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Saintes Maries de la Mer, 24th of March of 2012.
5 Novillos, Juan Pedro Domecq.
El Fundi (1 ear) ; Matias Tejela (2 ears) ; Daniel Luque (2 ears) ; Thomas Dufau (Saluts) ; Juan Leal (1 ear).

Though not the real first time I saw a Festival Taurin this year (for the revelation of the Carteles in Palavas a few days before), it was the first time I saw real fighters enjoy the first sun of Spring.

The Saintes Maries de la Mer are a little town next to the sea, in the heart of the Camargue area. When there is complete silence in the arenas, you can hear the sea lick the shore with it’s delicate tongue. The seagulls are always guests and ready to share their voice with people. The arenas were half full, but that didn’t change the fact that the few tourists which had dared purchase a ticket enjoyed the fight as much as us usual suspects did.

El Fundi is one of the bad boys. One of the old school fighters, if I should say so. I’ve seen him fight before, in Beaucaire, in 2009, in a Mano a Mano with Sergio Aguilar with Victorino Martin bulls. He didn’t impress me much that day - but it had been a boring bullfight that day. I liked the fight, he was smiling and having fun. He cut one ear after a smooth kill :)

Matias Tejela is one of my favourite bullfighters. I’ve seen him a fair number of times (the first time I saw him, he was ghored by the bull, but I’ve seen him since, a total of 6 times, and got his autograph and picture taken with him as well). His fight was really good as well, I liked it very much. It seemed as if the bull was going to be a pain, but it turned out Matias managed to condense his adversary in his cape, and after a good kill, he got two ears.

Daniel Luque is one hell of a cute fighter. The first time I saw him, was the time he invented the Luquina, in Nîmes, in 2009. He’s only one month younger than my elder sister, so, we often joke with my parents about how I should try and flirt with him - but since my Spanish level sucks, it’s going to be hard. That day, he fought really well : for his young age, he shows really good skill with both the Capote de Brega (the pink cape) and with the Muleta (the red cape). He’s really enjoyable and suave to watch fight. He got two trophies after a good kill.

Thomas Dufau is one young French man I don’t really know. I saw him fight last September in Nîmes with José Tomas and Javier Conde, but that doesn’t strike me as a hard memory. It was nice to see him in the Saintes Maries, though, because a lot of people say that he’s got a bright future. I don’t disagree. It was just a shame that the entire faena went to waste with a pinchazo and some failures at the descabello, he had earnt an ear for that fight. (Faena = name of the ‘fight’ with the red cape ; pinchazo = when the sword (estoque) doesn’t go into the pull but hits a bone on its back at the moment of the death ; descabello = special sword they use when the death hit (estocada) isn’t successful to cut the medulla oblongata, which is the part of the brain which links the body and the brain together, so once you cut that part, the bull is dead, completely dead and utterly dead).

Juan Leal is a young man I don’t know at all. I’ve never seen him fight before, and to see his face today was a good thing. Quite impressive, he’s nice to see fight :) I like his style, and I’ll probably keep an eye out for him in the coming carteles in the different bullfight cities we’re going to. He cut one ear that day :)
After the fight, me and my mother left our seats to go out back, behind the arenas and try to catch the fighters while they were going back into their cars/vans. We managed to get close to Daniel Luque, and with my mother having a pen in her pocket, we also managed to get and autograph each from the lovely younnster.

So, all in all, a good season start, right ? :)