Blood, Sweat and Fears

Domingo, November 2nd, a day that became very sunny and warm. We did a lot of walking - 10 miles to be precise, as told to me by my Fitbit.  Walking in the hot sunny day explains the 'sweat' part of my title. 

Firstly we walked to the sea (aka the Pacific Ocean). Lima is built on the cliffs above the ocean and we had wonderful views of the ocean, waves, surfers.  

Then we went to the huge market that sold all manner of food products and household items. The food products always have a strange allure, despite the various animal parts on display and fishy smells.  We ate in the market with the locals and I had some food that had some questionable meats in it but tasted quite good, although a little tough. ? Guinea Pig. I didn't want to know. 

While walking we happened upon a parade of a band on horseback, dressed in full regalia. 

Our highlight of the day was going to a bullfight, which has been on Dale's bucket list apparently.  The arena was in a poorer part of Lima and as we got closer we observed tenements on a steep hillside. 

When we got to the arena we mingled on the streets with the crowds of (mostly) men drinking beer and numbers of people grilling meats and frying donuts. Most of the people were obviously from the area and we were obviously in the minority being Caucasian, English speaking women. 

The bullfight. Fascinating and interesting but also brutal. Six bulls were killed.  As the matador performed his ritualistic moves, cheers of "ole" rang throughout the arena and when the bull dropped to it's death, with blood dripping from it, more cheers were heard. The "fears"were mine.  I feared for the bull's death, actually  hoping at one time that the bull would be the winner.  Matadors did get knocked down, one got thrown in the air and was was gored but all got up to continue to fight. 

One bull toppled over a picador and his horse. The bull was always the loser. 

A great day. Until the next post.....

Ole