The Matt Faus Blog

On Saturday, I had tickets to the bullfight at Plaza de Toros in downtown Valencia. I had never seen an authentic bullfight before, and it was an intense and eye-opening experience! The seats we got were pretty cheap, but it really didn’t matter since the seating arrangement was so well suited for everyone to see. Even so, there were not very many people there at all. I would say the stadium was at about 40-45% capacity.

As the first bull charged into the ring, it was incredible how powerful and strong it was. At nearly 1300 pounds, it was apparent that this beast could plow through pretty much anything. The first matador was on horseback, and it was an amazing display of partnership between the man and the horse as the matador graciously led the horse just a few steps in front of the bull’s sharp and charging horns. With each barb that pierced the bull’s back he began to slow his hooves and quicken his breathing. Once the matador was ready for the kill he retrieved his sword from a peer outside the ring and quickly slid it between the giant heaving shoulders of the beast, straight into his heart. Dismounting the horse, the matador looked the bull in the eye until it bowed its battered knee in defeat. The crowd rose in cheer as one final blow severed the spinal nerve of the bull, sending it to the great beyond.

The second fight was the first of this matador’s bad day. The barbsmen ran towards the bull with their spikes and drove them in deep, all the while taunting him with their ever-elusive capes. The blood began dripping and the bull charged even more fiercely than before, a blood-rage overcoming him. The matador entered the ring and wore him down even more with his skillful hand and graceful movements. When the time came he raised his sword to strike, but when he did so, the bull moved and dodged his strike! With the help of the barbsmen, the bull was goaded away from the blade, which the matador then recovered. Again and a third time he tried, but only one third of the way in would the blade go! The next attempt was with a long spear-like device with a short blade at the end. The matador wore the bull down and taunted his head down to the dirt to expose the spinal cord that connected the brain to the rest of the body and with a lunge he stabbed, but still nothing! The bull raged in fury and the matador tried with all of his might to dodge him. Beaten and bloodied, the bull began to simply limp around the ring, but the matador would not give up. Again and again he lunged at the most sensitive location at the bull, but after 20 tries he could not sever the nerve! The matador left the ring in a fury knowing that he would be ridiculed for the day he let the bull leave the ring alive.

The next bull charged into the ring, the energy and fury of health contrasting the slaughter that had ended so brutally. After the barbs were placed and blood was dripping down the bull’s back the next matador stepped into the ring with his red cape and piercing sword. With swirling movements of grace he wore the bull down twisting and turning him about. And then the moment of truth came. The bull stood there face-to-face with the matador that had ripped at his flesh and humiliated him in front of the crowd. The matador dangled his cape by his knees, attracting the bull’s attention with slight ripples of movement while he raised his rapier high above his head, ready to sink the final blow. With a roar of intensity, he lunged with the sword thrusting its sharp blade through the ribs and into the chest of the bull. The thrust was stopped only by the hilt of the sword contacting the bull’s back and then the matador spun with lightening speed, to just barely miss being impaled by the bull’s blood-dripped and furious horns. With only a few minutes of life left, the bull limped around the outside of the ring before collapsing in death. The horses came to carry him away, but before he was gone the ear was severed and given to the matador for achieve a perfect kill.

As the horsemen with their Kevlar-armored and blindfolded steeds trotted into ring, the next bull charged in and heaved with all its might into the side of the horse. With horns lifting the horse off the ground the horseman buried his spear into the back of the bull and heaved back in an incredible display of brute force. While the horseman continued the shred the tendons in the bulls back the horse was almost toppled by the power, but the bull broke away just in time. The matador came and the deed was done, but the horse left the ring badly bruised from the impact it had survived.

Finally, the seventh bull came into the ring. The matador’s lunge was almost to the hilt, but a little short. It was however, true enough of to pierce the lung of the bull. As the blood rushed into the bull’s lung to attain the life-giving oxygen that it needed so badly, it unexpectedly took a wrong turn and gushed out of the bull’s mouth and nose. For several minutes the bull spewed massive amounts of dark blood from all three respiratory openings until finally laying down for the final peace allowed to all creatures.