But we moved on and went on a serious shopping adventure down Las Ramblas to buy all the touristy souvenirs we've been wanting to buy since we got here. It was fun to be a tourist for a day... as we've been actually living here (being "students") so we never really considered ourselves tourists, and therefore havent gone to do touristy shopping until now. I had a few things on a list I created of "things to buy before leaving spain"... these included: Flag of Spain, Soccer Scarf for Team España (for the world cup 2010), a keychain, bracelet/necklace of some sort to remember Barcelona/Spain, bottle of wine, olive oil, postcards,etc. I was able to get everything off my list except for a bottle of wine, olive oil and I decided not to buy postcards (to decorate my room with) because I figured I had enough of my own pictures plus other painting things I bought while my mom was in Spain. We went down Las Ramblas and first stopped off at a special fountain located at the beginning of Las Ramblas which has a legend that if you drink from it you will return to Barcelona... so Hannah and I did the ceremonious drinking from the fountain to ensure we return to Barcelona some day soon!
Then we stopped to shop at all the HOLA! stands, which sell everything from postcards to newspapers to other touristy stuff. Then we hit up the Indian touristy stores, where you can bargain and get inappropriately talked to ... fun. After we purchased all our touristy items we got lunch at a place called "Wok to Walk" which is a place where they make fresh asian stirfrys. We ate our stirfrys by Port Vell on a large patch of grass and listened to a funky band play. It was a beautiful day, and it was so relaxing to just hang out, listen to great music, eat lunch in the sun!
In the evening I headed to a BULL FIGHT!!! It's held at Monumental, which is the bullring. There is major controversy over bullfighting in Catalunya because it's a tradition from Southern Spain, and the people here are VERY against it. It's actually going through the legislative system to be banned in all of Catalunya, so eventually people wont be able to see bullfights in Barcelona or other places in Catalunya (good thing i saw one now...). I wasnt sure what to expect and didnt have a distinct opinion on bullfighting, so I figured this would be a good experience to form an opinion on the issue after seeing a live bullfight myself. It started at 6pm, and we were sitting at the top (where the cheapest tickets are... 23euro), in the sunshine. They had a mini opening ceremonies where all the Matadors came out, with other horsemen, and helper people. Then the first bull was released. There was to be 6 bulls in total, with 3 Matadors... so 2 bulls each.
The first bullfighter was ok... he wasn't anything amazing (when comparing him to the others that we saw. But initially seeing the bulls get stabbed with different swords and dagger things was intense to see... and sort of hard to watch. The Matador goes through a couple different stages with the bull. First he uses and pink and yellow cape to let the bull pass through, this is pretty much to tire the bull out. Then men on horses come out with large spears and pierce the bulls back with them, then finally the Matador uses a red cap to tease the bull, with finally putting a large sword in it's back. Then 2 other Matadors come out and make the bull turn it's head back and forth by waving the caps next to him, which actually severs the bulls nerves and veins which then kills the bull. However the first Matador didnt put the sword in the bull properly so the bull didnt die right away, then another Matador came out and took a small knife dagger and ended up stabbing it in the head of the bull - this was really hard to watch because he then jiggled the dagger in the bulls head to kill it. After this happened my friends and I were feeling iffy about the whole bullfight thing, as our stomachs had turned a bit... it was pretty gory.
But we decided to stay for atleast one more bull to give it a chance. The next bull was released and a different Matador came out this time...as this Matador was waving his cap at the bull we were all talking about how it would be so intense to see a Matador get hit by the bull's horns... literally 5 minutes later it happened. The bull ended up hitting the Matador with his horns and flinging him up in the air... then the bull's horns actually gored the Matador in the face and he was immediately taken away by other Matadors. There was blood coming from the Matador's face - we immediately took back our words ... it was intense. Fortunately the Matador was ok and he ended up finishing the bull off. However he never came out to do a second bull, as he was pretty hurt.
The third bullfighter that came out was unreal. He really displayed the art form of bullfighting. He would turn and twist as the bull came close to him, and would also go on his knees as the bull ran past, it was INSANE. The most impressive thing he did was face the bull head on, and the bull attacked and the Matador held out his hand so he held it on the bull's head and the bull pushed against him as the Matador walked backwards... it was impressive to see (i got a video of it... so check my facebook after i get back home).
There were 6 bulls that were killed in total. At the end of the match a winner was chosen which ended up being the first Matador, his last bull he killed was impressive. When he won they cut off the ear of the bull, and gave it to him, as a sort of trophy, then he tossed it into the crowd for someone to catch... ew. Im glad I went to the bullfight, as it's a tradition of Spain and a part of the culture (especially in the south of Spain). Im not sure if I would want to go see another one, but I was able to appreciate it for the "art" that it was.
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