Body Art
What do you think of when you hear the phrase ¨body art?¨
My guess is that your answer probably lies somewhere in the ballpark of tattoos, SportsIllustrated´s painted ¨swimsuits¨, or maybe even childhood finger painting. Well my friends I seen and been blown away by a new type of body art.
Matadors. I´ll explain
When the bull pops out of the cage he is fired up with all the fury of Ferdinand getting stung by a bee. He runs around like a madman and chases after the first wave of tiny little Ecuadorian men. These men I might dub, ¨JV matadors.¨They have the cape that they wave at the bull, but it actually is colored pink. You don´t even have to tell me. The matadors ole with red- the color of passion, blood, and love, while the first wave of people ¨torrear¨ (Spanish verb to bait something) with pink, the color of flowers and bubble gum. Hence, thus, in conclusion ¨JV Matadors.¨
The junior varsity squad also possess little apparent bravery. They basically pop out one at a time from behind the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o´clock situated mini walls and get the bull to run around for a while. They also sprint behind the mini walls, and sometimes even jump the outer wall if the bull even sniffs in their direction. I mean even I wished that I had horns on my head so that I might stab these little peckers for their fear and jumping bean mentality. The words ¨spaz¨, ¨wuss,¨and ¨come on¨all came to mind. I guess they were just tiring the bull out or something, but if I was the bull I would just be getting madder by the second.
The next wave of people are the biggest sorry hams of all, but they actually look pretty cool. They are dressed in beautiful colored robes and are astride what look like war horses. Huge cloths are draped over the horses body, and their heads are covered with intricate masks. I believe that this wave of dudes was the ¨Picadors.¨The Picadors hold gigantic spears and they basically ride up to the bull and stab away. This aspect of the fight is certainly where the animal rights people are screaming their heads off. Because of the horse´s armor, and the Picador´s long spear and height advantage the bull has no chance. He tries to buck the horse and Picador to the best of his ability, but can´t get a good shot, and ends up just getting worked with the spear. At this point the lower neck and upper back of the bull also slowly start reddening with the bull´s blood. The jet black fur appears to sponge cool aid ever so slowly.
After the Picadors come the at first cool, but later wuss central wave of bull fighters. These guys hold what look peculiar objects the size of air traffic control cones covered with a colorful decoration that looks like structures outside old barber shops or on colorful christmas candy canes. However, inside the objects are barbed spears. Thus the guys sprint out into the middle of the ring and start jumping around trying to lure the bull. The bull then charges and the men hold up the air traffic control cones in both hands like they are Young Daniel Son waiting to administer the crow hop round house kick to win the karate tournment. However when the bull approaches, the men quickly dodge aside and thrust the cones into the bull´s neck. Because they are barbed they stick in the bull and give him the appearance of trailing covered braids from his head. After this amazing feat of athleticism the Daniel Son character sprints for bloody murder to the outer wall and dives behind it while the JV squad lure the bull away from his third tormenter.
Then you hear a blood curdling huzzah as the matador strides out holding his red cape and tiny stabbing sword. Aside from the tights and funny looking beret I would be one of these guys in a second. They are the James Bonds of Ecuador. They walk out into the middle of the ring to resounding cheers waving casually, but never once taking their eyes off the bull. Their eye lock also isn´t one of fear and caution, but one of intimidation and daring. Awesome. For some reason they place their sword underneath their cape and start their casual shimmering in anticipation of the bull´s charge. JV Squad stands behind the mini walls in case of emergency, but the Picadors and Daniel Sons are all safely tucked away out of the ring. It´s just man vs. beast mono y mono. Despite the advantage the matador has with all of the preemptive strikes and animal cruelty I must confess that I am loving the drama and the stand off. Picture a good old fashioned western shoot out, with Big Bad Bill dawning razor sharp knives, bulging muscles, and a jet black coat. Dashing Wyatt Earp only is protected by his agility, lightning fast reflexes, and single silver Colt 45 handgun. The matador waits every so patiently while the bull eyes his apparent victim. Then the bull charges.
