act of bull one was the highlight of the night.  Adjectives would be slow, clean, controlled, a dance to the music.  His kill was placed perfectly killing the bull instantly and he earned two ears.  The young maestro earned another ear with his second bull a 560 kg 4 yo Dehesilla.  His cuadrilla placed 6/6 of flags his picador 1 vara and his sword was deep and true.  His faena in the 3rd act got the band playing.

Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain - Bullfight August 13

August 13, 2016

13AUG2016@2130 Corrida De Rejones in Puerto
Bull:  Benitez Cubero 505 kg 5 yo	Andy Cartagena: 36 yo from Benidorm (near Valencia)	1 vara	Multiple horses	4 long in 1 miss	3 short in	Judge declined rose (took too long in second act)	Sword partially in but quick kill	1 ear
Bull:  Benitez Cubero 500 kg 4 yo very wide horns	Sergio Galan:  36 yo from Madrid	2 vara first too farm left	4 horses	4 long 1 long miss	3 short	Rose	Sword only half in blood from bulls mouth as in the lungs.	Silencio
Bull: Benitez Cubero 530 kg 5 yo black with wide horns	Leonardo Hernandez from Badajoz 29 yo	1 vara	5 horses	5 long. Placed from short distance (much more risk)	3 short	1 Rose.  Placed head on bulls head, elbow on bulls head	1 Immediate kill (seconds)	2 ears: The spectacle of the night.  Everything was done well.  He also showed great horsemanship jumping his horse 3 times.
Bull:  Benitez Cubero 590 kg 5 yo black with very wide horns	Andy Cartagena: 36 yo from Benidorm (near Valencia) Grandson/sobrino of famous rejoneadore	2 vara	5 horses	7 long	3 short	No rose	1 sword but also had to decaballo	Silencio:  put his hat on the bull in act three (I felt it was disrespectful.)  He had to descabello after two horns from the judge.  He waited way too long to admit a descabello making the bull suffer.
Bull:  Benitez Cubero 540 kg 4 yo	Sergio Galan:  36 yo from Madrid	2 vara. Received horse right at the bull shoot in act one (only time but not as powerful to see as a Sevilla Rodilla)	3 horses	6 long	3 short. Touched bull head and elbow on head 3 times.	No Rose	2 sword attempts. 1st 1 foot out 2nd 1 foot out descabello very quick and clean	Ovation.  Crowd respected his respect for the bull and he earned an ovation for putting the bull as quickly and cleanly as he could despite some mistakes.
Bull:  Benitez Cubero: 525 kg 5 yo	Leonardo Hernandez from Badajoz 29 yo	1 vara to the left	4 horses: bull clearly hit two of them causing them to lip	5 long	3 short	1 rose	Sword to hub but a little left.  Quickly went to the descabello. While attempting the descabello dropped the muleta	1 ear.

Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain - Bullfight August 6

August 6, 2016

This Saturday I saw a corrida of six Pedro Domecq bulls.  Morante De La Puebla was the “big name” of the night.  He is frequently mentioned with “El Juli” “El Fandi” “Enrique Ponce” etc.  He is a 37 year old from Sevilla.  I have seen him in Puerto, Malaga, and Sevilla.  He puts in effort at the big rings like Sevilla.  In the times I have seen him in Puerto and Malaga he pulls every cheap trick to expose himself to as little risk as possible.  True to his form he did the same in Puerto and earned not only two silencios, but a booing at the end.  His last bull was a 540 kg 4 yo bull.  He almost dropped the veronica two times.  His picador had to have two vara attempts.  His cuadrilla placed 5/6  banderillas.  He only placed the escoparda inches in the bull but did not try another.  The escoparda actually fell out why he was waiting for the bull to bleed out.  His descabello was clean because he is evidently experienced in this.  His first bull was a 500 kg 5 yo.  His cuadrilla again placed 5/6 flags.  He did another poor kill with a quick descabello.  A quick note on Morante.  In 2002/2003 he was averaging 50 ears and a few tails with 50-60 festivals.  In 2004 he had only 8 festivals.  Since 2005 he averages 50-60 festivals but only 20-30 ears.  I bet he got gored in 2004 and lost his courage.  In Wikipedia is only notes he retired “por problemas psíquicos.”

