February 29, 2020
February 28, 2020
February 24, 2020
Plaza de Toros Jorge Aguilar “El Ranchero”, Tlaxcala Mexico
Se encuentra ubicada en el atrio bajo del ex Convento Franciscano y actual Catedral de la Virgen de la Asunción. Muy cerca del Zócalo de la ciudad en pleno Centro Histórico. Esta plaza es considerada como una de las tres más bellas del mundo. La parte más antigua de la construcción actual es la barda perimetral levantada con piedra de xalnene y tepetate durante el siglo XVIII, con el paso del tiempo se fue transformando y perfeccionando hasta 1950 donde adquiere su fisonomía actual con la realización de la arcada de los tendidos. Junto a la plaza se encuentra la torre campanario de un antiguo convento de finales del siglo XVI, que le brinda una plasticidad extraordinaria. Actualmente tiene el nombre de unos de los toreros más importantes de la historia taurina de México: Jorge Aguilar “El Ranchero”.
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A very well done YouTube video about the plaza
https://youtu.be/Qz-W4ds6QEQ
February 17, 2020
Famous pair of banderillas
Francisco Espla placing the banderillas in the bull Garanoso (558 kilos) of the Las Bayones ranch.
Madrid, Feria de Otono, 1995.
February 14, 2020
Bulls Before Breakfast
(by Tim Pinks sanfermin.com)
Okay Sanfermineros, be ye runners or not, old hands or not. As I write this there’s just over a week to go until fiesta begins, and if you’d like to read something to really get you in the mood, (as if you need it, did I say there’s only a week to go?) then this book has got to be it. And if you’ve never been before but are going or thinking of going…it is one heck of a cobble pounding introduction.
As I mentioned above, in my involvement in this book as an advance reader, enthusiastic but amateur advisor, pedantic linguistic spelling corrector, political fence-sitter, history loving enthusiast and all round dolor del culo…I’ve read this book three times. Gadzooks, yes, three times!
I think this is a cracking book, a hoot of a bull running tale, but also an honest and down-to-earth guide not just to the encierro but to Pamplona and the surrounding areas too, its villages and towns, coast and countryside, history and gastronomy. And it made me laugh too, really laugh in parts and it’s always nice to read something that you think might be quite serious and overly self- important, and find out it’s actually quite funny and self-deprecating.
So, where to start? At the beginning, I guess. About ten years ago two brothers who aren’t related but seem just as much siblings as my brother and I are, came to Pamplona. And like happened to so many of us, a small town in northern Spain, in the ancient Kingdom of Navarra, changed their lives forever. And after that, there was no going back. Which although literally correct, is factually wrong, as there was a lot of going back, every year in fact, because Pamplona in fiesta does that to you. It’s magically addictive.
‘’Bulls Before Breakfast” is a great book. It’s funny, colourful, and chockfull of the kind of insider knowledge that anyone who wants to run with the toros bravos (and live to tell the tale) needs to remember.’’ That’s not a bad quote to start the book off with, and it’s not even from the author but from the foreword, written by John Hemingway, grandson of Ernest. This book has pedigree.
From the moment I began reading BBB, from a pdf copy sent to me back in October or November, the book grabbed me by the cojhorns. (No, that isn’t a spelling mistake.) This is from the very first paragraph: ‘Every July, I love to stand in the cobblestoned streets of Pamplona, arms akimbo, and with my adoptive brother Ari. It takes just a minute, and the fiesta finds us. We saddle it, adjust the stirrups, coax over the bridle, and ride her nonstop ‘til sunup on the fifteen.’
