“Toros a la Tica” or Tico Style Bullfighting, is a traditional activity in Costa Rica, although most popular as part of the end of the year activities in Zapote, in reality it takes place all year round in different bullrings around the country.

Even though there is no actual “bullfighting” here, this is just the term used to describe the activity, which involves rodeo style activities and “toreros improvisados”, “improvised bullfighters”, basically any individual who wants to get in the bullring and taunt the bull. If you’ve seen Spain’s Pamplona bull run at the San Fermin Festival, it is sort of the same concept, people have fun running from the bull, and others have fun, watching the show.

In a survey carried out by students of Statistics of the University of Costa Rica in 2015, 94.5% of those polled confirmed having seen the show in television and 50.2% have been to the bullring to see the show at least once and 62% admit they enjoy this activity.

This tradition started back in the colonial times and due to the Spanish influence in the culture of the Central Valley and Guanacaste whith the development of the cattle industry.

Many consider it animal cruelty, but the bulls in Costa Rica are not harmed as it happens in actual bullfights; perhaps there is the fact that, of course, they get stressed out, after all, this is definitely not their natural environment.

There is also the fact that it represents a great danger to the improvised bullfighters and an unnecessary risk. It is safe to say that more people than bulls get harmed during this activity. Below are some videos that speak to this and will give you an idea of what this activity is all about

This gentleman certainly started the year off wrong: