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Features / Archive
25 September, 2009 12:35:12 | in entertainment
Toro Toro: Thrills and Spills
Photos and Essay by Rodney L. Dodig
As you enter the arena you can feel the excitement in the crowd. People are chattering away as they scramble for seats with a good vantage point. The smell of the bulls in the pens floats over the crowd. Groups of young people are there to cheer on their favorite team or their friends and everyone is anticipating an afternoon of fun and thrills. Finally the stadium is filled and the announcer begins by explaining the events that will happen in the arena. This was the scene as we prepared ourselves for the last of six Toro Matches held at Mamacona.
Mamacona is a Paso Horse ranch and entertainment complex south of Lima and just below the ruins of Pachacamác. I had heard rumors about what a great place it was from local Peruvians for over a year. The usual venue at Mamacona involves a dinner with a show that involves local musicians and folk dancers, and then afterwards there is a display of Paso Horses being ridden.
After all that it was time to head over to the Bull Ring for the Toro matches. This was definitely the highlight of the day for me. It started out with them placing three guys (volunteers) from the audience on three barrels in the center of the ring. They told them to stand as still as possible so as not to attract the attention of the bull. The last guy standing would win a prize. Then they let the bull into the ring and he immediately started plowing into those barrels sending the guys flying high into the air.
Next they asked a volunteer to come out and try to jump over the charging bull. I think the guy who accepted the challenge was a little drunk and you can tell from the photo what happened to him. After that fiasco, they had a couple of employees come out and give a demonstration of how easy it was. They were very good at doing a front dive into a roll over the bull. Brave or stupid, I’ll let all of you decide.
This was followed by a professional Paso Horse ride
r coming out and doing some cape work with the bull from horseback. It was just thrilling to watch and the horse was beautiful. Then came the two events from which this event got its name. The first was a game involving the bull and two teams of three players. It is a bit like soccer only the object was to get the bull between the two goal posts. The players jumped, screamed and performed any crazy antic they could think of to get the bull to chase them between the goal posts to score a point. The team in the black shirts ended up winning by a single goal, 4 to 3.
Last but not least, a contest was held between two teams of eight players. In this contest the object was to score as many points as possible doing a series of feats. Getting the bull to pass though a cape held by two players, getting the bull to pass under a cape help by one player, tagging the bull with two sticks like the ones used in bull fighting and last but not least, one player had to grab the bull by the horns while the other grabbed it by the tail.
First though, the entire team had to stand in a huddle in the middle of the ring without breaking up while the bull charged them. In this event, the white team won. Also, each of the teams had to supply a player to have a dance contest in the center of the ring to determine which team went first. It was hilarious!
Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt in all this, but I could tell that some of the players would have some serious aches, pains and bruises the next day. This was an incredible day for me and one I will not soon forget. I only saw a couple of non-Peruvians attending this event. The audience was enthusiastic and almost as much fun to watch as the actual Toro matches. The white team had a whole section of their friends there cheering for them, singing some type of team song they had made up and tossing water on each other. It was a day of thrills and spills that everyone could enjoy.
As you enter the arena you can feel the excitement in the crowd. People are chattering away as they scramble for seats with a good vantage point. The smell of the bulls in the pens floats over the crowd. Groups of young people are there to cheer on their favorite team or their friends and everyone is anticipating an afternoon of fun and thrills. Finally the stadium is filled and the announcer begins by explaining the events that will happen in the arena. This was the scene as we prepared ourselves for the last of six Toro Matches held at Mamacona.This was my first experience attending one of these fun events and I can guarantee that it will not be my last. For the uninitiated, these matches do not involve the killing of any bull. As a matter of fact the only injuries appear to be those inflicted by the young bulls on the human participants.
Mamacona is a Paso Horse ranch and entertainment complex south of Lima and just below the ruins of Pachacamác. I had heard rumors about what a great place it was from local Peruvians for over a year. The usual venue at Mamacona involves a dinner with a show that involves local musicians and folk dancers, and then afterwards there is a display of Paso Horses being ridden. The Toro Match event is much different and is only offered for six Sundays in August and September. After you pay your entry fee you come into an area where food and drink vendors are set up along with a playground for children. They had a wide range of reasonably priced food to offer and several beverage stands offering a variety of drinks ranging from wine and liquor to sodas. There was a variety of entertainment offered outside the Arena before the Toro matches began. There was a dog show with training demonstrations, archery, horseback riding, hot air balloon rides, folk dances and a Paso Horse exhibition, just to mention a few. Those horses are so beautiful and watching them perform is incredible.
After all that it was time to head over to the Bull Ring for the Toro matches. This was definitely the highlight of the day for me. It started out with them placing three guys (volunteers) from the audience on three barrels in the center of the ring. They told them to stand as still as possible so as not to attract the attention of the bull. The last guy standing would win a prize. Then they let the bull into the ring and he immediately started plowing into those barrels sending the guys flying high into the air. At this point I want to add that I think that the guys volunteering for the contests during this show are CRAZY!!!!
After knocking the guys off the barrels the bull immediately started chasing them around the ring till they finally escaped over the walls of the inner ring. The crowd roared its approval through the whole event. Next they paired guys up and had them stand in the ring holding both hands and tried to get the bull to charge between them without letting go of each other’s hands. Now, granted the bulls used are small, young ones, but their horns looked big and sharp to me, not to mention that a head butt from a charging bull is going to hurt, I don’t care how big he is. The two man team that got the bull to go between them the most times without letting go won a prize.
Next they asked a volunteer to come out and try to jump over the charging bull. I think the guy who accepted the challenge was a little drunk and you can tell from the photo what happened to him. After that fiasco, they had a couple of employees come out and give a demonstration of how easy it was. They were very good at doing a front dive into a roll over the bull. Brave or stupid, I’ll let all of you decide. This was followed by a professional Paso Horse ride
r coming out and doing some cape work with the bull from horseback. It was just thrilling to watch and the horse was beautiful. Then came the two events from which this event got its name. The first was a game involving the bull and two teams of three players. It is a bit like soccer only the object was to get the bull between the two goal posts. The players jumped, screamed and performed any crazy antic they could think of to get the bull to chase them between the goal posts to score a point. The team in the black shirts ended up winning by a single goal, 4 to 3.Last but not least, a contest was held between two teams of eight players. In this contest the object was to score as many points as possible doing a series of feats. Getting the bull to pass though a cape held by two players, getting the bull to pass under a cape help by one player, tagging the bull with two sticks like the ones used in bull fighting and last but not least, one player had to grab the bull by the horns while the other grabbed it by the tail.
First though, the entire team had to stand in a huddle in the middle of the ring without breaking up while the bull charged them. In this event, the white team won. Also, each of the teams had to supply a player to have a dance contest in the center of the ring to determine which team went first. It was hilarious! Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt in all this, but I could tell that some of the players would have some serious aches, pains and bruises the next day. This was an incredible day for me and one I will not soon forget. I only saw a couple of non-Peruvians attending this event. The audience was enthusiastic and almost as much fun to watch as the actual Toro matches. The white team had a whole section of their friends there cheering for them, singing some type of team song they had made up and tossing water on each other. It was a day of thrills and spills that everyone could enjoy.
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