course landaise

as we are in Gascogne, the course landaise, a show akin to bull-fighting, but which absolutely isn't bull-fighting, is very popular. here, the principle is basically either to avoid the bulls (or cows) by nicely stepping to the side with a little torero flourish, or to jump over them. no harm comes to the animals, even though the men who practise the sport are sometimes hurt - in fact, two of them were nearly mauled, but got out of it in one piece and even refused to see the doctor. those were the parts of the show that i didn't enjoy, as i really feared for their lives. but other than that, i really got into it, and at the end of the 2-hour show, i believe i was able to understand some of the 'rules'.