SINCELEJO, Colombia ? The fans came for the action. The bullfighters for the glory. The bulls, each 1,000 pounds of heaving, sweating fury, had no choice.
And so it was that the bulls, one after the other, were released into a vast, throbbing arena, to be faced down by a squadron of horsemen armed with long pikes, dozens of ?manteros? with red capes, hordes of young men swinging sticks, plus a clown or two. The copious amounts of beer and the local firewater consumed by the participants seemed to give the bull a fighting chance.
?Right now, I?m hurt in the leg,? said Rigoberto Hernandez, 44, who has been gored 19 times after years dodging bulls. ?But that is the way it is. This has been my art since I was born.?
The event is not a traditional bullfight but a corraleja (pronounced coh-rah-leh-ha), a huge, chaotic, pulsing Roman circus of the Colombian variety here in the cattle country of northern Colombia. There is no stirring contest between bull and matador, no highly ritualized artistry as in Spanish bullfights, no sequined outfits, no Hemingwayesque turn of phrase about death in the afternoon.
Indeed, there is nothing genteel about it.
?Here, there are no rules,? said Inis Amador, an organizer of Sincelejo?s corralejas.
Instead, a ring that could fit two football fields is swamped with anyone who dares take part, hundreds in all in a scrum before a creaky, makeshift wooden grandstand that seats 8,000, including rousing, old-time brass bands that pep up the crowds. In an afternoon, 40 bulls are released into this stew.
Those who see action dream of a big pay day, local stardom and, at night, perhaps a dance with a pretty girl.
?I have so much adrenaline right now,? Jorge Luis Villegas, 26, said moments before rushing into the ring. ?I want to triumph out there, go in with real courage and come out with the money I need.?
It is easy to see why ? this swath of Colombia is a throwback to the past, a land of hump-backed Cebu cattle, powerful regional bosses and hard-bitten men who toil under a blazing sun, their dreams of a better life always just dreams. The one escape is a century-old festival, held here in this provincial capital and small towns across the savannah.
In a highly stratified society, it brings everyone together in one place ? though the cattlemen and local entrepreneurs are in the stands, sipping strong drinks, while the ranch hands, small-town day laborers and teenage boys risk life and limb in the ring.
The cattlemen in the stands throw $2,000 peso notes, about $1, into the arena to reward those who?ve shown bravado. But some of those who have really shined ? by ?toreando,? fighting the bull, cape in hand, as a matador would ? can get hundreds of dollars over the corraleja?s spring season from wealthy sponsors.
?Thanks to God, I always do fine,? said Hernandez, who drives a motorcycle taxi when not sparring with bulls. To be sure, in a series of corralejas lasting a week he had made about $540.
Some in Bogota, Colombia?s sophisticated capital, see corralejas as monstrous medieval-like spectacle that reflects poorly on a country trying to modernize. But Amador, who is also a historian, noted that the bulls here come out alive, unlike those who fight in the traditional Spanish-style display that attracts the wealthy in Colombia?s big cities.
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