Since Valencia is located on the sea and the weather was nice, William and I decided to go check out the local beach. Our Belgian friends had planned to see parts of the city that we had already seen so we planned to meet that evening. We drove down to the port which is right next to the beach and is famous for being the start/finish location for the World's Cup sailboat races. There are a lot of new buildings there for housing the race teams and it was neat to see how they have it all set-up. It's quite a production and I'm sure it would be cool to see all the sailboats racing out of there. We spent the rest of the afternoon just hanging out on the beach, which is always a good way to relax.Our plans for that evening were to meet the girls at the bullfighting arena to see a bullfight. I was told that two times a year they have a bullfight with free admission and that this was one of those nights. Unfortunately Willy and I were a little late in getting back to the hostel and we missed the girls who had already left, so we just walked down there ourselves. We got in line to get our free ticket but they ran out of them one person in front of us. However, we saw some people go over to a gate on the side and some guy let them in, so we went over there and Willy asked if we could get in too and he let us. We walked around a bit trying to find a good seat but most were taken. We ended up on the end of a corridor right next to where they let the bulls in just as they were letting the first one loose, so we got a good view of him coming out. 
We also got to see a close-up of the spears that they stick in the bull's shoulders, ouch. We walked up to find a seat and there was a guy that told us that the lower section was reserved for people with season tickets or something, but we just stood right there and watched the first bull. If you don't care to hear about how they kill bulls in Spain, you might want to skip this next part. 
The bull is let out into the round arena and for some reason he seems pretty pissed off. Probably because there are five guys in fancy costumes waving pink capes at him. I don't think I'd like that much either. Anyway, the guys tease him with the capes for a bit while the bull chases them around, and soon after a couple of them exchange the cape for the spears. They stand in front of the bull and wait for him to charge, and as he goes by they jump to the side and stick the spears into his shoulders two at a time. 
That makes the bull really mad and he tries to shake the spears off, but the more he tries the more they tear into him. I think it's meant to weaken his neck so he can't lift his head and horn somebody, but all it really does is piss him off even more. Once the bull has about four of those things hanging on him, everybody then leaves and the matador comes out with a red cape. In this case all the matadors were young kids that were still fairly new to the sport, and yes this is a sport in Spain. The matador teases the bull with the cape and attempts to show how brave he is by showing no fear of the bull. 
There is a band up on the top level of the stadium that plays during this part and it's an entertaining show. After the crowd yells a few "oles!" and the matador has proven his manhood, another two-man band consisting of a drum and a trumpet sound the change of action. The matador then trades the cape for a long sword. Now it gets serious. With the bull pretty tired out, the guy stands there with the sword ready, and as the bull charges he moves to the side and tries to stick the entire sword into the bull just behind it's neck, and if he gets it in the right place (through the heart and or lungs) the bull will die almost instantly. 
However, this is much easier said than done. The guy didn't get the sword in the first time and it just fell out, so he had to pick it up and try again. This time he got it all the way in, but apparently he missed the vital organs and the bull just kept running around with a 3 foot sword buried in him. Then the other guys came back out and played the cape game again to get the bull to tire, and then another guy came with a 6 inch knife in his hand. When the bull tired and lowered his head the guy reached out and stuck the knife right behind the bull's skull and the bull dropped dead. After it's over a team of two horses comes out and drags the bull from the arena. Yeah, it's pretty gruesome, but this is tradition. I didn't really like it, but after the first one the next five weren't so bad. Yes they killed six bulls, with three matadors each taking two tries. Once you get used to seeing a bull stabbed to death, you can actually start following it better and recognizing when somebody does something good or bad. One matador was just fantastic with the way he worked the bull with the cape, and after he finished he got a standing ovation from the crowd and people threw roses to him as he walked around the arena, it was pretty cool. Another guy managed to get the sword into the bull on his first try and killed him instantly. It was great because that is what the people want to see. Believe it or not they don't want to see the bulls suffer. He got a huge ovation, with everyone in the stands pulling out white handkerchiefs and waving them. There is some type of a judge up in the stands and if the matador does good he can signal it with his own white hanky. One for good, two for really good, three for the best. The boy got one hanky, the only one all night, and the crowd went wild. For scoring a point, the matador gets a trophy. Another guy with a big feathery hat goes out and cuts off one of the ears from the bull and gives it to him. Two points earns you both ears, three and you get the tail too. The kid paraded around the arena holding up the ear as people cheered and threw roses, it was pretty exciting. 
