Death and the Sun (36 page)

The only dissenting voice in the happy chorus was that of the
apoderado
. Pepe Luis Segura was still fixated on the idea that the presence of an American journalist had cursed them all. “You cost us another ear today,” he told me as we ate. “You cost us another one.”

Then, without preamble, the old picador Francisco López stood up and rapped his knuckles on the table for silence. The room settled down. López spread out his arms, lifted up his head, and began to sing. His song was a fandango, one of the basic forms of traditional flamenco music, the real flamenco that in Spain is called
cante hondo
(deep song). His scarred and ruined voice told the same story of savage beauty and tragic pain that is told over and over in the bullrings of Spain and wherever the deep, old flamenco is sung. He wasn't a great singer. Some of the people around the table snickered a little. But the old picador had a touch of the
duende
that night, and he closed his eyes and lost himself and the dark demon came.

Paco López finished his lament, the party broke up, and the bullfighters strolled out into the autumn night to the big hotel where their cars were parked out front. The season had ended, but the same frantic pace of travel would be maintained for one more night. They were driving home that very moment, eager to get back to Andalucía and their winter vacations. The cuadrilla loaded up the minibus, waved farewell, and pulled out.

Then it was time for Fran to go. He and Noël embraced, and Fran told Noël to call him during the off-season, to plan a trip scouting bulls in the countryside. But everyone knew this was just talk, and that Noël and Fran would probably see each other again in the spring, in some hotel room somewhere after a corrida. Then Fran slipped into his red Chevy van, and Juani drove off.

While everyone said his goodbyes, I was leaning against a car, taking in the scene. When I started to walk away I realized with some embarrassment that the car was Pepe Luis's champagne-colored Mercedes sedan. A few weeks later, in New York, I heard that when Pepe Luis saw this, he began to rage that I had cursed his car just as sure as I had cursed the season. Later that final night of the season, somewhere on the highway between Zaragoza and Sevilla, Pepe Luis and his driver were in an accident and the champagne-colored Mercedes was totaled. Fortunately, neither the
apoderado
nor his chauffeur was hurt.

When you first start going to the bullfights, it isn't the specific details that matter so much as your overall impression of the spectacle. For this reason, as a beginning aficionado you should try to attend the best bullfights—that is, those held in major cities during
ferias
. Like sushi, bullfighting loses much of its charm when it is not the best quality: off-season bullfights in big-city rings tend to be drab and poorly attended, and the level of bullfighting in small towns is unpredictable. So the best bet is to go to bullfights during big-city
ferias
when the rings are packed, the atmosphere is charged with excitement, and the bullfighters and bulls are good enough that they won't spoil the day.

Many people may disagree, but for me Spain is
the
country in which to see a bullfight. Hands down, Spain has the greatest number of beautiful and historic rings, the most ferocious and hard-charging bulls, and the most discerning public. Spain mounts the most corridas a year—about eight hundred and fifty—and that isn't counting
novilladas
, horseback corridas, and other bull-related spectacles. The Spanish bullfighting season runs from March through October and unfolds much the same way each year. A complete list of Spanish
ferias
and bullring schedules would go on for pages; the following are some of the prominent ones.

The essential
ferias
of March are the weeklong cycles in Castellón de la Plana and down the road in Valencia. Then comes the April fair of Sevilla, which runs for two weeks, into early May. There are two or three prestigious corridas in Madrid in early May, and then the thirty-day Feria de San Isidro, which spills into June. Granada, Plasencia, Sevilla, and Toledo mount corridas on June 7, the Feast of Corpus Christi. At the end of June, solid provincial
ferias
are held in Alicante, León, and Burgos. The bull-running
feria
of Pamplona goes from July 6 to 14, and later that month there are top-notch weeklong
ferias
in Santander and Valencia. August and September are busy taurine months. The two prestige August
ferias
are those of Bilbao and San Sebastián, with Gijón and Málaga in the second tier; Almería, Azpeitia, Ciudad Real, Huelva, Linares, and Vitoria are among the best that follow behind. The standout September
ferias
are those in Sevilla and Valladolid, followed by Logroño, Murcia, Salamanca, and Ronda; then come
ferias
in Albacete, Andújar, Aranjuez, Guadalajara, Mérida, and Palencia. Zaragoza boasts the key October
feria
, and there is also an autumn
feria
in Madrid and a lovely one in Jaén.

