Yesterday at 1:00 a.m. Emerson and I took a five hour bus to Pamplona to arrive there a little after 6:00 a.m., so that we could participate in the annual Running of the Bulls ("San Fermin"). We scouted out the course, and we'd done some research and numerous youtube viewings to understand the dangerous corners and risks of the course. We took our places around 7:30 a.m. and waited to hear the rockets announcing the bulls' release. They release about 6 bulls onto the 850 m course. We started out farther along the course because we wanted to be ahead of Dead Man's Corner - the 90 degree turn where the bulls slam into the wall and skid along the course taking out a few people. We only had about 200 m to run (Nick, I'm getting better at metric!!).
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| Emerson and Noshia (who we met while lining up) waiting for the rockets to signal the start of the run. |
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| While waiting for the run to start, spectators start to fill up the balconies above to watch the bulls. |
Those bulls are fast, and they caught up to us in no time. I always maintained a human shield about 2-3 people deep, so that I wouldn't be the first person the bulls would knock out, but to see them charging down the narrow cobblestone passageway just a few feet away from you was awe-inspiring. At the end of the course, you go through a short tunnel to get into the arena, and I wasn't expecting to have 20,000 people in the stands cheering and chanting. It was an unreal experience to run into the arena with the thousand other runners. The ridiculousness doesn't stop at the end of the run though.
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| Definitely wasn't expecting to walk into an arena like this to hear 20,000 spectators cheering! |
Once the bulls are in, they release another rocket signaling the end of the run, and everyone cheers. But they released it too soon, and as all of the runners are on the floor of the arena cheering and taking pictures and finding friends and what not, another bull comes charging in, and we flee to the sides of the arena while the matadors lead the last stray bull to the holding area. Then, they release one bull at a time and 80% of 600 or so people who made it into the arena try to stay away from the bull, while the other 20% runs up and taunts and teases the bull to get him to charge. They're idiots and most likely drunk. The bull will flip and knock over these people. After 10 minutes of taunting, the bull is tired and led back to the holding area. Then another bull is released, and the taunting repeats itself until all of the bulls have been cycled through. This takes about an hour.
We didn't take any pictures along the run. Because it is forbidden and because I was focusing on staying alive, but here is a video from a scene in the arena. The clip below is just 20 seconds or so, but it's just a sliver of what goes on for the whole hour. It's a good thing we didn't do it today because I read that 6 people were trampled in the Thursday run. It was an awesome once-in-a-lifetime experience.
We didn't take any pictures along the run. Because it is forbidden and because I was focusing on staying alive, but here is a video from a scene in the arena. The clip below is just 20 seconds or so, but it's just a sliver of what goes on for the whole hour. It's a good thing we didn't do it today because I read that 6 people were trampled in the Thursday run. It was an awesome once-in-a-lifetime experience.
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