El Picador is a tucked-away café that becomes one of Mike Milo’s early leads in his search for Rafo. The visit turns an uncertain report—that Rafo had run errands there—into a failed inquiry, while setting Mike’s practical hunt against the venue’s strange after-midnight entertainment and the proprietor’s matter-of-fact response to his request.

Setting and reputation

El Picador lies in a tiny back passage beneath a workshop that processes animal hair. Its name refers to picadors, bullfighters of lower rank than matadors, who were said to frequent the café. The venue’s reputation therefore invokes the world of bullfighting, but Mike finds little to suggest a gathering place for healthy or accomplished performers.

The late-night show

Mike arrives after midnight, having spent the evening going from bar to bar and drinking Coca-Cola. The café’s floor show features a young woman and a large male partner in a theatrical dance called La Picadora, staged as a bullfight. The woman plays the picadora and the man the bull; knives and a tail form part of the performance. The crowd enjoys the act, making the café a place where bullfighting imagery is transformed into deliberately extravagant entertainment.

Mike’s search and the failed lead

The report that Rafo had run errands at El Picador gives Mike a reason to inspect the audience after the show. With the lights brighter, he sees no eleven-year-old boy and doubts that a venue like this would have errands for a child to perform. He nevertheless asks the proprietor, who speaks tourist Esperanto, whether anyone is available to run an errand. The proprietor offers his wife’s services and insists she is quick on her feet, while explaining that there is no one else to do such chores and never has been. Mike leaves without locating Rafo, and the café’s apparent connection to the boy remains only a misleading lead.