SUMMARY OF THE 41st ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF TAURINE CLUBS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

ZACATECAS, ZAC., MEXICO

September 7-17, 2003

by Bill Clark, President, Club Taurino de Chula Vista

The following is my summary of some high lights from the subject NATC convention.  This was, as expected, a well-organized and delightful get together thanks to the efforts of many and, especially, Irene and Rafael Iglesias.

Sunday, Sept 7, 2003

Zacatecas is the capital city of the state of Zacatecas, MX.  It is located on the side of a hill at about 8000 ft elevation and dates back to about 1548 when the Spanish first starting mining silver in the local hills. This is a truly text book “colonial city”-much like Tlaxcala which JJ and I visited two years ago for our first participation in the NATC conventions.

 The airport is on a vast treeless plain which is very green this year due to abundant rainfall.  The state is rich in agriculture and mining.

We visited a mine called La Mina de Eden which operated for almost 400 years-from 1586 till 1960!  The labor conditions were not healthy, especially during those early years!

I arrived at the Hotel Emporio via taxi (about 15 miles from airport and $190 pesos, $19 US) following a pleasant two-hour flight from Tijuana just in time to jump on the bus and head out to the evening's novillada (Bull fight for novice matadors in training).

Monday, Sept 8, 2003

Following a welcoming breakfast we prepared for a bus tour of the city of Zacatecas from 1130AM to about 2PM.  This is where we first met our guide for the week, Arturo, who was a delightful companion, speaking very good English with some charming pronunciations. We discovered that Arturo is a walking encyclopedia of Mexican and Zacatecan history and he has detailed information about historical events regardless of whether or not they actually occurred.

 I learned from Arturo that we were celebrating the birthday today of the founding of the city of Zacatecas (in 1546 or 1585-I never got the dates quite straight but, regardless, it was a heck of a long time ago).  Zaca and the adjoining city of Guadalupe have a combined population of around 300,000 people.  We had the pleasure of orbiting a statue of Benito Juarez about a dozen times as the bus driver figured out how to negotiate the turns-giving Arturo ample time to expand upon the very significant role of Sr Juarez in Mexican history.  Other highlights of the tour included a visit to the La Bufa hill with magnificent views of the city (I returned here many times during our stay) and a short stop at the Quinta Real hotel, an architectural award winner built around the second oldest plaza de toros in the Americas and under the remains of an aqueduct built in late 1700s to bring water from springs in the hills to the city.

After the city tour we went out to the fair grounds again for our first corrida de toros of the convention.  This evening we observed a grand costumed parade and celebration commemorating the defeat of the Moors in Spain back in the 15^th century (I think).  Amazing how these customs can survive the ages and distances!

I started to learn a bit about the Mexican Revolution of about 1910-1922 when we visited the La Bufa hill where there are statues of Pancho Villa and his top generals.  Old Pancho captured the city of Zaca during the wars and there is a museum describing the events. I find that period of history very confusing since it seems that everybody was fighting everybody else during the revolution periods.  The bottom line was that the peasants were revolting against their poor living conditions but there were a lot of generals and politicians who seemed to be in it for their own purposes.  Villa made the mistake of crossing into the US and killed a bunch of US citizens.  This prompted Pres Wilson to send Gen JJ Pershing and his army into Mexico to capture Pancho Villa.  Guess what? They never caught him!  Does this sound familiar (Osam bin Laden and Saddam Hussein come to mind)?