Staggeringly, in that first paragraph, Peter had described my inner thoughts about Pamplona and fiesta. I knew then that if the story carried on in the same vein, I’d at the very least like the book. And it did, and I did. I like the book a heck of a lot. I feel exactly the same way about fiesta, and by fiesta I don’t just mean the party, but Pamplona, the people, the alegria and the atmosphere. From the moment I approach the city I begin to feel the over-riding excitement that has been building for a day, a week, the previous months, just completely wash over me. From the first moment I set foot in the town, till sunup on the fifteenth…
And that unique and glorious flood of fun that only one city on the planet can provide finds me, and stays with me, and it always has since my first steps into the old square 32 years ago. It’s hard to write an article about Pamplona and fiesta and make it sound different, new, let alone write a whole book about it, but Peter has done it. With passion, history, humour and intelligence. (Did I write ‘intelligence’? Jeez, I did, and him an American, too…what’s the world coming to…)
It’s a nicely laid out book, too, with pre-chapter quotes from folk as diverse as Jake Barnes, ‘ I go to Spain every July’ (he’s the lead character in Hemingway’s Fiesta/The Sun Also Rises,) to ‘I can swim’ from one Aryeh L. Deutsch. (You need to read the book!)… John Wayne’s in there, Ferris Bueller too, Then the chapter begins with a nice little preamble about something or other that sets up the main thrust of that chapter’s story.
Having said that, it’s not as if every chapter sticks to a set format. No. One of the beauties of the book is that there is so much in it that sometimes a tangent is taken, a diversion made, or indeed a backtrack beaten…in this, it is very much like the encierro, where anything, absolutely anything, can happen, and you’d better be prepared to put the brakes on and spin on a sixpence quicker than any bull. (Which is impossible, by the way.) Oh, I said ‘brakes…’ Sorry, Peter, perhaps that should have been ‘handbrake…’ (Again, you need to read the book…)
I’m not a professional reviewer of books by any means, but I have for fun reviewed a couple of books by a couple of friends and they have been easy to do, but this one is tricky, (in the nicest possible way) as it springs things upon you here, there and everywhere, exactly like fiesta does. But as a guide to running, getting injured, the risks, the dangers, the idiots, the crowds, the fear, the fun, the adrenaline and yes, the death…it is superb.
One of the many lines that leapt out of the page at me, and that hammered home just exactly what can happen in the run, is this: ‘Death lurks around every corner during fiesta, and it has really long horns.’ And it can, and it does, and damn I wish I’d thought of that line and it is true and is one of the reasons why I gave up running. Early on in the book he writes about a run and his injury from it and it took me right back, right there, to those far off days of glory when I swear I wasn’t just running with the bulls, but flying with them too…my skin was tingling when I originally read it and I was shaking and I’ve got goose bumps now just thinking about it.
John Hemingway writes that the book is funny, and my goodness it is. From talk of death and the reality of just exactly what, on a tragic day, the encierro can bring, there is also a heck of a lot to laugh at in BBB. Peter and his sidekick Ari make a great double act, and whether they are on those fabled cobblestoned streets in a town without equal, or out and about in the glorious countryside of Navarra or elsewhere, you won’t just be well informed about the people, history and food of the region, but you’ll laugh a lot too as our modern day Batman and Robin (sorry guys!) do a quick twirl in an oversized phone booth and come out as Laurel and Hardy. (Not sorry guys!)
There’s a lovely quote from one Matt Warshaw, who Peter describes as a ‘surfer philosopher.’ It’s this: ‘surfing…turns not a skill into an art, but an inexplicable and useless urge into a vital way of life,’ and although Peter is equating this phrase with the encierro, (and it sums up its effect on people perfectly) you can also use it to describe the part that not just any fiesta, but this fiesta, San Fermin’s, plays in so many lives. The second part of the quote proves it, in that: ‘surfing, (for that read bull running, fiesta, etc) generates laughter at its very suggestion.’ Aupa to that!
I could quote so much from the book I’d end up getting sued by The Coffeeman for basically putting the whole work online. Here’s one of my favourites though, about how difficult it is to stay clean. And I mean, even remotely clean. (And it has a cracking line about our French cousins at the end, too!)
‘Your white pants and white shirt will get wine-stained, burned by cigarettes, burned by little European cigars and big, fat bullfight cigars, burned by fireworks, blood-stained, mud-stained, urine-stained, petrol-stained, mayonnaise-stained, Gorgonzola-stained, grass-stained, “trash-juice” stained, (you’ll understand later), and excrement-stained. There will be pants you are unwilling to return to your suitcase. Other people are so dirty, you get dirty just by bumping into them. We call these “Frenchmen.”
