Mayhem, madness and a bullrun

okay, so i wanted to post my journal entry on the running of the bulls before all the memories began to escape my mind. let me first say that the entire festival de san fermin is complete madness. It is completely crazy and really the only thing to say is that it is madness.

My original plan was to be in pamplona for two nights and three days. I didn't have a place to stay so i was going to just crash like everyone else in the parks or streets somewhere catch my rest. I had read that was what everyone did and so i figured i would just do the same. With respect to runnning with the bulls, i wanted to watch the event on the first day and then join in the madness on the second -- I figured it would be really stupid to run without really knowing what was going on. That being the plan, it didnt turn out that way.

So let me just describe the nature of the run. It begins at 8am each morning and the bulls run a course through the streets of about 800 meters. Six bulls are released and then some cows used to entice any stray bulls to keep running the course and not to gore the runners. The bulls end up corralled in the plaza de toros or bullring. The whole affair actually lasts no more than 5 minutes, and only that long if the bulls stray from one another and go after the runners. The course begins with a straight road uphill for about 300 meters, then a wide left and quick, tight right turn into the homestretch into the bullring. It is this tight right turn where you do not want to be if you are running and where most of the accidents occur. The bulls are running so fast that they can't make the turns and crash into the barricades. Needless to say if you are there, you are in for a pounding. All the gorings that you have seen on the news have occurred in this area. The runners can position themselves anywhere on the course with the 'safest' areas being the beginning because the bulls are all together and more apt to run past or near the bullring because you can more easily get out of the way.

Okay, so before i go into the actual running that i witnessed, I want to talk about my time in pamplona during the festival. Again, this is sheer madness. People are partying non-stop and the cerveza and wine are flowing constantly. It is also unbelievably crowded with mostly spanish people and of course the lot of foreigners. The bars are packed with people, the clubs are packed with people, the streets are packed with people all revelling and drinking and dancing. Also, there is a kind of traditional wardrobe that people are supposed to where consisting of all white with a red bandana worn around the neck and a red sash of sorts worn as a belt. They are available everywhere and all real revellers must adorn the garb. The greatest part, though, is that even with all these drunk people, there were no fights that i could see. People were just there to have a good time, and they did.

So when i arrived, i was by myself and just exploring. I fortunately ran into this group of people from Texas and they invited me to join them in their exploits. We hung out all night partying until the sun came up. They told me not to run and also recommended my idea of seeing the bull run first and then deciding to run. So the partying that we did was ridiculous. There is this drink called callemoto(sp?) that is a mixture of wine and coke. They serve them in these 32oz plastic cups and they are good. So after having a few callemotos, we were primed for the night. I never could pronounce the drink name so i kept saying kwasimoto and the bartenders knew what i was talking about. We bar/club hopped from midnight to about 6am. The Spanish people we meet were so nice and welcoming. They would always want to engage in conversation despite not knowing all that much english.

Other than the tradition of running with the bulls, a new tradition has developed over the past couple years. There is one statue in particular that for some reason people ascent and then jump off into the waiting arms of the people below. Well, sometimes things do not go according to plan and people crash on the pavement. That happened when i was there as this one guy was not caught properly and landed on his face breaking it. Not so good.

So we had tickets to watch the bullrun from the bullring, the end of the bullrun. The good part about this is that after all the bulls are corralled, some other steers with their horns clipped are let loose to cause more trouble to those runners inside the bullring. And if you are in the stadium, you can see this. So we made it to the bullring at about 6:30. 15 minutes later this band came into the stadium and played for an hour. All the people started singing these songs, saying Ole and dancing. One chant in particular is that we would say \168\168hola don petito\168 to the other side of the crowd and they would respond. It just meant hello mister or something like that. It was just something interesting, and of course we had the wave.

So then 8am came around and we heard the first rocket meaning that the bulls were loose. All these people immediately poured into the stadium and sought refuge, perhaps 700 people. What bothers me is that all of these people will say they ran, but they certainly didnt. They either didnt want to pay for or couldnt get tickets for the bullring, so this was their only option. I would say 65% of the people who 'ran'did this. After a couple minutes, two bulls entered the arena and were quickly corralled while all the while people were dashing to the arena. Then three more, and then finally later the last one. Apparently this last one was separated and did some damage to people along the course. Finally when there were all corralled, another rocket went off, and then when all the bulls and steers were corralled, the last rocket went off. But again, the event was not over and steers with clipped horns were allowed back in the stadium one at a time to harrass those in the bullring. The great part about this was that anyone seen harrassing the bulls by either pulling its tail or taunting it severely paid the price from the spanish locals who would literally punch and beat up those that performed these acts. It was almost like reverence for the bull and for tradition and how things should have been done. This one man in particular was the recipient of many punches and kicks after throwing a shirt on the steers head. Finally after about 4 or 5 steers were let and brough back in, an announcer said everything was done, and the partying began again in earnest.

As for me, i took a bus in from san sebastien to pamplona. Upon arrival, I just saw hoards of people sleeping anywhere and everywhere and contorted in crazy positions. I got off the bus, took a quick tour of the area and was able to meet up with the Texans I mentioned earlier. Now the streets are so messy. There is beer everywhere on the ground, cups everywhere, and people everywhere spilling their drinks. It only took an hour or so for me to be covered in beer and wine from head to toe -- but now i fit in with everyone else. In the bullring, there was a man two rows behind me literally with a bucket of wine. After guzzling a little bit, someone knocked into him and he spilled it all over us. Man, it was terrible. So after the running, i was a filthy, smelly, dirty mess and would have received quarters sitting on any street corner in NYC. Undaunted, I figured i would try to stay until the next morning so I could run. I went to a park and set down to sleep. A little way into my slumber it began to rain. I was soaked in wine, smelly, wearing old clothes, hungry, tired, and now soaked because of the rain. Needless to say I couldn't take it anymore and decided that running with the bulls and risking my life at that point did not take predecence over a hot shower and bed in san sebastien. So i got on the next bus and the rest is history. So I was not able to run, but i am certainly returning and getting a room ahead of time in Pamplona. I am already calling a postponement to the annual vegas trip so that we can all go to Spain for the madness.

One last observation on the event. The onlookers are sadistic. They cheer for death and blood. In the streets, the onlookers have often pushed runners back into the streets instead of letting them jump out of the path of the bulls. In the bullring, the crowd would only cheer when a steer would upend a runner and cheer even more wildly when blood was shown( thought that was rare in the bullring itself). The worst part of it all is that I found myself doing the same, cheering for the bull to hurt a runner -- and i enjoyed it. I dont know what that says about me, i think i was just engrossed in the moment. Anyway, I am certainly returning next year, if not to run, to revel. All are welcome to join me.