We also got to see a close-up of the spears that they stick in the bull's shoulders, ouch. We walked up to find a seat and there was a guy that told us that the lower section was reserved for people with season tickets or something, but we just stood right there and watched the first bull. If you don't care to hear about how they kill bulls in Spain, you might want to skip this next part. The bull is let out into the round arena and for some reason he seems pretty pissed off. Probably because there are five guys in fancy costumes waving pink capes at him. I don't think I'd like that much either. Anyway, the guys tease him with the capes for a bit while the bull chases them around, and soon after a couple of them exchange the cape for the spears. They stand in front of the bull and wait for him to charge, and as he goes by they jump to the side and stick the spears into his shoulders two at a time. That makes the bull really mad and he tries to shake the spears off, but the more he tries the more they tear into him. I think it's meant to weaken his neck so he can't lift his head and horn somebody, but all it really does is piss him off even more. Once the bull has about four of those things hanging on him, everybody then leaves and the matador comes out with a red cape. In this case all the matadors were young kids that were still fairly new to the sport, and yes this is a sport in Spain. The matador teases the bull with the cape and attempts to show how brave he is by showing no fear of the bull. There is a band up on the top level of the stadium that plays during this part and it's an entertaining show. After the crowd yells a few "oles!" and the matador has proven his manhood, another two-man band consisting of a drum and a trumpet sound the change of action. The matador then trades the cape for a long sword. Now it gets serious. With the bull pretty tired out, the guy stands there with the sword ready, and as the bull charges he moves to the side and tries to stick the entire sword into the bull just behind it's neck, and if he gets it in the right place (through the heart and or lungs) the bull will die almost instantly. However, this is much easier said than done. The guy didn't get the sword in the first time and it just fell out, so he had to pick it up and try again. This time he got it all the way in, but apparently he missed the vital organs and the bull just kept running around with a 3 foot sword buried in him. Then the other guys came back out and played the cape game again to get the bull to tire, and then another guy came with a 6 inch knife in his hand. When the bull tired and lowered his head the guy reached out and stuck the knife right behind the bull's skull and the bull dropped dead. After it's over a team of two horses comes out and drags the bull from the arena. Yeah, it's pretty gruesome, but this is tradition. I didn't really like it, but after the first one the next five weren't so bad. Yes they killed six bulls, with three matadors each taking two tries. Once you get used to seeing a bull stabbed to death, you can actually start following it better and recognizing when somebody does something good or bad. One matador was just fantastic with the way he worked the bull with the cape, and after he finished he got a standing ovation from the crowd and people threw roses to him as he walked around the arena, it was pretty cool. Another guy managed to get the sword into the bull on his first try and killed him instantly. It was great because that is what the people want to see. Believe it or not they don't want to see the bulls suffer. He got a huge ovation, with everyone in the stands pulling out white handkerchiefs and waving them. There is some type of a judge up in the stands and if the matador does good he can signal it with his own white hanky. One for good, two for really good, three for the best. The boy got one hanky, the only one all night, and the crowd went wild. For scoring a point, the matador gets a trophy. Another guy with a big feathery hat goes out and cuts off one of the ears from the bull and gives it to him. Two points earns you both ears, three and you get the tail too. The kid paraded around the arena holding up the ear as people cheered and threw roses, it was pretty exciting. William has been to bullfights in Mexico before so he kinda knew how they worked, but there were four old ladies sitting behind us that explained everything to him. They were "season ticket holders" and they've been coming to these fights for years so they knew it all. Willy was translating for me, but it was easy to tell that the ladies were cutting it up, even making comments about how the boys looked in the their tight pants, it was pretty funny.
Out of the six bulls, there was one that didn't die in the arena. The matador put the sword in, but he missed the spot and the bull kept charging. With the sword in him, the guy came with the knife and gave it to the matador to do the job. He stuck the knife in the back of his head maybe 8 or 10 times and somehow the bull kept fighting, refusing to go down. It was getting pretty ugly, so the trumpet and drum sounded the end and the bullfighters left the arena leaving the bull alone. Then, all of a sudden several other bulls of a different variety were let in the arena and running all over. People started cheering and laughing at the site. The bulls went over and sniffed the bleeding bull, then the gate was reopened and they ran out with the die-hard bull following them. It was pretty unbelievable that the bull didn't die, and even the old ladies said they had never seen that happen before with the other bulls coming in. Everyone got quite a kick out of it all, except maybe the bull who didn't seem too impressed.
The bullfight was a very unique experience. Yes it was a bit harsh, but it's an important tradition and part of the culture that I came here to experience and I'm glad I got to see it. This sure isn't America, there wasn't a Prius driving PETA member in sight. As for me, I left the arena with a feeling of excitement and a strong craving for a nice juicy steak.
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