Then the body art begins. Matadors move with the fluidity of water. Every part of their body seems to be connected perfectly with every other part. Their bodies never make unplanned movements, and every flinch, wave, or step looks to be part of an intricate electrical system. They almost glide. They first slowly shake their cape so that the ripples seem to move from one end of the cape to another. As the bull charges they wave the cape in front of them, to the sides, around their back, through their legs, as if they were handling a rippling waving basketball. As the bull speeds by, they flaunt their cape in front of his snarling face as close as possible, and only at the last second to they let the cape up and allow the bull to pass. Each time the bull passes the matador demonstrates an even greater fluid movement. Each pass is met with a resounding ¨OLE!¨from the capacity crowd.
Their were a couple of moves that really stood out for me. THe first was a beckoning from the matador from his right side and right hand. As the bull approached, the matador spun to his left and passed the cape to his left hand, right as the bull approached. Without even looking he casually lifted the cape, which was now behind his back, as the bull sped by, and finished with the cape in his left hand staring directly as the bull. Beautiful to watch. The second move that even got me out of my seat is when the matador shimmered his cape in front of the bull´s nose with his right hand, and slowly pet the bull´s back with his left hand, propelling the bull to circle him six times, only to let him out of the circle to a resounding ¨Ole.¨It was like spinning a string with a ball tied around it faster and faster in a circle, only to let it go and watch it shoot off in another direction. Awesome.
The first bull we saw was jet black, but not super lively. He was the victim of the around the circle move. The second bull was more of a gray color, that was awesome to see, because he gave the appearance of being a wild bull from the countryside. An untamed rogue finally brought in for his crimes. THe gray bull also was lively and pissed off. A great combination to witness the bull fight´s NASCAR crash. It really was amazing. The second matador we saw was waving his cape to his side, and tried to bring the cape in front of him, planning to sidestep his body at the last minute out of the way of the cape and bull. However, the gray bull was wise to his tricks and went right for the movement of his body, rather than the movement of the cape. BOOM. The bull planted his head right in the Matador´s gut and tossed him seven feet in the air to an echoing !Gasp! from the crowd. He crumpled to the ground as he came down from being tossed in the air. Luckily he managed to position himself between the bull´s horns to avoid being impaled, but he looked badly hurt.
YIPPPEEE! Here come the JV´ers! They all ran in jumping and screaming like madmen trying to lure the rogue bull away from the matador, and fortunately or unfortunately they succeeded. I was proud to see the matador shrug off the advances of the JV´ers trying to help him and he actually finished the bull flight slightly limping.
The end of the bull fight stinks. The bull is so out of breath, battered, and bloody, that he basically stops moving. Though people might tell you that matadors can finish the job with one blow, I certainly did not see that to be the case. The matador basically stabbed away at the bull right behind his skull while the JV´ers flanked the bull to set him up for the perfect shot. The first bull went down after three thrusts, while the second went down after four. Then some other JV´ers run up and cart the bull away.
The Ecuadorian I was sitting next to told me that there are exclusive clubs you can go to and eat the bulls killed during the fight. Sounds like a great sub plot for a Dan Brown book to me. The secret IllumalnowImgoingtoeatbull society that plagues Ecuador´s attempt to separate from Spanish culture´s influence.
Would I go again? Absolutely. I have to say. Being an athlete myself, I appreciated considerably the movements of the matador.
Is the fight fair? No. Which actually is lame. I would definitely rather see the matador face off one on one. I also feel a great respect for the bull in being placed in unwinnable circumstances and hope he finds peace after death.
Does that make me strange? Who knows. Find out for yourself. I dont care if you are Dr. Doolittle it´s worth going once just to have the cultural experience and see body art up close and personal.
There also are bull fights in Otevalo where Ecuadorians jump into the ring and play ¨bull soccer¨, where both teams try to lure the bull into another person´s goal.
Wish me luck.
My guess is that your answer probably lies somewhere in the ballpark of tattoos, SportsIllustrated´s painted ¨swimsuits¨, or maybe even childhood finger painting. Well my friends I seen and been blown away by a new type of body art.