If there is one criticism of the book, I think he is way, way too easy on the French…
Time for a top wee word from Ari, I reckon, and it comes at a lyrical and poetical point where Peter is describing leaving the hotel in the morning before the run: ‘It’s just before sunrise when we leave for the encierro, but it looks more like twilight. Already, swallows are circling the city, squeaky, sharp chee-deeping and eating every mosquito available (you will rarely get bitten in Pamplona). The sky is electric blue, the streets are wet and clean…There’s always music playing in the distance. For us, it’s our favourite quiet moment of the San Fermin fiesta. Ari likens it to the feeling of getting to Disneyland before it opens.’ (My italics.) Lovely.
It’s nice to read a story where you know a lot of the characters involved, (for this is most certainly not one of those ‘me, me, me’ books that purports to be a story about this that and the other but ends up being a tribute to me, myself, and nobody else…) and I just know that if you get this book and read it without knowing anyone involved, but it makes you go to Pamplona…you won’t just end up meeting some if not all of these characters, but you’ll be given that extra bonus, the Pamplona present that never gets old and broken…friends for life.
And that, when all things are considered, is what it all comes down to. Friendships and a second family that will last for a lifetime. For those of us that know him, the great Esteban Ibarra in an interview said something like, (and I’m going to be paraphrasing like crazy here but this is the gist of it,) “If you take away the drinking and the fun, the party and the laughter, if you take away the bull runs and bullfights, the fireworks and the concerts, if you take away the Saint and the fiesta…I’d still come back, for the people.”
And that is it in a gold plated nutshell. The Pamplonicans and Navarrans are a wonderful bunch of folk, open and kind, warm-hearted and generous, and as funny a bunch of people you’re ever likely to meet in this universe or any other ones. And with them you don’t just watch fiesta, you become a part of it, and glory of glories, a part of them, too.
Peter asked me to be one of the contributors to write something on the back cover, which was a first for me and real honour, trust me…but first I had to like the thing.
As I began reading it I pretty soon realised just what a great book it was…of course, I don’t agree with a few things…like I said, he’s way too lenient with the French…but quite honestly it’s a belter of a book and in the depths of an English winter his story had me pining like mad for Pamplona, its people and its fiesta.
As I carried on reading I knew I’d write that back blurb, and this is what I wrote: ‘A rip-roaring, bull-running, bovine snorting tale of a city, people and fiesta I love. But it’s so much more. It’s the story of two brothers’ travels in and around the beautiful countryside and coast that surrounds Pamplona, full of history and humour, antics and anecdotes, glorious mishaps and gorgeous meals. A truly moveable feast!’
And it is. And thank you Peter for asking me to be one of those to contribute to the ‘back blurb.’ A first for me, and a real honor.
But I’ll leave you with one final quote, where yet again he writes something that I wish that I’d thought of, because it sums up exactly, and I mean exactly to the letter, how I feel about this city and people without equal. It’s this, paraphrased a little, from the last chapter:
‘Every July we stand in the Pamplona streets…and we feel the earth spin, and even revolve around our sun. Rest assured that during San Fermin, the solar system is positively palpable. It travels about 500 thousand miles an hour in an orbit around the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way. A single orbit takes 200 million years to complete, or about how long it takes Ari to shower in the morning, a subject on which he is humourless. In Pamplona, we can even recognize that the galaxy as a whole is moving at a velocity of 391 miles every second. We hear the whoosh. It sings to us.’
We hear the whoosh. It sings to us. That is the humdinger of a line I was talking about earlier, the moment when I knew, just knew, that Peter ‘got it.’ I love that line, and it sums up, again, just exactly how the place, and it’s people, move me. After 32 years that is probably the best description I’ve ever read about just what Pamplona means to me, and damn you Peter, in the best way possible, for writing yet another line that I wish I’d thought of.
