Twilight and Bull Fights

Two blog posts in three days? You lucky readers, you.

I wanted to do a quick update of my goings on last night and today before I head back out into the internet-barren wilderness of Ecuador (only until Tuesday or Wednesday though).

Last night I went to see the new Twilight movie, New Moon, with my host sister and one of her friends. There were two options at the ticket window, the English version with Spanish subtitles or the dubbed Spanish version. And naturally because I was with two Ecuadorians, and I wasn't the one actually purchasing the tickets, we went to see the dubbed version in Spanish. I was a little worried about how much I would actually understand, but it turned out to be easier than I expected because I read the book already, so I at least knew what was going on if not what the people were actually saying. It also helped that the movie has pretty simple dialogue, so it wasn't too too difficult to follow along.

Today my dad and I went to a bull fight, which was the main reason for my return to Quito this weekend. Earlier in the semester I was driving somewhere with my family, and someone asked me if I liked bull fights. I answered that I'd never seen one, and I was then asked if I'd want to go to one. I said yes, not knowing that there actually are bull fights here, and it was then decided that tickets were going to be bought and I was going to a bull fight. Bull fights only go on for one week out of the year here to celebrate the Fiestas de Quito, which started on Friday. Now I'm definitely not in support of killing innocent animals, but I figured that this might be my only opportunity to see a bull fight in my life, and it was something I wanted to experience. My mom (clarification: real mom) likened it to eating guinea pig, which I think is a good comparison because I don't want to kill a cute little guinea pig and eat it, but I decided that if the opportunity was offered to me I was going to try it.

So this morning my mom and sister picked out an outfit for me to wear (complete with a ridiculous hat, don't worry, there are pictures) and my dad and I headed off to the Estadio de Toros. We bought tickets from a scalper, found our seats, and proceeded to roast in the nearly midday sun (luckily clouds rolled in about half an hour after we got there). The fight started at noon with all of the matadors parading in, and then the first bull was sent into the ring. When the first fight started all I could think was "What was I thinking?! They're actually going to kill that animal!" The first three fights were the hardest for me, but after that I started seeing the art in the fight. All of the passes and the movements that the bull and matador make are beautiful, and some of the pictures that I took are some of my favorites from the entire semester. The matador that I liked best wasn't actually a matador, he was a rejoneador, which I think means that instead of being on foot he was on a horse the entire time. The horses he rode were absolutely gorgeous, and each one did a different trick (he changed horses about 3 times during each fight). The two matadors were also interesting to watch, but I didn't like them as much as the rejoneador.

So now that I have experienced a bull fight for myself, here are my opinions on them: I don't like that they actually kill the bulls, but now that I've seen one I understand why people like bull fights. Without the death and suffering of an innocent creature aspect they are an art form, and it's actually pretty beautiful to watch. So in conclusion: Do I like them? Not really. Would I go to another one? Probably not. Am I glad that I saw one? Yes.

Now I have to actually start working on my paper, because the majority of my weekend has been eaten up by the movies, bull fights, and procrastination. I'll post pictures of ISP/the bull fight when I get back to Quito on Tuesday or Wednesday!

Hasta luego,
Caroline