Adventure Post: The Bullfighting Fair in Colmenar Viejo

How on earth did we end up in Colmenar Viejo, a town an hour north of Madrid via bus, which neither of us had heard every heard of? Well, Jo talked Jack into going to another one of Borja Jimenez's corridas. Not just a corrida, but an entire bullfighting fair during the town's patron saint festivities. Five nights of bullfights: novillada con picadores, corrida de toros, corrida mixta, corrida de toros, and una novillada sin picadores. Check out this post for more about what that means. Essentially, we got to watch a healthy mix of bullfights during the fair, which was an excellent experience for us, as we felt we were no longer tourists watching only the professionals, but aficionados who follow the corridas at a deeper and broader level.

We stayed in Madrid, but did not do much while there. We had to leave around 16h00 every day to catch the bus to Colmenar Viejo, and we did not get back until around 22h00. Over the five days, the travel to and from Colmenar Viejo became a very mechanical process which we both tired of by the end of the fair.

We also went one day to watch the desencajonamiento, the unloading of the bulls. We hadn't seen this except for in the film "The Sun Also Rises." The cattle car carrying the bulls from the corral to the bullpens at the bullring arrived earlier in the day. At 13h00, it moved into the bullring and workers set about surrounding it with wooden planks. A herd of steers were then brought into the ring. Their job is to welcome the bulls into the heard and move them to the bullpen. Then, one by one, the bulls are released from the cattle car into the ring. Some come charging out, and the steers scatter to avoid being targeted. Others cautiously left the comfort of the darkened stall, unsure of their surroundings or what, if anything, they were supposed to do. Some of the bulls locked horns with each other, but this was quickly broken up by the steers. Once all of the bulls, 8 in total (6 for the corrida and 2 alternates), the entire heard was then led back into the bullpen. All in all, it was a good experience, but rather uneventful.

After the desencajonamiento, we had several hours to kill, so we went to a performance by the official Colmenar Viejo band. Jack was into it (he's a band nerd). Then we just hung about for a bit. We had too much time to do nothing before the corrida, but not enough time to head back to Madrid and get back (neither of us wanted to spend two more hours than we needed to on a bus).

Each night after the corrida, there were DJs, singers, and alcohol at the large tent just outside the bullring. We hung out for a little after one, but we were both more than a little wiped at this point in the trip, so we usually just headed back to Madrid. Of course, we stopped in for some food once there. Sometimes we went to 100 Montaditos, sometimes we went to a taco shop next to the hostel.

And that's about it. We go into more detail about the actual fair here (<--click the hyperlink).

Oh, yeah, we already had flights out of Madrid booked, but Jo convinced Jack to change them AGAIN when we were in Sevilla. Borja Jimenez was doing a fight two days after Madrid in Illescas (outside of Madrid) and two days after that in Utrera (outside of Sevilla). All in all, we would see 7 corridas in 9 days, and watch all six of Borja Jimenez's fights since we had arrived in Europe. Following a torero around Spain wasn't exactly on the list of things to do during The Great Gallivanting, but it's an experience we were both glad to have (even if Jack initially did it begrudgingly).

Where we stayed: Room007 Ventura Hostel

Jo's Favourite: Um...Borja? Obviously?

Jack's Favourite: Making the transition to aficionado

Top Lesson Learned: Don't break the cooler handle on day three...

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