Festival and bullfight in Manizales, Colombia

In Medellin I heard about a festival happening in small city called Manizales. It was on my way towards Ecuador so I decided to stop by and check it out. On the gorgeous 5 hour bus ride to Manizales I talked to a great guy from Manizales who told me about another event in a nearby town, the Carnaval del Diablo. That's the way that trips seem to go, you go so far then learn about something else and you are off in a different direction. As John Steinbeck wrote 'it's not you that takes a trip, but the trip that takes you.' So my plans changed in route to Manizales. I did stay there for a couple of days, but then I backtracked to go to the other carnival then returned to Manizales for a few more days. The photos here are from my whole time in Manizales even though there were a couple of other places in between my visits.

Manizales is a cool university town perilously set on the ridge of a mountain overlooking one side or the other. It's an improbable setting for a city of 400,000 people but it works. The town is hilly and on the cooler side, sitting at an elevation of 2,500 meters (7,000 feet). One of the main attraction of the town is the huge cathedral that can be seen from most of the city. Also there is a part of the town called Chipre that sits on top of a steep embankment over looking the mountainous landscape and numerous coffee plantations in the area. Manizales is in prime coffee country and there is plenty of the strong stuff to go around.

The only bummer about Manizales is that I had my good camera stolen from my bag. I didn't lose any photos from Manizales, but I lost the best photo of my trip from another place that I visited. That's the way it goes sometimes.

















The week long festival made Manizales a lively place to be. There were plenty of street venders and events around the city. It was a hectic, but fun.











I took a couple of trips out of town and on one of them I met a great woman from Manizales, Tatiana. When I came back I hung out with her and family and we enjoyed the rest of the festival together.




One of the daily events at the festival was bullfighting. I had never been to one so I went with a couple travelers I met when I first arrived in Manizales, Becky and Amber. It was an interesting spectacle. Sad and pretentious, but interesting. The day we went fairly inexperienced bull fighters were making their debut.



Fun with Cowboy hats

There are a lot of photos below that show the different stages of the spectacle, but this is essentially how it worked. The bull would be stuck with a pin to come out fired up. Then it would be greeted by several men in funny outfits and hats that challenging the bull to charge them as they stuck longer, more colorful pins in its back. After several charges and punctures the bull is tired and generally bleeding profusely. Then the bullfighter in an even more ridiculous outfit would come out and prance around then challenge the bull to charge his cape. Each time the crowd would cheer “Ole”. After a dozen charges or so the bull would be panting with its tongue out, urinating, and bleeding from the back. Then just to make sure the bull is thoroughly exhausted a blindfolded, padded horse would be brought out carrying a horseman with a spear that he jabbed into the back of the bull. The bull, rightfully furious then charges the horse, which probably wants nothing to do with the whole mess. After the bull gets a few jabs the horseman retreats and the bullfighter begins to prance around again. A few more charges and “Oles” then it is time for the bullfighter to put the exhausted bull out of it's misery, if he can. Now that the Bull is good and tired the bull fighter lines up his sword, lets the bull charge, then thrusts the sword in just the right spot to miss the shoulder blade and enter into the heart of the bull killing it instantly. Unfortunately, these bullfighters weren't so skilled. If the bull fighter did manage to stick the sword in the bull without it falling out they generally missed the heart and the bull would be running around with a sword stuck in its body. To remove the sword and start the fun game all over again several men in funny outfits would come out with capes to work as a team to distract and confuse the bull so that one of them could extract the sword. With the sword pulled out it was time for round two. This time with a little more pressure. There is a time limit that you are allowed to torture the bull. After a certain amount of time a band in funny outfits blows their horns and the bull fighter knows that time is running out. So bull fighter tries to stick the bull again, hits the shoulder blade or misses the heart and they have to dance around to take the sword out again. The horns blow a second time signaling the final period to kill the bull. Again the bullfighter taunts the bull, the bull charges and the bull fighter misses the heart. The horns sound for the last time and the fight is over. The bullfighter leaves disappointed and the bull is lead over to the wall where a man cuts its spinal cord and the bull falls limp. From there the clean up crew arrives with a cart and horses to drag the bull away. While this is happening the grounds crew comes out to rake the over the soil where the bull was just dragged and repaint the lines. Ready for the next slaughter!

There were several bullfights so the photos below are generally shown in order of the process.





























































Cotton Candy