The most important
ferias
of the Spanish season are San Isidro in Madrid in May, the Feria de Abril of Sevilla, the Corridas Generales of Bilbao in August, Pamplona's Feria de San Fermín in July, the Feria del Pilar of Zaragoza in October, and the two
ferias
of Valencia: Las Fallas in March and San Jaime in July. Taking into account the attractions of the host city, the nontaurine aspects of the
feria
itself, the level of bulls and matadors presented, and the ease of finding corrida tickets, food, and lodging, the top big-time
ferias
to attend as a tourist are those of Madrid and Valencia, and, of the second rank, Almería and Logroño. The worst big rings are in Barcelona (filled with tourists), Córdoba (always empty), and San Sebastián (hockey stadium atmosphere). It is likely to rain a great deal in the spring and be boiling hot down south in the summer months. The best weather of the bullfighting season is in September.

France has some thirty bullrings, and of these the best are the ancient Roman arenas at Arles and Nîmes. These rings play host to numerous
ferias
, of which the best are the mid-June cycle in Nîmes and the September
ferias
in both Nîmes and Arles. Worth noting are the
ferias
in Vic-Fézensac in June, Mont-de-Marsan in late July, and Bayonne, Beziers, and Dax in mid-August. Bullfighting is in decline in Portugal, so I can't recommend any
ferias
there. The big ring in Lisbon, the Campo Pequenho, is set to reopen after a restoration, so there is reason to hope.

The bullfighting season in Latin America is the mirror image of the European season, running from October to March, although bullfights do take place during the summer in rings along the Mexican-American border. After Spain, the nation with the most developed taurine culture is Mexico. Mexico has more than seventy rings, a majority of them clumped in the center of the country, in the states due north of Mexico City. The forty-seven-thousand-seat bullring in the capital, the biggest ring in the world, mounts corridas on most winter Sundays. The grandest ring in South America is the Plaza de Acho of Lima, Peru, which was built in 1766 and has corridas on scattered Sundays from October to mid-December.

The best
feria
south of Mexico, from the point of view of matadors and bulls, is in Quito, Ecuador, in the first week of December. Venezuela has close to twenty rings, and the key
ferias
are in Maracay, Valencia, and Caracas. The top rings of Colombia are in Cali, Bogota, and Medellin.

 

It is difficult to purchase advance tickets to corridas in Spain, and even though a few Web sites have begun to offer this service, generally there is no need for it. Apart from a few particularly popular corridas and the entire Sevilla
feria
, it isn't hard to get into most bullfights. If you are staying at a good hotel, your concierge will usually be able to scrounge a few tickets for you, but you will probably pay a hefty scalper's price. It's better, cheaper, and more fun to go to the bullring yourself—this is easy to do, since most rings are located in the center of town—bypass the scalpers who will pester you, and head straight to the box office, which will likely have a few tickets left, even on the day of the corrida.

Keep in mind that most box offices observe a generous midday break for lunch and a nap. If the corrida happens to be sold out, ask for the
reventa
, a government-sanctioned dealer that resells tickets at a twenty-percent premium. Typically, the
reventa
booth or booths will be right outside the arena. If the
reventa
is also sold out, you may have to resort to one of the scalpers. Ticket-scalping is illegal, and you may pay dearly for one of the worst seats in the house. But it is rare in Spain to hear of a scalper selling counterfeit or phony tickets, and I have never heard of anyone being robbed by someone posing as a scalper. Of course there is always a first time.

