Plaza de Toros

The Corrida itself is just not for me - bullfights are kinda gruesome. But, here in Mexico and most Latin-American/Spanish areas of the world, the bullfight is considered a ritualized art form and any aspects of cruelty imply are not culturally recognized. Well, maybe if the bull didn't have to be drug out of the cage before the fight due its fear of the toreo and the crowd, maybe then I could buy all the guy-risking-his-life hoopla. As it stands, it seems more like an overblown way to kill a bull with some added entertainment. Now, the running of the bulls here in September (or of course the large running of the bulls in Spain) IS something I would like to see someday..

Having said all this, I do like the excitement surrounding the meere mention of a bullfight and the artwork is very nice as well. Thus, I thought it would definitely be worth checking out Plaza de Toros here in San Miguel just to see the arena and maybe some associated art/architecture. If there was a bullfight here, I would probably even go hang out around the Plaza just to see the buzz and maybe score some cheap prints or something - but there isn't one in town until late July.

Anyway, we walked over to the spot on the map that had the stadium drawn and marked. Then we walked around the block and back around again - never finding the actual Plaza. Keep in mind this a pretty large place - easily spotted first on the Google Earth and tourist maps of San Miguel - how could we not find it?

Turns out, the whole block has a huge wall built around it and the arena is simply not observable from the street. Finally we found one relatively small door that opens on the day of a bullfight and was worn with old fliers announcing upcoming events. I don't see how they contains something so big behind a wall....but they do.

These walls and are actually very common here - it's not infrequent that you will be walking down the street and someone will open a tiny door and when you glance in, a large space is revealed - maybe a school or a soccer field.

the only sign of the large Plaza from the street....