Charity Bullfight: A waterspout spoils the end of the party in Las Ventas | Culture

At seven in the afternoon, the time of the start of the bullfight, the sun was shining brightly and an intense heat was noticeable in the atmosphere; And so it was until the fight of the third bull, when some black clouds appeared on the horizon, covered the sky and were the opening act for thunder and lightning. Talavante took the crutch for the task to the room, and the first drops gave way to an increasingly intense rain that, in a very few minutes, became an impressive waterspout. The staff had come without umbrellas and, inevitably, there was a general rout of the stands, while the Extremaduran bullfighter barely tried to take advantage of the noble and kind attack of his opponent with little echo for obvious reasons.

When that fourth bull died, the arena was a swimming pool. It is assumed that there was an emergency meeting in the alley between the crews and the authorities and they decided to continue with the celebration, without the rain stopping, which continued until the end.

Until then, a bull with a beautiful image, like the entire bullfight – well presented, very serious and astypic by Victoriano del Río -, the one that came out first, shouted loudly its manifest disability, which was not a reason for its return, but for all of us to witness the sad spectacle of the accelerated death of a lifeless animal, and Talavante did well to shorten the agony.

And before it rained, right in the third of the second of the afternoon, Roca’s first, one of the most intense moments of the bullfight occurred. Víctor Hernández made use of his right to take off and, with solemnity and parsimony, put his cape on his back, and called from the center of the arena for tight saltilleras that brought the plaza to its feet; Roca followed, stung by his self-esteem, and took off with gaoneras, equally tight, which closed a competitive sequence marked by emotion.

Crutch in hand, the Peruvian bullfighter toasted the ring, knelt on his knees and made two exchanged passes from behind, the second in a hurry due to the lack of space, which risked a triumphant task. But it couldn’t be. Shortly after, the bull collapsed, cracked and ended what could have been but was not.

And it was the turn of Hernández, a young man who is called to be a figure, but has the disadvantage that he is a son of his time, and as such he insists on doing endless and boring tasks, in such a way that he heard two warnings on his first bull after a brave performance presided over by four rounds of unequal naturals, but, in general, all of them symptoms of true bullfighting. After some tight manoletinas, he killed poorly before receiving the two presidential messages and blurring everything.

The arena was a quagmire during the fight of the fifth bull and the rain persisted. Roca Rey tried to overcome the adverse circumstances, and was able to draw a round of linked rounds and another of long natural ones, which was nothing more than a neat and solvent task.

And Hernández’s final desire was demonstrated with the toast to the respectable bull that closed the rainy afternoon, moments after Marcos Prieto showed off with a magnificent pair of banderillas. Two passes exchanged behind the back were the prelude to another courageous performance by a bullfighter who does not renounce compromised terrain and seeks authenticity in the handling of deceptions. His work was messy due to the bull’s lack of power, but he, son of his time, continued giving passes and more passes until the final warning.