day 8: viva del toro!

15 Feb 2006 (Wednesday)

We woke up at 11am today.

Damn those tequila shots are potent.

Breakfast at the cafe is a highly entertaining affair for me.



My coffee. Can't start the day without it.

You see, our room in Plaza Pelicanos consists of 2 double beds, but in this case those double beds are really SMALL. While I've got the privilege of having 1 whole bed to myself, Ben and Alvin have to share the other bed. And because it's so small...

Every morning I am treated to a scene of bickering between Ben and Alvin over who was taking more space in the bed and how who (almost always Ben) kept stealing the blanket away or kicking the blanket off (poor Alvin). Buahaha.



Yup. That's the bickering session now. Heh heh heh.

Anyway today is our 2nd more-or-less zhuo4 bo2 day in Vallarta. We spend the better part of our day by the pool.



Hotel + beach pics!





And me over the bridge at the pool (Gosh this place is high on aesthetics)...



...Before the guys commission me to go to the pool bar to get them drinks.





Both drinks are theirs. Yes, I know.



And this is the only time they actually enter the water (coz they find it too cold. Buahaha. RIGHT).



But Alvin still finds time to play pool boy by helping us get our towels. Muahaha.

But then evening comes, and it's time for the highlight of today.

We're going to watch a bullfight - DEL TORO - at La Paloma.



The three of us at la paloma, which translates to "The Bullring".



Here are the matadors coming out for the bull fight...



Above: The matador challenges the bull.
And below: The matador raises his blade, ready to pierce it into the bull's spine.



Basically, the bull fight is like it says, a fight between man and bull. What happens is a bull is stabbed in the back with a small blade and released into the bull ring fuming mad from the pain. It is then challenged by a group of between 4 and 6 matadors with pink cloths, who distract it enough for an old matador on a blinded horse to "ready" the bull by piercing it in the middle of its spine with a long spear.

After this, the matadors stab into the same spot with a series of coloured sharp pairs of sticks to cause the bull further pain and anger, and to weaken it further. At this point, the main matador in question will come out with his red cloth and challenge the bull, tiring it out, until it becomes tired and careless. At this point, he takes this sword and stabs it right into the base of the bull's spine. If he does it well, the bull will fall to its knees almost instantaneously, upon which another matador will take another smaller blade and thrust it into the bull's neck in between his head and his body, effectively ending his life.

Essentially, it's a very gory spectacle. There is a lot of blood, and I was NOT at all entertained. I don't believe in the killing of or the using of animals for sport, and especially not for people's entertainment. I found the whole spectacle quite disturbing to watch actually, even though I have to admit tt good matadors WERE entertaining, charming, and the bull's tenacity did rouse the crowd.

But while a good matador may be entertaining, a bad matador, which we had the misfortune of seeing, is not at all. A good matador is able to kill the bull quickly and painlessly, with 1 blow. A bad matador... Well, there were 4 matadors and 4 bulls killed. The second matador was a horrific sight to behold. He stabbed his sword into the bull he was fighting 3 times, and each time he kept missing the spine, so tt the blade just went clean through the side of the animal's hide, and you could see the other end of the sword pointing out from under its flank, dripping blood all over the ring. It was just terrible.

But yeah, bull fighting is nonetheless quite an experience. Not one tt I will want to repeat, but one tt I am glad tt I saw, nonetheless.

We walked back from the bull ring to the hotel for dinner, and then we spent the rest of the night at the cyber cafe for hours and hours.

Fantastic. On holiday... and we STILL can't survive without internet. Bah.