The Bullfights
(As a legacy of Spanish Colonialism,
Bullfights are celebrated everywhere in El Mayab,
particularly on feast days.)
 
 

W hen left in the herd, the bull is peaceful and easily managed; when separated and alone, he will fight anything that moves including cars, trucks, trains and even airplanes. In organized matches against dogs, lions, tigers, bears and even elephants, he will rarely retreat. For sheer determination, limitless threshold for pain, and brute dignity, the fighting bull has no equal.
 
 

The Corrida (Bullfight) is an intricate construction of prolog, three acts and epilog:

The Prolog

A fanfare of trumpet signals the beginning of the fight as the bull emerges into the arena and proclaims the territory as his own. With the appearance of the peones (three team members supporting one matador , and called banderillas when engaged in placing their banderillas ) plus the matador: the bull is introduced to the cape. It is during this prolog when the readiness of the bull to focus on his opponents is measured, and the ability of the matador to entice, or intimidate, the bull to optimally make that focus, are established. Ideally, the bull will respond well so as to permit the parade of skills expected of the toreros (bullfighters).

Act One

Next is the interplay of two mounted picadors with the peones . The bull must attack either of the two horses with resolute bravery three times while the picador must place his lance head upon the back of the neck of the on-coming bull to receive the thrust of the charge while also severing enough of the neck muscle of the bull to lower its head for the duration of the match. After each pic the peones must, in proper form, distract the bull from the horse and engage the bull in florid passes. It is during this first act when the bull is made to know the seriousness of the fight, and the toreros , the mettle of the spectators. Ideally, the peones will be prompt enough to disengage the bull from the horse before each pic is prolonged, but not so prompt that the bull will not settle down to give good combat.

Act Two

After the heavy impacts of the first act, the second consists of the lyrical forays of the banderilleros when three pairs of colorfully decorated, elongated and barbed darts are placed in the shoulders of the bull. Each approach of the banderilleros toward the contentious bull should demonstrate the ever-increasing valor of the toreros , while the attention of the bull is drawn to the ever-increasing singularity of his opponent.

Act Three

The drama of the contest heightens during the third act or faena . Using a small, red flannel cloth called the muleta , the single matador engages the bull with a series of passes increasingly intricate, linked and logical.

Epilog

Having reached a point when both the craft of the matador (now with the cape) and the valor of the bull have been optimally demonstrated, the matador must finesse the bull to give its most grievous, yet impending, charge; and it is at this point -the height of the Corrida - when the matador must preempt the charge of the bull by 'going over the horns' with the espada (sword) and placing it to the hilt with one clean thrust. Judgment is based on a scale of one to four as: none, one or two ears or two ears plus tail awarded.

Comment

While the Corrida of Cancún attracts many inexperienced spectators, such is not necessarily a detriment to the performance -quite the contrary. Not realizing that the match does not require the taking of sides, North Americans, for example, will invariably sympathize with the bull and 'root' for it -so much so, as to very often become contentious themselves.

Such occurs especially toward the beginning of Act One when an attempted object of the parrying of a picador , to sever enough of the bull's neck muscles to lower its head for the duration of the match (while also attempting to protect himself and mount), may become, for the novices, quite unexpectedly graphic. While foreign to the aficionado , the ensuing cacophony emanating from the stands has, nevertheless, resulted in more than one very brave matador to signal the picadors out of the arena to then fight the bull with its head, and horns, raised high (high enough for the bull to remain unpredictably high-strung, and high enough to occlude the matador's final target: the [relatively] soft spot between the, now, high shoulder blades).

I often wonder, though, how the most contentious newcomers, who are also almost always the most squeamish, might gloat after, as is often the case, they take especially early leave of a Corrida during the beginning of that first act to, later in the evening, console themselves by munching down on morsels of the 'always-so-fresh' steak in their newly favorite restaurant: if it became known to them just how the bull had, in fact, triumphed by the end of that act, and what a bull can do to the (ahhh-gulp): horse!?!
 
 

Not really...

A day of leisure, Venture-Out combines 'An Afternoon at the Bullfights' with Post- Corrida imbibing at the Bull Ring, a strolling tour of D'Town, Cancun with Shopping Opportunities and Dinner (Seafood anyone? -Naa: They leave the heads on). Guests rendezvous at the Bull Ring at 3 PM. The tour serves as an excellent last day activity for those who have accompanied Venture-Out on any one of its other excursions -for whom the tour is reserved.

For prices (and do indicate your dining preference [for example: vegetarian?] contact:

John Pastore @ Venture-Out
Cancún, El Mayab, MX

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