Second Bullfight

I went to my second bullfight on Saturday, May 1. I was shocked to see that one of the cavaleiros (people who ride the horses and stab the bulls with the spears) was a woman. There are only two or three women in Portugal who are cavaleiros. Women can’t be forcados because when they catch the bulls, the bulls impact their chests. The arena where the bullfight was held was much smaller than Santarèm’s arena. I found out later that Santarèm has the largest bullfighting arena in the country. This bullfight took a lot longer than the last one I went to and it was much more intense. My sister kept saying how awful the bulls were. When they charged at the pink flags or when the forcados tried to catch them they would throw their heads up and down and up and down. Imagine trying to hang on while 580 kilograms (1,278 pounds) is charging and bucking. One bull took over 5 tries to catch. Lots of men were thrown throughout the bullfight. When they hit the ground, if they were unlucky enough to be thrown or if they fell, the men immediately rolled into the fetal position, covering their heads with their hands. A few times the bull charged the men on the ground and threw them in the air. No one went away in an ambulance but a lot of men limped away, their clothes splattered with the bull’s blood. After the bulls leave the arena there is a vet waiting. The veterinarian takes out the spears and tries to stop the bleeding because the bulls won’t be killed until the next day.

After the bullfight, we were lucky enough to be invited to the Forcado’s dinner party. After every bullfight the Santarèm Group of Forcados have a dinner. We arrived at 9 p.m. and it didn’t finish until after 3:30 a.m. The forcados are mostly between the ages of 18 and 27. They don’t get paid for being a forcado; they do it because they like it. Some guys only do it for a year; others do it for as long as they can. It was a good chance for me to practice my Portuguese because the guy I sat next to only spoke a little English. They have a tradition at the dinners that every person who hasn’t attended before has to give a speech. My speech was half in Portuguese and half English but the majority of people could understand. I talked about how brave they all were and how impressed I was of the bullfight. There were lots of speeches given by new guests and by the bullfighters themselves. It was a jubilant dinner. The forcados had different songs for different people and they would break out clapping and singing. This is the 95^th year of the Santarèm Group of Forcados, the oldest bullfighting group in Portugal. While talking with one of the guys, he explained they were a close group. When in the arena they all shared a common goal, catch the bull. Bullfighting is a sport in Portugal like baseball is in the US. It’s a huge part of their culture.

I slept in late on Sunday since we got back at 4 a.m. from the party. My host sisters and I decided to go to their beach house for the afternoon since it was only a 40-minute drive away. At the beach, the wind was furiously blowing and it was cold. A big change from the 85-degree weather we had during the week. Never less, my youngest sister ran around and jumped in the waves in her swimsuit. I managed to get my jeans soaked after an unexpected wave crashed down.

I only have 5 weeks of school left, which is shocking. The other students will have to take national tests in June. The tests count for 30 percent of their final grade and they won’t find out until the end of June or early July if they’ve passed. If they fail the class they have to retake the class the next year. They can’t apply to college until after they get their test scores back. The test scores and their final average determine what schools they can apply to. It’s very hard to be a doctor in Portugal. You have to have a 19 out of 20 average to go to medical school in Portugal. Since college is mostly free, they only want the best at the medical schools. Some kids go to Spain or France for medical school if they aren’t accepted in Portugal. People have asked me what I’m majoring in college. My reply, “I don’t know yet, I don’t have to decide for another two years. I’m in a liberal art’s college so I can take what ever classes I want.” That is very different than the Portuguese system where they have to basically decide what they want to do before high school. One boy in my class switched from a Science track to a Humanities track and had to retake tenth grade to get the Humanities classes. I definitely prefer the U.S. system.