Spain- Volume 4

Estepona, Malaga, Spain

Finally- Home sweet home! I cannot tell you how grateful we all were to come to this "home" away from home with all of our needy American-style comforts. Such as, beds that two people could sleep in, a kitchen with an oven, microwave and fridge, wi-fi, washer and dryer, hair dryer, TV, pool, hot tub, concierge to help us every question we could possibly have (there were a lot)....the list goes on.

Our awesome Marriott suite equipped with two master suites with their own bathroom. What a luxury! We had shared a bathroom with one too many weary travelers.

First order of business- to completely defile the sabbath day and go to a bull fight. Just kidding of course. Sundays are the only days they are offered...so, we seized the day. It was one of the most memorable things we did. We went to this bull ring in Marbella, a town about 10 minutes from our resort.

Packed house, right? No wonder they charged us $75 each to go. Someones gotta rent out the ring.... and pay the matadors and musicians (see below).

The live band. The ring must've been low on the budget. They sounded way better than they looked. It was fun to have a live band there to play the traditional Spanish music.

This guy was the BMOC. He definitely the star matador. Four bulls were tortured and killed (I don't know of another way to describe it....its gruesome). If my memory serves me right this stud killed two or three of them. If a matador gives a good performance and severs the spinal cord with one clean shot the audience goes wild indicating they approve of the matador's performance. At the very top of the ring is special seating with a big banner that says "El Presidente". Of what? Not sure. Anyway, if he approves he gives a nod of the head and the matador is allowed to cut off the bull's ear and keep it as a token of pride and glory. Thus, the ear. The place where the matadors sever the spinal cord is about the size of a quarter and before the matador goes in for the kill, he stares the bull in the face and then the matador charges the bull with the sword.
Most of the bulls were carried out of the rink by an ole' hitch on a car and a chain. But, if there is a good performance a horse decked out in flowers comes and takes the bull away. This matador's performance was rewarded by that as well.

Like I said, very gruesome. The matador has several assistants which help in distracting and tiring out the bull. They stab the bull with about four spears (look at pic) getting the bull good and angry and then in turn exhausted 20 minutes later. Then, he is prime for the matador to come in and do his job.