We left Biarritz to make our (Pete, Josh, Will & Myself) way to Pamlona for the much anticipated San Fermin festival or ¨Running of the Bulls¨. This was definately up there on the high priority list for my travelling so you can imagine how excited we all were. We hadn´t made any accomodation bookings as we were planning on sleeping in the park and ruffing it for a few nights and funnily enough by the time we got off the train we had a few other people following us to do the same thing. We then jumped on a bus into the centre of town and again by the time we had arrived we had probably 8 other people coming with us to crash in the park, a nice little happy family of bums I guess...
After dropping our bags off in the left luggage place in town we headed to the grog-shop and spent the rest of the night getting to know our new found parksleepers. As the liquor dried up we got tired and it was time to hit the flowerbed for a sleep, in the middle of the main square. A few short hours later we were woken by a sharp pain in the shin´s... It was a bunch of police smacking us in the legs with their battons, and it wasnt any lovetap either! I think we all ended up with a few lumps and bruises and my camera got a bit of dent in it, still works tho. After only about 3 hours sleep we needed longer so we packed up and moved to better hiding spot.
We awoke to the sounds of the opening ceremony of the festival so we quickly packed up our sleeping bags and made our way to the El Corte Ingles, the supermarket, for bulk quantities of Sangria! 5€ later and 5 litres heavier we were set, well at least for a few hours. We did manage to find some room in our stomachs for some food too... The Sangria was SO cheap, we had so much and it was so hot so put all those 3 together and you get everyone soaked in Sangria! So much fun!!!
The day, the people and the town became very very messy. Will managed to lose his passport until I found it about 50metres down the street, a few people spewed and I´m sure I´m missing some important points from that day... As night fell we all were pretty bugged so didnt really stay up too late, and also because we needed to get up early for the first bull run of the festival. So we grabbed our sleeping bags and off we went to our patch of grass...
The morning came and we woke a bit late so were rushing to get to the gate so that we could participate in the bullrun. Unfortunately we got there too late and missed out but I managed to get up the front of the crowd for a good view of the run. It was good to be able to see how it all works before I actually ran I think, but, it definately made me more nervous for the next day... I could see people getting trampled in the stampede of humans and bulls and you can definately see how people get so hurt every year!
After the bullrun the day was pretty relaxing... The day was blisteringly hot so Pete, Josh and I made our way down to the river just outside the town to have a siesta. The sleep didn´t work out, it was way too hot and the river was o so tempting, well if you could get the dirt and smell out of your head... Before long we were splashing about having a ball and about 20 other people wearnt too far behind us! I guess the river kind of acted as our shower for 3 days we didnt have access to one. You can imagine how dirty we were if we thought we´d be cleaner by swimming in a dirty river... Again the night fell and we again slept in our patch of grass.
Tomorrow came and it was now or never for us to run with the bulls. We managed to get up with plenty of time to spare to get to the track and after a heap of pushing and shoving Pete and I manage to get onto the track. It was so exciting and adrenaline pumping just to be standing amongst the crowd. Everyone was so pumped up and you could see the nervous looks on peoples faces, it was quite nerve racking... Then the gun went off and that was our que to start running for our lives. I took my camera with me and took a video over my shoulder as I ran. ()I took the run pretty slow at first to try and let the bulls catch up with me and damn did they catch up. One minute there wearnt anywhere in sight the next they were up my arse. I did a massive stack and quickly got back up just as the bulls were running right past me. One metre to the left and I would´ve been stomped for sure! But I got back up quick smart and ran for my life into the bull ring. Safe at last? HELL NO! After the runners were in the ring, they began to let our more crazy bulls into the ring and they pretty much just charged and charged and charged until they hit someone. You could see people getting flung into the air and there wasn´t much you could do if the bull came staight at you. Luckily enough I escaped virtually unscathed, just a few cuts and bruises on my arms and legs from the stack during the run... Definately a great experience that I´ll never ever forget!
Well now that I´d done my run and I was satisfied it was time to pack up and head off. The next destination was to be Santander on the north coast of Spain. The plan was to go with Josh and we would hire a car up there and drive our way all over Spain, ending in Barcelona...
Plenty more blogs to come so just stay tuned and I´ll do my best to type one up whenever I get the chance.
Until then...
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