Alejandro Talavante is a 29 year old from Badajoz.  I have seen him before and he did not disappoint.  He earned the only ear of the night.  His first bull was a 505 kg 5 year old.  The Picador actually missed his vara.  His cuadrilla placed 6/6 banderillas and the last guy fell after placing it and nearly got gored.  He earned music in his 3rd act.  He had to place three escopardas as the first two hit vertebrae (he wears a black wrist brace) but his third went true and the bull fell immediately.  He earned an ovation due to missed points on the multiple escopardas.   His second bull was a 515 kg 4 yo.  His cuadrilla placed 5/6 flags.  He dropped the muleta on the third act, and therefore got not music.  He was clearly trying and did a good job despite no music.  He placed a deep escoparda and the bull fell immediately.  He earned the only ear of the night with this fight.

Borja Jimenez is a 24 year old from Sevilla.  This was his first fight in Puerto.  I saw him in Sevilla and he showed his typical courage and ambition to establish himself.  His first bull was a 480 kg 4 yo.  He took the bull on knees in the Sevilla style.  He dropped the veronica.  The bull did a literal headstand flip when its horns dug in the sand.  His cuadrilla disappointed with 2/6 flags placed.  The bull was clearly lame/coja.  It went down 4 times in the second act and many times in the 3rd act.  The crowd screamed at the judge for another but she did not oblige.   Maybe the headstand caused damage.  He got not music but had a single clean kill.  He earned an ovation and would have done better with a descent bull.  His last bull was a 530 kg 4 yo.  Everything went great until the kill.  The picador had a nice vara, the cuadrilla placed 6/6 flags, his first act veronica work included 3 six passes.  He got music in the 3rd act with some extravagant muelta work.  Then it went to shit.  He had 4 escoparda attempts.  During two he lost the muleta, during the third he hit vertebrae and on the fourth his sword was a foot out from the hub.  He then did five descabello attempts before the bull went down clean.  He earned an ovation.

León, Spain

August 2-3, 2016

León is also in Northern Spain and we took a train between Bilbao and León to see some of the beautiful countryside.  Its city population as of 2015 is 127,817 makes it the largest municipality in the León province.  The city was founded as the military site around 29 BC.  The city’s first recorded historical landmark was being a main center for the Reconquista in 910 AD. Their next contribution to Spanish history was hosting the first Parliament in European history under the reign of Alfonso IX in 1188.  The current motto of the city is “The cradle of Parliamentarism". The third major Spanish historical event was being one of the first cities to hold an uprising in the Spanish War of Independence in the early 1800s.  By 1833 it became the provincial capital. In more modern history, the railroad, mining, and being a communications hub have been their main industries.  

The largest attraction that we visited was León's French-style Gothic Cathedral which is also called The House of Light or the ‘Pulchra Leonina’. This name is in because of the huge stained glass windows on every wall throughout the cathedral. They are having a rough go with structural stability because when they removed walls to put in the stained glass, the walls then were weakened and being a stone structure is putting a lot of weight on the few remaining walls.  It was very beautiful though. While walking through the city, our next stop was the Convento de San Marcos.  The building design is plateresque and Renaissance Spanish architecture is very stunning and currently is operated as a luxury Parador.  Damon’s favorite stop was Basílica de San Isidoro that is where the first European Parliament was held in 1188.   The original church was built in the pre-Moor period over the ruins of a temple to the Roman god Mercury.  León's Cortes dealt with matters like the right to private property, the inviolability of domicile, the right to appeal to justice opposite the King and the obligation of the King to consult the Cortes before entering a war. This church also is the final resting place for León’s medieval monarchs. Our last destination was to see the Casa de los Botines which was designed by Antoni Gaudí with construction finishing in 1893. Owen’s favorite part was riding the tourist train around the city and trying to hang off the front edge of our cart.  

This trip to Bilbao and León was our last big trip while still living in Spain.  There is no denying that I was feeling pretty worn out from travel, but all in all it was a fun weekend.