Matadors. I´ll explain
When the bull pops out of the cage he is fired up with all the fury of Ferdinand getting stung by a bee. He runs around like a madman and chases after the first wave of tiny little Ecuadorian men. These men I might dub, ¨JV matadors.¨They have the cape that they wave at the bull, but it actually is colored pink. You don´t even have to tell me. The matadors ole with red- the color of passion, blood, and love, while the first wave of people ¨torrear¨ (Spanish verb to bait something) with pink, the color of flowers and bubble gum. Hence, thus, in conclusion ¨JV Matadors.¨
The junior varsity squad also possess little apparent bravery. They basically pop out one at a time from behind the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o´clock situated mini walls and get the bull to run around for a while. They also sprint behind the mini walls, and sometimes even jump the outer wall if the bull even sniffs in their direction. I mean even I wished that I had horns on my head so that I might stab these little peckers for their fear and jumping bean mentality. The words ¨spaz¨, ¨wuss,¨and ¨come on¨all came to mind. I guess they were just tiring the bull out or something, but if I was the bull I would just be getting madder by the second.
The next wave of people are the biggest sorry hams of all, but they actually look pretty cool. They are dressed in beautiful colored robes and are astride what look like war horses. Huge cloths are draped over the horses body, and their heads are covered with intricate masks. I believe that this wave of dudes was the ¨Picadors.¨The Picadors hold gigantic spears and they basically ride up to the bull and stab away. This aspect of the fight is certainly where the animal rights people are screaming their heads off. Because of the horse´s armor, and the Picador´s long spear and height advantage the bull has no chance. He tries to buck the horse and Picador to the best of his ability, but can´t get a good shot, and ends up just getting worked with the spear. At this point the lower neck and upper back of the bull also slowly start reddening with the bull´s blood. The jet black fur appears to sponge cool aid ever so slowly.
After the Picadors come the at first cool, but later wuss central wave of bull fighters. These guys hold what look peculiar objects the size of air traffic control cones covered with a colorful decoration that looks like structures outside old barber shops or on colorful christmas candy canes. However, inside the objects are barbed spears. Thus the guys sprint out into the middle of the ring and start jumping around trying to lure the bull. The bull then charges and the men hold up the air traffic control cones in both hands like they are Young Daniel Son waiting to administer the crow hop round house kick to win the karate tournment. However when the bull approaches, the men quickly dodge aside and thrust the cones into the bull´s neck. Because they are barbed they stick in the bull and give him the appearance of trailing covered braids from his head. After this amazing feat of athleticism the Daniel Son character sprints for bloody murder to the outer wall and dives behind it while the JV squad lure the bull away from his third tormenter.
Then you hear a blood curdling huzzah as the matador strides out holding his red cape and tiny stabbing sword. Aside from the tights and funny looking beret I would be one of these guys in a second. They are the James Bonds of Ecuador. They walk out into the middle of the ring to resounding cheers waving casually, but never once taking their eyes off the bull. Their eye lock also isn´t one of fear and caution, but one of intimidation and daring. Awesome. For some reason they place their sword underneath their cape and start their casual shimmering in anticipation of the bull´s charge. JV Squad stands behind the mini walls in case of emergency, but the Picadors and Daniel Sons are all safely tucked away out of the ring. It´s just man vs. beast mono y mono. Despite the advantage the matador has with all of the preemptive strikes and animal cruelty I must confess that I am loving the drama and the stand off. Picture a good old fashioned western shoot out, with Big Bad Bill dawning razor sharp knives, bulging muscles, and a jet black coat. Dashing Wyatt Earp only is protected by his agility, lightning fast reflexes, and single silver Colt 45 handgun. The matador waits every so patiently while the bull eyes his apparent victim. Then the bull charges.
Then the body art begins. Matadors move with the fluidity of water. Every part of their body seems to be connected perfectly with every other part. Their bodies never make unplanned movements, and every flinch, wave, or step looks to be part of an intricate electrical system. They almost glide. They first slowly shake their cape so that the ripples seem to move from one end of the cape to another. As the bull charges they wave the cape in front of them, to the sides, around their back, through their legs, as if they were handling a rippling waving basketball. As the bull speeds by, they flaunt their cape in front of his snarling face as close as possible, and only at the last second to they let the cape up and allow the bull to pass. Each time the bull passes the matador demonstrates an even greater fluid movement. Each pass is met with a resounding ¨OLE!¨from the capacity crowd.
