My 2 Second Shelf Life

The Dance of Death.



Our friends warned me about the bullfight.


"It's pretty bloody"
"I don't know if you'll be able to sit through the whole thing"

Even The Mister was concerned, since I am the one to hide my eyes during bloody movies.

...but I loved the bullfight.

Yes.
I know that there's an outcry for the bullfights to cease.

And for some reason, I thought that they went on for ages torturing the poor bull...

...but they don't.

An entire bullfight appears to last about 20 minutes, and unlike cows and bulls on this side of the pond who are led to the slaughter...the bulls in Spain get an opportunity to fight back.

...and sometimes they get their own.

I understand that we got to see a bullfight in one of the most famous rings in the world. The ring in Seville...and it's old. Old and beautiful, and reminiscent of the Roman ring.

Let me try to describe.

People show up to the bullfight decked OUT. Ladies in their best, with their pretty fans, men carrying their little pillows to sit on the old stone, that is hard on the bum, as us tourists quickly found out.



The Toreadors and Matadors enter in their full regalia, and pay respects to the crowd by coming right up to the boards and tipping their hats to the fans one at a time.
Their outfits are fantastic...and it got me thinking....I could get with the fantastic outfits in beautiful bright saffrons and reds...taunting the bulls with my pink cape...and then running like a bitch behind the boards as the bull chips away at the wood with fury...but that's where I would make my exit.



The rest is a dance of death...and it's beautiful.
The bull is massive and angry.
Each bull enters with their own personality and level of ire and fire.

The Matador is glorious, graceful and proud.
When the Matador makes his move, dodging the bull so closely and pulling the cape with such grace and respect for the bulls power...I get it.

All of the bull's meat and hide is used.
Not like the hunters who kill, mount the head and leave the carcass to rot in the woods...this is a dance of death...a show of respect for the power of the animal.
The crowd is respectful and hush...one man shouted out during a crucial moment as the Matador and bull stared each other down in the final moments, and the entire crowd hissed him to silence.

If you're going to die for your meat...there is no way more courtly to go than with an opportunity to kill your opponent.

I am officially a fan.

Kiss my ass PETA.