Tuesday, Sept 9, 2003

Today we boarded our bus for our first venture into the countryside for a visit to the ganaderia (ranch where they raise fighting bulls), Jose Julian Llaguno.  We stopped by the old hacienda of Torrecilla and had a lively discussion about the history of this ranch and about the introduction of the Saltillo breed of fighting bulls from Spain to Mexico.  All cattle breeds in this hemisphere were imported from Europe and the breed, toros bravos, are no exception.  This particular breed, Saltillo from Spain, came in about 1908 which happened to overlap with the aforementioned Mex Revolution.  The breeders took their precious cattle to Mexico City to hide them from Pancho Villa’s army who would have eaten them.  Similar events took place in Spain during the civil wars of the 1930s. Again the bull breeders are said to have hidden the animals in their homes to keep the armies from eating them.( I think a fighting bull in the living room would not be pleasant company!) These events just indicate how important it is to the culture to preserve this tradition and protect this unique breed of animals.

By the way, no one makes any profit from breeding fighting bulls.  It is a rich gentleman rancher’s hobby very similar, I suppose, to raising of thoroughbred horses in the US but less money involved.  The ranches we visited were owned by families that have been land owners for generations.

On the way to the Llaguno ranch we passed through the town of Fresnillo, second largest town in the state of Zacatecas, and still a major silver mining center.  In route, Arturo also pointed out to us a highway marker, telling us we were crossing the imaginary line of the Tropic of Cancer, which indicates the boundary between North and Central America.  Had we been standing at this spot at midday on the Summer Solstice in June the sun would have been directly overhead. (That is my own bit of information trivia, no need to thank me)

In keeping with NATC tradition of “never a dull moment” our bus broke an oil line on the rough road to the ranch.  No problema, ganadero (rancher) sent some trucks to carry us the rest of the way and our resourceful driver (also named Arturo) and a mechanic fixed the break while we had lunch. Some of us chose to walk rather than ride the trucks. However, the rancher (Sr. Llaguno) did not want us to walk near his bulls who were grazing behind a fence. I did get some good pictures of the animals from the truck.

 Following a marvelous lunch prepared by the Emporio staff we enjoyed a tienta (testing of calves to see if they will be kept for breeding or sent to the slaughter house) in the adjoining ring where Matador (retired) Mario Carrion and Novillero Cesar Montes caped a few vacas (one to two year old female calves).

Wednesday, Sept 10, 2003

Today we enjoyed another outing to the nearby town of Jerez for sightseeing and luncheon in the restaurant, Juana Gallo.  We learned that Jerez has a local Jewish influence since many years ago folks of the Jewish faith fled the Spanish inquisition and took up residence in the Jerez area serving largely as innkeepers in those days.  The local residents were also having a parade and carrying corn stalks as symbolic offerings to their Senora de la Soledad and asking for her help in producing a good harvest.  Apparently, this is working since the cornfields appeared rich and abundant due to good rains.  Now if they can only get La Senora to intervene with the officials of NAFTA and World Trade Organization and do something about the worldwide glut of corn and subsequent low prices the farmers of Jerez will really have something to celebrate.

We finished our tour with a visit to the local theater, which was built on the same plan as the Ford Theater in Washington, DC. We recalled from our history that it was in Ford’s Theater in 1865 when Pres Lincoln was enjoying a play that espontaneo, John Wilkes Booth, tragically altered the course of American history.  Happily, in the Jerez Theater our own espontaneos, Irene Iglesias and Dr Ismael Roman, delighted us with their poetry recital and musical performances. (espontaneos are usually guys who jump into the ring during a bull fight to prove they can also handle the bulls.  This is illegal but sometimes brings fame to the espontaneo)

Thursday, Sept 11, 2003

This morning we held the business meeting for NATC.  Congratulations to Art Diaz who was unanimously chosen as next president of NATC and as the recipient of the 2004 O. P. Houston award!  Also, Octavio Ramon was elected to assume duties of treasurer and Hugh Hosch and Bette Stracke will continue their duties as Secretary and Vice President, respectively.

The other significant business item was the election of Bilbao, Spain as the venue for next year’s NATC convention, which will be hosted by the Club Taurino de Chicago.

In the evening the Banda de Musica del Estado de Zacatecas provided a free taurine concert much to the delight of the locals and our group. This is, of course, the same youthful 60 (or so) piece band of winds and percussions that performs during the corridas.