I love this book. It is a lovely story, well told, and whether it’s your first time, second time or umpteenth time…why not stand in a cobblestoned street with your arms akimbo and feel the whoosh and let fiesta sing to you.
The Mark of Zorro
I finished up reading the original story of Zorro a couple of weeks ago.
First written in 1919 as a series of short stories for a pulp fiction magazine, the stories were compiled and released in book form as The Mark of Zorro. (It was originally known as The Curse of Capistrano.)
I enjoyed reading it, "by the Saints!"
It was a lot of fun to read something that was written a hundred years ago, although the ending of the story was rather a let down. I think if it was a more modern story the ending would have been much different, but se la vie.
Bulls were only mentioned one time, and it was not in a bullfight sense. But there was a lot of talk of haciendas and rancheros, things of that nature.
All in all it was fun to read.
Marco Perez y Alejandro Talavante
(from the Porta Gayola Facebook page)
La imagen de Marco Pérez y Alejandro Talavante que se ha hecho viral entre los aficionados.
El torero extremeño Alejandro Talavante ha publicado una foto junto ...al salmantino Marco Pérez y ésta se ha vuelto viral entre los más aficionados al mundo de la Tauromaquia. Cualquier paso que da el alumno de la Escuela Taurina de Salamanca es muy seguido por la afición charra, y en este caso, sobresale por compartir jornada de campo con una figura del toreo como es Talavante. En la imagen se les puede ver charlar animados mientras el pequeño se seca la cara que probablemente se haya refrescado después de torear una becerra. El extremeño sonríe y parece estar encantado con lo que Pérez le cuenta.
El torero extremeño Alejandro Talavante ha publicado una foto junto ...al salmantino Marco Pérez y ésta se ha vuelto viral entre los más aficionados al mundo de la Tauromaquia. Cualquier paso que da el alumno de la Escuela Taurina de Salamanca es muy seguido por la afición charra, y en este caso, sobresale por compartir jornada de campo con una figura del toreo como es Talavante. En la imagen se les puede ver charlar animados mientras el pequeño se seca la cara que probablemente se haya refrescado después de torear una becerra. El extremeño sonríe y parece estar encantado con lo que Pérez le cuenta.
Cabe recordar también que Alejandro Talavante se ha prodigado poco en las redes sociales desde que dejase los ruedos hace ya más de un año y que solo publicaba fotografías que nada tenían que ver con su profesión. Es por esto que llama la atención que desde que anunció su vuelta a los ruedos (el próximo 11 de abril en el coso francés de Arles), sí publica fotografías de sus entrenamientos en el campo, además de anunciar también de este modo, que unía su camino profesional al Maestro Joselito y al taurino Joaquín Ramo.
February 8, 2020
February 7, 2020
February 3, 2020
Getting knocked out
https://youtu.be/drLVRIXx3_0
July 7, 2019
The horns aren't the only dangerous things on a bull, this guy gets knocked out cold by a bull's hoof.
July 7, 2019
The horns aren't the only dangerous things on a bull, this guy gets knocked out cold by a bull's hoof.
Toros de Puerto de San Lorenzo, 2019
https://youtu.be/rGIm4vEUhNw
At 3 minutes 5 seconds into the video, a guy gets thrown by a bull that he doesn't realize is behind him.
That is probably what would happen to me if I ever get to run with the bulls.
At 3 minutes 5 seconds into the video, a guy gets thrown by a bull that he doesn't realize is behind him.
That is probably what would happen to me if I ever get to run with the bulls.
Toros de Victoriano del Rio, July 11, 2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIRK55enT6g&list=LLECtAP91TZq4aWzv2ZJaM7g&index=10&t=0s
I caught something on this video that even the commentators did not.
At 9 minutes 13 seconds into the video, on the right hand side of the screen, a bull's horn rips off a guy's pant leg, just rips it right off.
Insane.
I caught something on this video that even the commentators did not.
At 9 minutes 13 seconds into the video, on the right hand side of the screen, a bull's horn rips off a guy's pant leg, just rips it right off.