More often than not, however, the box office will have tickets to sell and might even have enough to offer you a choice of seating. In Spanish rings, each ticket, or
entrada
, is printed with the seat number, row number, arena section, and whether the seat will be in sun or shade during the corrida. The first row of seats is called the
barrera
, and the two or three rows behind the
barrera
are called the
contra-barreras
. Rising from the
contra-barreras—
akin to the orchestra seats in a Broadway theater—are the
tendido
seats. Most bullrings have no seats above the
tendidos
, but in larger rings the
tendidos
may be topped with covered
palcos
—like balconies in a theater—and above the
palcos
a covered
grada
section. The biggest rings may have yet another covered section, above the
grada
, called the
andanada
.

All bullrings are divided into large wedge-shaped sections called
tendidos
. Confusingly, this is the same word used for the rows of “orchestra” seats mentioned above. A typical ring has ten
tendido
sections. Four of these are sold as shade (
sombra
), four as sun (
sol
), and two as sun and shade (
sol y sombra
). Ticket prices depend on proximity to the ring and whether the
tendido
section falls in sun or shadow. Generally, a
sombra
seat costs twice as much as a
sol
seat when both are the same distance from the ring. Prices vary widely.
Barrera
seats in
sombra
may cost more than one hundred dollars, while the
gradas
in
sol
, at the same corrida, may be as little as three dollars. It is important to know whether your seat is
sol
or
sombra
, but beware: many bullrings maintain the confusing practice of printing the
tendido
section number on the ticket without identifying whether that section is in
sol
or
sombra
.

In theory, since bullrings are round, no
tendido
is any closer to the action than any other. But in practice, much of what goes on during a bullfight unfolds in the
sombra
half of the ring. It is also the case that when the bullfighters are not performing, they, their servants, and their managers will stand in the
sombra
part of the passageway that runs between the seats and the sand. For this reason, if you want to be close to the action, to the smell of the bulls, to the faces of the bullfighters as they cape the bulls, to the clattering of the banderillas as the bulls run by, and to the goings-on in the passageway as the manservants tend to their matadors, you should try to sit as far down as possible in
sombra
.

But if you are just getting started seeing corridas, or if you have never been to one before, the best place to sit is in
sombra
at least halfway up in the stands. From this elevated vantage you will get the best sense of the pageantry of the bullfight without its gorier aspects shoved in your face. You get the best value for your money in the
sol y sombra
seats, since these are cheaper than
sombra
but are closer to the action than
sol
and will be in shade for at least half the corrida. It is said that the true aficionados in any ring will be found in
sol y sombra. Sol
seats are also a good option for the thrifty, especially if the day is cloudy and the ring is small, where the spectacle is easy to see from every section.

Most bullfights in Spain begin between six and seven-thirty
P.M.
Plan to get to the ring at least thirty minutes before the scheduled starting time: bullfights begin promptly; the opening parade is something you won't want to miss; it may take quite a while to get to your seat, since aisles and rows in most rings are cramped. Latecomers are allowed to take their seats only between bulls.

As you enter the arena you will see people renting cushions. It's advisable to get one, because your seat is a hard stone step. Programs are handed out free, and all bullrings have a bar selling snacks and drinks, although most rings also have wandering vendors. It is best to use the bathroom before leaving for a corrida, especially if you are a woman; most bullring toilets are nasty and hard to find, and moving around in a vast bullring is always tricky.

If you have purchased good
sombra
seats and are attending a
feria
in Madrid, Sevilla, Bilbao, or San Sebastián and want to blend in, you might consider dressing up. Otherwise it is best to wear comfortable clothes, but keep in mind that it is out of place to wear shorts in Spain unless you are three years old. Women should wear pants: it's most comfortable to sit with your legs open around the back of the person in front of you. Bring a sweater or light jacket, since the temperature drops in Spain as the sun goes down, and umbrellas and raincoats are a good idea for spring corridas.