Their were a couple of moves that really stood out for me. THe first was a beckoning from the matador from his right side and right hand. As the bull approached, the matador spun to his left and passed the cape to his left hand, right as the bull approached. Without even looking he casually lifted the cape, which was now behind his back, as the bull sped by, and finished with the cape in his left hand staring directly as the bull. Beautiful to watch. The second move that even got me out of my seat is when the matador shimmered his cape in front of the bull´s nose with his right hand, and slowly pet the bull´s back with his left hand, propelling the bull to circle him six times, only to let him out of the circle to a resounding ¨Ole.¨It was like spinning a string with a ball tied around it faster and faster in a circle, only to let it go and watch it shoot off in another direction. Awesome.
The first bull we saw was jet black, but not super lively. He was the victim of the around the circle move. The second bull was more of a gray color, that was awesome to see, because he gave the appearance of being a wild bull from the countryside. An untamed rogue finally brought in for his crimes. THe gray bull also was lively and pissed off. A great combination to witness the bull fight´s NASCAR crash. It really was amazing. The second matador we saw was waving his cape to his side, and tried to bring the cape in front of him, planning to sidestep his body at the last minute out of the way of the cape and bull. However, the gray bull was wise to his tricks and went right for the movement of his body, rather than the movement of the cape. BOOM. The bull planted his head right in the Matador´s gut and tossed him seven feet in the air to an echoing !Gasp! from the crowd. He crumpled to the ground as he came down from being tossed in the air. Luckily he managed to position himself between the bull´s horns to avoid being impaled, but he looked badly hurt.
YIPPPEEE! Here come the JV´ers! They all ran in jumping and screaming like madmen trying to lure the rogue bull away from the matador, and fortunately or unfortunately they succeeded. I was proud to see the matador shrug off the advances of the JV´ers trying to help him and he actually finished the bull flight slightly limping.
The end of the bull fight stinks. The bull is so out of breath, battered, and bloody, that he basically stops moving. Though people might tell you that matadors can finish the job with one blow, I certainly did not see that to be the case. The matador basically stabbed away at the bull right behind his skull while the JV´ers flanked the bull to set him up for the perfect shot. The first bull went down after three thrusts, while the second went down after four. Then some other JV´ers run up and cart the bull away.
The Ecuadorian I was sitting next to told me that there are exclusive clubs you can go to and eat the bulls killed during the fight. Sounds like a great sub plot for a Dan Brown book to me. The secret IllumalnowImgoingtoeatbull society that plagues Ecuador´s attempt to separate from Spanish culture´s influence.
Would I go again? Absolutely. I have to say. Being an athlete myself, I appreciated considerably the movements of the matador.
Is the fight fair? No. Which actually is lame. I would definitely rather see the matador face off one on one. I also feel a great respect for the bull in being placed in unwinnable circumstances and hope he finds peace after death.
Does that make me strange? Who knows. Find out for yourself. I dont care if you are Dr. Doolittle it´s worth going once just to have the cultural experience and see body art up close and personal.
There also are bull fights in Otevalo where Ecuadorians jump into the ring and play ¨bull soccer¨, where both teams try to lure the bull into another person´s goal.
Wish me luck.
posted by ecuadortraveler at 8:49 AM
6 Comments:
I'm severely depressed by the violence of the bull fight you described. I think I'll go out and shoot myself.
E. Hemingway
Please never write on my blog again commentator.
I have just been informed that The commentator is actually a person I know. If this is the case I am dying laughing. Tooshay commentator. Good luck with that whole old man and the sea thing.
I just heard from Papa H. that the Ecuador Traveler is reconsidering its editorial decision to shut down the Commentator. I assume that this means, in the words of my friend Arnold, that the Commentator will be "back". Yo. Viva La Libertad de Hablar. Que viva Ecuador Traveler.
s. bolivar
Hilar. Now I'm dying.
Absolutely hilarious. Dying as well.
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