'Jandillas' are a herd of highly bred and fearesome fighting bulls from  Northern Spain .

It is they who run the streets at Pamploma during the festival of San Firmin and are also the stars of many of the Fiestral Corridas that take place in Spain each year.

A Jandilla Bull is large, up to two tons in weight and it can accelerate from a standing start to 40 miles per hour in six seconds. It is an awesome beast.

Much as been made of the fact that Bullfighting is cruel,  It is gruesome, It is a dying anachronism of Spanish culture, It is fixed, in favour of the toreros, The Spanish only refer to Bullfighters as Toreros never Toreadors.

I went to find out how fixed, how cruel, if it was a dying art form. The facts are given as I saw them in these articles.

Oh in case you wondered, more bullfights took place  in Spain last year than at any time in its history

It was technically banned in Spain from Napoleonic times until  General Franco became dictator.

It was he who brought it back in its legalised modern format

Jandillas In The Afternoon

By M.A.Meddings

I drank two litres of water in as many hours
And learned the hard way what Sol Y Sombre meant
In Sol Y Sombre you roast rather than fry - slowly
Not for me the security of touristico gratis bus bullfights
Four Novillados bulls on A Sunday afternoon - starting at seven
Such provincial 'bullfights' are not to be missed 
If you want to say you've seen one 
But if you want to taste the sand
In this land - of social extremes and
Get a glimpse of what is possibly the last bastion
Of Spanish culture left unscathed
Then drink brandy as it comes - rough straight from the barrel 
And sit in the shade of  the Plane trees
Opposite the Taquilla at Malaga

Mix with the crowds - for crying out loud
Wait to get tickets for the Corrida
That same afternoon
All over not too soon - enough say the critics
A dying culture of cruelty and bestiality 
Days are numbered
More bullfights took place in Spain last year
Than at any time in its history
Dont believe me? Go seek the websites
Of 'Six Toros' and Applaus
Two of Spain's top sporting magazines
Dedicated to Bullfights
Then come with me to Malaga in August
Mix with the old men in the Ticket line
Who still remember Orson Welles
And Anthony Ordonez the matador friend

La Feria De Agosta thats the place to be
A week long riotous party of song drink and dance
With the even chance of one almighty hang over
At the end when the dancing is done
Then linking this party together
Is a twenty day full Lidiria of daily bullfights
The Malaga Corrida
You cant reserve a seat any day
They just wont sell you one
Unless you go to the ticket office and wait in line
You can buy them from so called official ticket sellers
In The Margues De Larios in Malaga city
But thats risky
And dont ask for discount for block booking
They dont give it - such is the demand

Malaga is a bull fight city especially in August
Then it comes alive with top flight matadors fighting everyday
I wanted to go see and so in my 'walking out ' shorts
And Yves St Laurent tee shirt
I waited for two hours in line with the rest of crowd
Avoided the pleadings of ticket touts - ever present
Drank rough brandy straight from the barrel
Smiled at all  the  pretty girls
Then tipped my hat to the ladies
And waited in the hot sun