The first
group of photos are from the Corrida del Toro's, or bullfight, at Mexico
Cities' Plaza del Toros. I included photos from the general event but no
bullfight photos. I was expecting to see a much better bullfight here
than I had in Tlaxcala - this is the biggest Plaza del Toro's in the world -
Madrid has the second biggest, and I don't know if Tlaxcala even ranks. This was
the opening day of the season and the guy selling tickets ensured me that it
would be difficult to find a seat due to the popularity, especially on
opening day. I had heard otherwise - that bullfights have been
declining in popularity in Mexico; I'm here to tell you that they are. Most of the seats
were empty and the event, although there were some impressive moves by the
matadors, was poor. The bulls seemed drugged and at times simply fell
on their ass. During the third stage of the fight the matador should
drive a sword through the heart of the bull, causing him to die immediately
or shortly thereafter. There were 8 matches, I left during the 7th [In
an traditional bullfight there are only supposed to be six matches].
When
the matador's sword doesn't kill the bull with the first sword strike they
try again, and again. When that doesn't work they bring out spears -
much like what the guy on the horse uses to cut the bulls neck muscles
earlier in the fight, and they use those spears to try and cut the bull's brain stem. A good
match ends after the bulls heart is pierced and he falls immediately, or at
least within 10-20 seconds, of the first sword strike. Of the seven
matches I saw, the bulls were still running around and being poked and
stabbed for up to 10 minutes after the initial sword strike. The 7th
bull went on so long that the judges demanded he would be allowed to live;
that particular matador left with lots of boo's from the crowd and his head hung low. The crowd was relieved that
the 7th bull could finally move on but didn't like the event in general and
I wasn't impressed either. I'm not a protestor of bullfights
but if the events ended I wouldn't miss them. I took over 120 photos
of the bullfights but included none here.
After
the disappointing bullfights there are pictures from Mexico DL's zocolo and
the Basilica of The Virgin of Guadalupe.
Here's
a satellite link to Mexico City's
Zocolo and another to the
Basilica. Generally, they're more interesting from the ground than
the satellite view.
Click
on the images to make yourself smarter.
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Outside of Mexico City's Plaza del Toros there are about a dozen bronzed matador/bull combo's.
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A poster of the matadors for tonight.
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Grub outside the Plaza del Toro's.
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More grub.
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Pork product fast food. Notice the pig snouts - steamed 'till they break apart; roll said contents into tortilla. It wasn't bad!
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Inside the largest bullring in the world 30 minutes before event. About 80% of the seats were empty at 4:00 when the event started.
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New friends at the bullfight.
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Mexican phat-cats.
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This phat cat stood and smoked his cigar 'till the bullfights started.
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This poor woman had her face-lift done in a wind tunnel.
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Before the bullfights the teams introduce themselves to the judges.
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More introductions and formalities.
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Posers.
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The guy handing the sword to the matador was the only other gringo looking dude around.
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After 9-11 we all get that creepy feeling when a large plane flies close to a city. The Plaza is in the flight path to Mexico City's airport.
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A large tree ornament and the Cathederal in Mexico City's zocolo.
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More Christmas decorations on the north end of the zocolo.
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A small "white revolution" gathering in the zocolo. I have no idea who they are but the guy on the right was waving at me; am I their leader?!!?!?!
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Side door of the Cathederal, Mexico City Zocolo.
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This device measures how much the Cathederal is tilting. It was built on soft ground and the west end is sinking faster than the east end.
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Bob.
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Obredor, leftist presidential loser this year, is convinced that Pres. Fox helped Felipe Calderon win through dirty campaign tactics.
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Presidential Palace, south side of Mexico City's zocolo.
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Another zocolo shot, looking east, with the flag and massive x-mas tree ornament.
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Museum of art, near the zocolo in Mexico City.
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Wardrobe malfunction.
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Cool coloring on top of museum of art.
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The antigua Basilica de Guadalupe. It is also sinking; you can sort of tell that the front left side is leaning down a bit. It's more evident later.
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Inside the Basillica de Guadalupe during a mass. The original image of the Virgin Mary hangs behind the altar.
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The image from the moving tracks below, and behind the altar, looking up. You can sort of see 'peekaboo Angel' under the srhoud.
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Juan Diego had a vision of The Virgin. The bishop asked for proof. The vision then instucted him to fill his shroud with flowers, on display here.
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Artists rendition of the shroud show more clearly the 'peekaboo Angel', and brighter colors.
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