6 Week Gap Year

Kuya Guy is taking me to a Philippine cock fight. These are legal here and take place in government authorised buildings (cockpit) every day. They generally start about midday and continue until there are no more roosters to fight. Pictures which I take will not be available to view unless you ask. We have early start today as Lu cannot sleep with the excitement and anticipation of another 6 or so hours in the dentist’s chair. Ok she’s hopelessly worried and to cap it all (pardon the pun) a temporary cap fell of during breakfast. At about 12 only 2 1/2 hrs after breakfast we have elevenses / lunch and then Cuya Guy and I leave for the cockfight. We are allowed through the VIP entrance as Cuya Guy is a member and enter the very hot stadium. He shows me to the Matching area where owners get together to match their cocks according to size, height and weight to ensure a more even fight. After matching and the owners are happy with their match bet fee they are issued with a fight number. Everybody is very friendly and eager to show me their birds and the stadium. The noise starts to increase so I assume the fights have started. We make our way into the arena or cockpit and take a seat near the fighting pit. On all 4 sides there is tiered seating and standing areas and the place is almost full. The noise is created when the punters are placing their bets with the pit bet takers (PBT‘s). I have had the system explained to me a couple of times and to be honest I still don’t really understand it! I think the Pit owners take a lead from the pit bet takers as to which cock will be the favourite. If there is too much bias they try to encourage more bets for the underdog from punters and PBT’s alike. I think you can bet direct as well as through the PBT’s. Now it gets really complicated. The 2 cocks fight from one side or the other of the pit which are named Meron and Wala. A sign above the pit is lit to indicate which is the favourite. Now odds are begun to be offered by the PBT’s. Essentially they are offering a % of the bet you place as the win fee. It also seems that the % reduces as it gets closer to the fight but not always. It could increase as the PBT finds he is not getting too many bets placed. All this goes on in a riot f noise as punters are trying to bet and PBT’s are offering odds and making incredible hand gestures very much like the bookmakers at horse race meetings. Whilst all this betting frenzy is taking place the owners of the fighting cocks are “warming” them up by sparring them with other cocks. Each fighting cock is fitted with a lethal and scalpel sharp blade spur to the left leg which is covered by a sheath until it is actually about to fight. The style in which cocks fight is to fly up and towards each other and to try and injure the other with the claws. So by having the blade as well a cock can fatally injure the other with a well aimed leg movement. The cocks are then let loose on each other when the owners have removed the blade sheath. Some fights are finished very quickly but others go on for 5 mins or so.