Day 5 - Fighting Chance? Not Really.

We decided early on in our trip that we'd go to see the Bull Fight in Cancun on Wednesday. Well, I'll admit that half of that was because we had coupons for free beer if we went. The other part was just curiosity, really. It seemed like something you should do if you're in Mexico, you know?

Well, while I'm glad I went, I can't say I'd go again. They did some kinda cool stuff before the fight itself. I guess you could qualify it as "pagentry"...? They started off with horses carrying the colours of just about any country that might be present.










Then they brought out the Bandileros (or something....the guy had a pretty thick accent), which are basically Mexican Cowboys, and they had some dancers inthe same style as they had at the hotel, too.










Then it got kinda fun. They got a few women from the audience and got them to chase some little goats and calves and stuff around the ring.


Then, they brought the Bandilero dudes back, but they did tricks standing on their horses....which I thought was pretty cool.

Cock fighting!! They just let them peck like twice, and grabbed them up.... but still, kinda cool to see!

The next game was to get teams to play soccer..."Mexican Style", which apparently means letting a young bull run around while you're playing. It was great to see the guys forget about the bull, and have him sneak up behind them. The key, as you can see, is the pink ball. Angries up the blood.... :P


After that, they took some poor (and willing) saps from the audience and let them fight the same little bull. he really cleaned them a couple of times. The Canadian guy fared pretty well, I have to say....but no. It wasn't any of us, I can assure you.

And now, The Matador!

The bull starts out with a knife already in him....and then after the tire him out a bit, the dude on the horse goes and stabs him.


After a bit more, one the assistant Matadors (is there a name for him?) jabs two feathery things into the bull's neck. He does this again in a few minutes.... These are likely the only moments when a person is in even the vaguest danger.


I hadn't figured on how bloody it was going to be. Gruesome, really. You could hardly consider it a fight. I actually stopped taking pictures because it got eerie. The whole place was pretty quiet, save for an ignorant American woman behind us that kept yelling "Olé" every single time the bull went under the cape for the entire time...I was ready to kill her by the end!

Anyway, humane isn't exactly the best word for it....in fact, it might be the exact opposite of humane...but at least the Cancun bull fight is only one bull (Mexico City, for example, is four) and in Cancun they also donate the meat to a local orphanage, which you have to admit is a pretty good cause.

On our way back, we got talking with the other guys in the van. Turns out three of them were rig workers from Northern Alberta, and they were here to party. Unfortunately for them, they decided to bring their respective girlfriends/wives with them. Of course, when you hear the rest, you might argue that it's more unfortunate for the women that they were ever included in the first place. One of them who was married said his wife told him not to come home that night as drunk as he was last night. His solution? He wasn't coming home. Classy. We made a pit stop on the way home, and they all bought 6-packs from the store. They killed it all in the 35-40 miuntes from there back to Playa del Carmen. I wasn't sure whether to be scared or impressed.

When we got back to the hotel, Jon practically ran from the van to the bathroom. So much so that Mike and I actually asked Greg, who was in the front with him, "Where did Jon go?" Turns out he had to poo. Like, a lot. Like to the point he almost had to get the driver to pull over and he was going to shit himself blind on the side of a Mexican highway. He managed to hold it, though.

It was about now Greg announced that he was leaving to get home for his Friday and Saturday shifts....maybe even get some school stuff taken care of.

Had dinner, and more Tequila, with Derrick and Lindsay, but we all agreed after one shot that blender drinks were more our speed tonight. They told us about the Mayan Ruins in Chichen Itza, which while one of the seven Wonders of the World, are a giant pain to get to from Playa del Carmen....like a 3-hour bus ride-level bad. Jon, who is shitting through the eye of a needle at fifty paces at this point, rather abruptly vetoes that.

[A Carol moment here to update everyone on the status of our poo: Jon hasn't shit right all day and is eating Imodium like Pez....Greg was bad all morning (we thought he slept in...turns out he was just afraid to leave the room, as he didn't think he could make it to the restaurant bathroom in time if he was hit on the way down), but is doing better now.....Mike is having a rough go this evening, but recovers quickly.........and somehow your narrator has, while pooing on 5 separate occaisions on Wednesday, has kept a rather firm stool. Five is a personal record in a single day, BTW....]

Later that night Greg checked his email and school stuff to see how much shit he really was in for blowing off a couple of finals to come with us. Turns out not much.

This was the point, I think, when I (for reasons I still do not comprehend) decided to post in this space.