The mighty bull of Spain: El Toro, Paella and Flamenco Guitar

THAT BIG BLACK BULL, EL TORO...

THIS IS NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED (like me)

During our road trip to Cordoba today, Emmanuel (our illustrious tour guide) pointed out the very large billboard on the hillside and said he had a story to tell us....  

He said a few years ago, billboards were outlawed because they distracted drivers.   BUT, one of the billboards was advertising Osborne Veterano Brandy and since the Spanish are very fond of their bulls...they fought the law and won the ability to keep EL TORO standing on their roads. So the bull billboard was painted over the advertisement with black... and now is a historical  novelty.

He went on to explain el toro and the bullfight.

"El Corrida 6 bulls and 3 bullfighters. Bulls are very clever -- if they go into bull ring for the first time he has no idea what will happen, so for a bull's first year of life, he is raised specifically for bull fights.  First, the female bull is taken to the bullring arena to see how she reacts to teasing, jousting etc.  The  brave females are selected as breeders and their offspring will lead a perfect life and will live among other bulls. If they live alone, they are too aggressive.  These bulls cost between 3000-6000 euros a piece."

Many of us cringed with the telling... He wanted us to understand the romanticism of the bull fight.   He told us about the music to keep up the rhythm and the tickets value based on your sitting in the sol (sun) or sombra (shade) - tickets in sun are cheaper.  And the yellow sand in middle of the ring soaks up blood... ugh

First to enter are men on horseback - bandolera to tease the bull and inserts tiny picks to tire the huge bulls that weight 500-600 kilos

Enters matador, the killer with beautiful outfits and cape.  Original used to be red.  Bulls are color blind so it doesn't matter color. 

Final hit is very risky because to kill the bull, the bullfighter must reach a specific spot on the bulls neck where there are no bones... He must strike straight thru heart by literally facing the bull 😓

If you reach the heart, the bull dies in seconds... if he doesn't accidents happen.  The bull is then in pain and extra help is needed and men must put him out of his misery.

Matador is then given bull memorabilia - the tail or ear.

When the bull is killed, he is taken to a back area where he is cut into pieces and cooked and served in restaurants around town.  Popular dish is bull tail (cola de toro).  It is cooked for hours in a tomato based sauce and it is delicious.

Bullfighting season end of March in Southern Spain.  Catalonia has banned it 3-4 years ago. Bull fights in Malaga are Every Sunday. 

Sevilla and Madrid 2 x week. 20-50 euros based on star matadors. 

In Barcelona the bullring is now a shopping mall.  In Portugal the bull is not killed.  Matadors are highly paid stars.  Now there are women bullfighters.  AND I NEVER WANT TO SEE A BULL FIGHT...
However, I did enjoy the bullring museum in Estepona.  I found one of the popular matadors is a Romero, like my ancestor, Miguel Romero...

Enough of bulls.

Today was a paella cooking class at a hotel near Estepona.  The chef was knowledgable and very Spanish.  Our team (Camino Paella) came in second.  The paella was beautiful, yellow from saffron and smelled like heaven.  It helps us quite a lot to cook it as a team as each of us held a glass of sangria with segments of oranges floating in its depths. Each time I turned around from the hard cooking job with the wooden spoon...she filled the glass again.  And the paella tasted delicious!

And then we had a private flamenco guitar concert by Paco Jamino at a small concert hall that filled everyone with passion and the thrill of the sounds of the flamenco guitar.  When his wife sang a Spanish song along with his flamenco guitar music, her voice and body was filled with such passion and sexuality, everyone lost their breaths.  Amazing and heartfelt was all I can say.    I told her my gypsy blood rose and fell in tandem with her passionate song and she reached over to hug me, with a kiss on each cheek.  I was breathless.  There are three of us ladies in the Road Scholar tour we call the three Spaniards...Cristina Romero and Lisanne Aguilar.  If those names sounds familiar to any of you, it is because I think there is a connection to my family with Romero and to the Rocklin Aguilars...  It is an amazing coincidence to be on this tour together.

 AND I WALKED 15,850 STEPS TODAY!  

Tomorrow our tour bus takes us to the fabulous city of Ronda...