Friday, Sept 12, 2003

Today we enjoyed another excursion to visit the ruins, La Quemada, and to visit the ranch, Sergio Rojas.  On the way out of town Arturo pointed out the white walls enclosing the center of prostitution for the Zacatecas area.  Arturo demonstrated a remarkably intimate knowledge of how business is conducted behind those walls-including, for instance, the fact that a paid receipt for services rendered is tax deductible!  Upon my inquiry as to how Arturo acquired this knowledge he assured us that he learned it all from a friend.

La Quemada is the site of an unknown culture that inhabited this area in the 500-1000AD timeframe.  The stone construction was compared to that of Machu Pichu (spelling?) in Peru although the rocks here are much smaller than those used by the Incas in Peru.

Our tienta at Sergio Rojas was rained out but the rain in no way diminished the pleasure of the visit with another great luncheon, a chance to visit the hacienda and a truck ride to the fields to take a look at the cows and calves and the very contented semental (breed bull) who was watching over his harem and offspring.

Saturday, Sept 13, 2003

After our usual continental breakfast we had a lecture by Allen Josephs on some background and insights regarding his book, Ritual and Sacrifice in the Corrida-The Saga of Cesar Rincon.

In the evening we journeyed again to the hotel Quinta Real for the annual NATC awards banquet.  Here University Research Professor Allen Josephs received the NATC’s George B Smith award and Bette Stracke received the Nancy A. Slayton award.  Congratulations to these well deserving award winners!!

Sunday, Sept 14, 2003

This day was free for shopping and sightseeing.  We boarded the bus at 4PM for the corrida de rejones (bullfights from horseback) in the afternoon.

There are some very good museums in Zacatecas.  Two are named after the brothers, Coronel, who had obtained very impressive art collections during their lives.  One is a museum of masks! Thousands of mask used in religious, theatrical and other events over the ages.  Acutally, I found this museum (in an ancient seminary building from 1540s.) a bit creepy because some of the masks are really scary looking.  By the way, that seminary building’s claim to fame is that Francisican monks departed from here to establish towns in what is now the USA- Sante Fe, NMx, San Antonio, TX and others. The other Coronel museum has an art collection including Picassos, Goyas, Dali, and many other well known artists.

Monday, Sept 15, 2003

Today after breakfast a close friend of the Iglesias, Teodoro (sorry, I did not get the full name), gave a short history lecture on the Mexican struggle for independence from Spain during the period 1810-1821.  This was to better prepare us to appreciate the evening’s celebrations and tomorrow’s Independence Day parades.  We were not disappointed in the Independence Day Eve festivities viewed from our hotel balconies with an abundance of fire works, music and, of course, the governor’s bell ringing at 11PM to commemorate Father Hidalgo’s shout of independence on Sept 15, 1810.

Tuesday, Sept 16, 2003 Independence Day

During the morning there was a military parade in front of the hotel.  There was also an event with soldiers (?) rappelling from a helicopter, which hovered over the main plaza.  I noticed that this event created a great deal of interest from the children and citizens along the overlooking streets as I made my exercise walk up the hill to La Bufa.

There is an interesting ritual involving the La Bufa hill. Each evening a procession of indigenous folks starts a hike from the cathedral in town to another cathedral on top of the hill to give thanks and ask blessings from another Senora of Something.  Their parade starts out with much bugle blowing and drum beating but I noticed that the bugle blowing stops as soon as they hit the steep part of the walk.  The indigenous folks wear beautiful orange and other colored outfits with huge hats and they carry the sugar cane or corn stalk offerings.

In the afternoon we had a great luncheon with mariachis at a restaurant just south of town (I did not get the name) and then it was on to the day’s corrida.

Finally, this evening we had our farewell party with more good music and last minute photos and collecting of email and snail mail addresses and we all starting thinking about next year’s 42^nd NATC convention!