Insane.
Toros de Miura, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDaxz6-DjJA&list=LLECtAP91TZq4aWzv2ZJaM7g&index=4&t=0s
This one is funny.
At the end of the run in the plaza some guy does a weird crotch thrust at the bull as it runs by and another runner come over and grabs him to give him a piece of his mind.
This one is funny.
At the end of the run in the plaza some guy does a weird crotch thrust at the bull as it runs by and another runner come over and grabs him to give him a piece of his mind.
February 1, 2020
Plaza de toros Sutullena, Lorca
El nuevo gobierno del PSOE, apoyado por Ciudadanos e Izquierda Unida, ha adelantado una semana después de tomar posesión que no es segura la reconstrucción del coso para actividades taurinas.
(cultoro.es 6-21-19)
Cuando el nuevo equipo de gobierno del Ayuntamiento de Lorca tomó posesión el pasado sábado día 15 de junio, muchos aficionados a los toros de Lorca, de la Región de Murcia, nacionales e internacionales se preguntaron cuál sería el futuro de la plaza de toros de Lorca. El cambio político en la ciudad del Sol con un gobierno socialista en las manos de Diego José Mateos con el apoyo de Ciudadanos y el beneplácito de Izquierda Unida hizo a muchos pensar sobre si la cuestión de la reconstrucción de la plaza de toros de Sutullena sería un asunto prioritario o no.
El nuevo bastón de mando ha roto su silencio en este aspecto en el programa “Hoy por Hoy Lorca” de la Cadena Ser. Los compañeros de este espacio han preguntado a Diego José Mateos sobre el asunto y ha realizado las siguientes declaraciones:
“El proyecto de la plaza de toros de Lorca está iniciado. Están los recursos ya aplicados, y creo que se está incluso tramitando la contratación. Está el proyecto ya hecho y pagado. Este proyecto lo lleva la Comunidad Autónoma y vamos a ver en qué fase está. Ya nos dicen desde la Comunidad que esta iniciado. Vamos a ver en qué fase está y si esta en esa fase de inicio y autorización, y depende de la Comunidad Autónoma, lo que tenemos que hacer es, si se hace finalmente la plaza de toros, que no sea una plaza de toros sino que sea un centro multiusos en el que habrá corridas de toros hasta que no haya un pronunciamiento del pleno municipal al contrario y en el que habrá, sobre todo, eventos culturales y deportivos que es el futuro de un espacio multiusos”
Como dejan ver las palabras del nuevo alcalde de la Ciudad del Sol, la plaza de toros de Lorca no es un asunto de importancia para el nuevo gobierno lorquino y pone toda la responsabilidad en la Comunidad Autónoma de Murcia. Diego José Mateos no se niega a la reconstrucción del coso lorquino pero si deja entrever que su uso estará destinado más para otros eventos que para las corridas de toros. Eso si al final se produce la reconstrucción, porque recordamos que su mandato está condicionado al apoyo de Izquierda Unida-Los Verdes, partido que se negó a la compra y reconstrucción de la plaza de toros en el pleno que hace años aprobó la compra de la plaza de toros.
El edil del Ayuntamiento de Lorca también ha puesto sobre la mesa que la celebración o no de corridas de toros en una hipotética Sutullena reconstruida pasará por la aprobación o no del pleno municipal. Una aprobación que no tendría problemas al ser los partidos Socialista y Popular los mayoritarios en el consistorio lorquino.
Mientras, la plaza de toros de Lorca cumplirá el próximo 29 de junio 127 años. 127 años repletos de historia en el corazón de la ciudad. Negarla sería tirar por la borda todos los buenos momentos que los lorquinos vivieron en ese espacio y desaprovechar una joya única para la dinamización de la ciudad del Sol. Y si, también con toros.
https://www.cultoro.es/actualidad/2019/6/21/el-nuevo-alcalde-de-lorca-si-se-reconstruye-sutullena-no-sera-una-plaza-de-toros-sino-un-centro-multiusos-36332.html
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