Provence Black & White Part 2Here is the final post from this trip. I know what you are thinking, "Thank God!" But I must admit the Camargue was kind to me and my camera. We would love to return and give the wild bulls another shot at us, but are making no plans. Thanks to everyone for looking and for your feedback.
Provence Black & WhiteI will put the black & white images into two posts. These are all horses but what is one to do? White horses demand a monochrome treatment. Hope you like them.
One Angry BullAn excellent adventure... So on the evening of Oct 6 we gathered at the south gate for the bandido to conclude that day's festivities. The bulls would be run back through town to the meadow where they started the day. This spot is a magnet for photographers and is the same place I've used on my two previous efforts at photographing the bandido. Pictured below is Jana, a Swiss lady who we met on one of Cecile's photo sessions. She was staying in a hotel just a few blocks down the main street where the bulls would run and she decided to photograph the bandido from there because it had an arched entryway that provided a place of retreat. It was of course, inside the steel barriers. I would be taking up my favorite spot by the archway. This place served well not just for the pictures but because right behind me was a gap in the barrier through which I could readily escape.
The bandido began with the usual announcements on loudspeakers in French, English, and German, proclaiming, "We are releasing wild bulls into the town. If you remain inside the barriers it is at your own risk!" Of course, there were throngs of people inside the barriers. There were throngs of people everywhere. This was opening day of the festival so it was the biggest crowd we had yet seen. The first group of gardiens and bulls came through.
Here comes the next one.
But with so many bulls to manage one had escaped from custody. Not to worry. I'd seen this before, several times. Getting the bull rounded up shouldn't take long. But it did. I stood there at the archway quite awhile waiting for something to happen, either bringing him back through the arch and down the street, or at least chasing him somewhere else. So I finally gave in to curiosity and walked through the archway to check it out. Here's what I saw.
I don't know who he has down there but he soon turned his attention to this gentleman.
And when the bull started for the archway without a gardien escort my thought was, "This is the reason I have an escape plan." So I stepped through the steel barrier and went down to the corner where Jeanne Marie has always watched this show. Until now. I then remembered that as the bandido was starting she had let me know she was tired of trying to get a glimpse of the action through the crowd and would be going inside the barriers. So she is now in there with this wild, angry bull. I ran back to my spot inside the barrier. Below is the scene on the street. The bull is in the middle of that cluster of people and has two people on the ground. Jeanne Marie is in her chosen "safe spot" between those columns on the left, just behind the lady in the teal coat. The raging bull is three feet away.
Here he goes after the horses again.
I was grateful that she left us a video, as it would give me something to play at the funeral and maybe the kids wouldn't blame me. Here is what she saw. The first video below is the first group of bulls and gardiens.
Then the wild bull arrived.
So the bull is still loose and our friend Jana is watching all of this from her hotel further down the street.
She was in the archway pictured above and decided that this was no protection from this particular bull. The kitchen to the hotel opened into this covered space so she ran into the kitchen and grabbed the nearest worker and told him what the bull was doing outside. He waved her away with assurance that she was safe in the kitchen. With that, the bull ripped off one of the kitchen doors, charged into the kitchen, and pinned this same kitchen worker against the refrigerator between his horns. Jana was two feet away, trapped in a corner, and had to scramble over a high counter to escape.
The bull did leave the kitchen on his own and shortly afterward the gardiens got ropes on him and out of town. The entire episode had taken about seven minutes. Jeanne Marie was feeling triumphant. She had faced down the bull and had the video to prove it. Poor Jana though, was completely rattled. She met us the next day to photograph the course camarguaise but as soon as the first bull ran out and started chasing people she had to leave. We've stayed in touch and she told us recently that the nightmares have finally subsided. So yes, it was an excellent adventure.
Abrivado, La Course Camarguaise, Bandido Part 2Sunday Oct 6th I'm trying to give you some idea what this festival looks like but there are so many moving parts it's hard to break the days into blog size pieces. In the last blog post we went from the meadow where the bulls are rounded up, directly to the bullfighting. We missed the abrivado where the bulls are run through town to the arena. We will do that today and as this is the official opening day of the festival it will be extra special. More on that later. The bulls are run out of the meadow, down a lane, into the town, and out the south gate, as in the pictures below.
After delivering the bulls to the arena the gardiens would all line up against the town walls. It had a ritualistic look to it.
Motorbikes like the one above and below, with the motor mounted on the front tire, were very popular. Cute, but they smoke something awful.
We were immersed in a combination county fair/rodeo that had been celebrated for many hundreds of years. These people did all of this just for themselves. It certainly wasn't to make money off the tourists. For one thing, we didn't see any. For another, the entire festival was free, including parking the car. When the parade was over we realized we had lingered around too long to get a seat in the arena for the first bullfight so we took this chance to look around town.
Above is our friend, St. Louis, King of France, founder of this town. This was our chance too, to walk the top of the town wall.
Below is the great salt recovery works. Aigues-Mortes has been in the sea salt business since the early Middle Ages. The pink water is caused by algae.
We caught the afternoon bullfight, reported on in the previous blog post, and then it was time for the bandido. That is, the running of the bulls back through town to the meadow. I consider this a great photo op and one has to get there early to stake out a good spot. In fact, this being opening weekend, there were throngs of people both inside the town and outside the south gate, all of them inside the steel barriers. I think it was worth the effort.
It is impossible to overstate how fun this is. But wait! There's more! Our next post will top it all! Abrivado, La Course Camarguaise, BandidoSaturday, Oct 5th We were now ready for the bullfighting. This festival is one of many of its kind all over southern France and it is one of the bigger ones. This may be because it is in the heart of the Camargue which is where the manades (ranches) are all located. Each day of the festival is sponsored by a different family's manade. So the day starts in a meadow at the edge of town. The bulls have been brought in by the sponsoring manade. But before doing anything with them we have to have a party! Everyone was eating, drinking wine, cooking, we would call it a tailgate party. There was a very lively band playing traditional tunes.
Presently, the gardians began to cut from the herd the bulls that would be taken through the town to the arena. These photos are documentary just to show how this show proceeds.
Nine bulls are gathered in the small canal behind the meadow.
This begins the part of the festival called the abrivado, where the gardians run the bulls through the town. At this point we rushed out to try to catch them emerging from the south gate of the town. We just missed them. The last of them were running into the arena as we arrived. But this is the reason we will be here for three days. They will run two more abrivados before we leave and we will be there. But we were not late for the course camarguaise. This, we have learned at this point, is the name of the French style bullfight, where the bull is the star of the show and is not killed. Rather, the object of the encounter is for the rasetuer to grab a ribbon from between the bull's horns. It is still a very exotic spectacle. As we reported in the blog last year, at times, most of the time actually, we could hardly believe what we were seeing. We've also learned that of all the course camarguaise bullfights across southern France, this is one of the more informal, or could we say chaotic? In most towns the rasetuers are vetted for skill level before they are allowed in the arena. In Aigues-Mortes it is a free for all. Anyone who wants to get killed by a wild bull will be given every opportunity. The informality is evident in the pregame warmup.
The guy in the sequence below almost outruns the bull. But not quite. Note that the bull breaks off the top rail of the fence.
The young man below was trying very hard to be a proper rasetuer. He's trying to grab the ribbon between the bulls horns and showing pretty good form. But he is clearly not ready for the major leagues. And I'll bet he's glad they sheath those horns.
The haystacks in the center of the arena are supposed to provide, in theory, a home base of safety. But then it's only a theory.
Here's another matador.
On that note we will leave the bullfighting. More festival in the next post.
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