Tourada a Corda

Well, I finally made it to my first bullfight (although it's not really a fight, but more of a taunting), which took place on a quiet residential street in Biscoitos, practically in people's front yards.  We went onto someone's property and they let us up on their scaffolding to sit on a tall stone wall overlooking the bulls' release point.

The event was late in the evening and the weather was chilly, but there was a good amount of people present to tease the bull.  Right behind me, in those four brown boxes, are the bulls just itching to get out.  I'd heard lots of stories of my uncles and my dad at these things and it was really exciting to see one for myself.

These are the pastores, who are in charge of the rope and the wrangling in of the bull.  You can tell they have a lot of fun doing this important job.

The first two bulls weren't terribly good (meaning they weren't ferocious killing machines) but each one got progressively more entertaining.

The best part of the Tourada a Corda, in my opinion, was watching the men.  The bull would be released into the deserted street and after a few moments of confusion, would charge down the street and out of our view.  At this point, all the men would jump down from their safe spots and saunter after the bull as if this was a display of courage, walking towards a bull who is running away in the opposite direction.  I couldn't keep myself from laughing.  Others were quite brave (stupid) and played with the bull:

The guy below was simply my favorite.  He was dressed his best, in perfectly ironed khakis and a collared shirt, with Ray-Bans perched on his perfectly gelled head and boat shoes gracing his quick feet.  Someone's trying to get the ladies' attention: only a real man can escape a bull and look good doing it.

Everyone goes to these things both hoping and dreading that the bull will get someone. What follows is probably the closest we got.  There was a group of ladies safely sitting on this wall (or so they thought) taunting the bull, when the bull decided he had enough and jumped up onto the wall, prodding at the ladies.  One lady scrambled backwards into the bushes, and it was as if they swallowed her as she tried to escape the bulls' unforgiving horns. 

The crowd was yelping nervously for a few seconds, until the bull got distracted and the lady sheepishly looked out from the bushes to check if the coast was clear.  Oh, it was so funny.