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Rota Spain
Russ Christie Rota memories: I made 5 patrols out of Rota.
I only went on the beach a few times as this period 71 - 75 Spain was ruled by
the dictator Franco and the Rota area was not a very pleasant place to roam
around. I did go to a bull fight. I spent most of my time taking
pictures looking through the viewfinder as it made the slaughter further
away. When the bull was finally killed, they drag it around the stadium
and the people whistle, which is their way of booing. We sailors stood up
and cheered "Viva Toro!". We were asked to leave after the
second bull was killed, which we gladly did. The bull fight is actually a
pretty equal fight, that is until the picador comes out on the horse and slices
the tendons on the back of the bulls head with a razor on the end of a lance, so
that the bull can barely raise his horns to fight any longer. My stomach
turned when I saw the horse up close. It's rump was completely scarred
from whipping which they must have done during its training to get it to stand
still while a bull charges at it. One of the kills was clean and quick,
the other was sloppy as the sword went part way into the bulls skull when he
jerked his head and the sword flew out. A guy had to come out with a
hand-held device and put the bull out of its misery. Lovely custom.
Another time, I wanted to do some shopping for those very nice
Spanish swords and also for Spanish dancer dolls for my family back home.
I was told that the nearby city of "Hareth" had some nice shops. I
went to the main gate and hailed a cab. I asked him to take me to "Hareth".
He said: "Fu**y sucky or downtown". There were several
whorehouses in the town. I said downtown ---really I did. We start
along a road passing farms and people riding in wagons and I saw a lot of signs
for Jarez but none for "Hareth". I started getting nervous that
I was being taken for a ride somewhere I did not want to go, so I asked the
driver, "Is this the shortest way to "Hareth?" He said that
"Hareth was just ahead. When I saw all the signs in the town it
finally got through my think skull that the letter J in Spanish is pronounced as
we do the letter H and the Z in Spanish is pronounced as we do the letters th.
Dumb American...
My only other Rota-related event happen when we were returning
to port on a relatively calm, warm day. The call went out for line
handlers to lay topside. I worked on the aft-most line, line 6. I
was told to go down the turtleback to rig out and test the capstan. So I
am kneeling beside the capstan when someone yells, "Watch out!".
I look up and all I can see is a wall of turquoise water about to crash down on
me. The stern of the Key dipped into an ocean swell and the water swept me up
off my feet. I was completely underwater, held in place by my deck
crawler. The water was warm and clear. I was only under for a few
seconds. The deck crawler saved me from being washed aft into the screw -
which would have made for a lousy day.
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