New Towns, New Friends and a Bull Fight

Harry and Audrey Swanson have a nephew that is going to University in Guadalajara.  Harry wrote to Nancy and told her about this nephew and sent along an email address. Nancy and wrote and invited him for a visit and he "yes".  He is in the middle with two friends that he brought along.  The boy is from |Spain and the girl is from France.  The visit was fun and we hope they come back.

Last Sunday Juan Carlos and Olivia took us to another restaurant to taste very different Mexican food and to view a deep valley that is close to Guadalajara.

The next two photos are of the valley, taken from the chairs we were sitting in.

And this is the meal we ate.  It was called Chicharon de Pescado (fish).  t was very good but, oh my  it was not so healthy for us.  All deep fried.

Another journey with Olivia and Juan Carlos.  This time to Jalosteotitlan, the place Juan Carlos lived as a child.  It was carnival time in Jalos with bull fights and many other activities.

We left about 11:00AM in Olivia's truck, drove for an hour to a small city called Topatitlan and stopped for lunch.  

Nancy is protecting the truck from the transit police as we were parked in a no parking spot.

This part of Mexico is very wealthy and the towns and cities show it.  It is a rich agricultural valley with much market gardening, dairys and beef cattle,

This is the main church in Topatitlan.

And the inside of that same church.

The town was so neat and clean we decided we needed to spend more time here so we found a hotel and stayed overnight, delaying our trip to Jalos for one day.

Just a pretty government building in Topatitlan.

We did get to Jalso the next day by noon and our first stop was at the church.

Nancy and I were sitting in the park while Olivia and Juan Carlos were out shopping and a small parade passed by. The horse was beautiful, a huge horse with fancy steps.

And this what was in the buggy it was pulling.  Two pretty princesses.

Jalos was packed with people from the surrounding towns and cites, all to partake in the bullfights and other celebrations.

This is one of two parks in the center of Jalos.

And finally the bull fights.  This stadium holds 5000 and there were more than likely 6000 attending.  This photo was taken and hour before the fights started.

And this one maybe 30 minutes before, as more and more crowded in.  We actually had great seats as we came about 2 hours early.  We were close to a place to buy beer, close to the bathrooms and close to an exit to be able to get out.  Such a crowd and such excitment.

There were many vendors selling almost anthing and they were amazing as the pushed their way through the crowds.

The matches will soon begin.  The red shirted guys are the goundskeepers and the red shirted horses you will see more of in later photos that show what their role is in the whole scheme of things.

There were three different matadors for this particular event.  This is one of them.

And another.  This one was the most famous and is from Spain.

There are many of these types of men who start to fight by antagognzing the bull before the main matador takes over.  They are matadors in training.

These next two photos will tell you about the role of the horses, covered in a very heavy quilted material .  Their purpose is to antagonize the bull by sticking spears in its back.

And finally the matador has his time in the ring.

All the bulls are killed by the matador and it is done by sticking a long sword, between the ribs right into the heart of the bull.  In the matadors right hand, he has the sword and is getting ready for the kill.

And here is the death blow.  He comes over the horns on the bull and forces the sword between the ribs and into the heart.  Mostly the bull dies pretty quickly.

And what happens to the bull.  15 minutes later it is butchered and put on spits and sold to the public as they leave the bull ring.

And last some pretty roses from out garden.

 

 

Nancy and Ron