San Fermines: Part Three: The Running of the Bulls

Disclaimer: I want to point out that while I do talk a lot about drinking, I did not go overboard or lose control. For many tourists, the point of San Fermines is to drink and get smashed, but in my case, I didn't do that because I was in a city where I wasn't very familiar with the layout or the language.  I did feel safe drinking because I was with my friends, but none of us went overboard.

After our lovely, LONG nap, dinner, picking up C, and a little bit of pregaming, we went back out around midnight to party and stay up all night until the bull running at 8:00 am. We opted to do this because everything opens later in Spain, and since things don't close until 6:00 am it made more sense.

We started with the walk to the main city square and then on to where we had been earlier in the day. There, K and C went to grab something else to drink, and A made a new friend, a guy from France. I think he was really just messing with him, but I digress, it was funny. K and C came back with a group of guys they had made friends with and we all went to a bar that seemed to also be a club. We ended up staying there the entire night, I had a lot of fun and made some new friends, 2 French guys and one Spanish girl. R and I occasionally went out to the square to get some air, where in general, things were pretty crazy.

Finally it was time to go to the running. We originally tried to go to the fences where the bulls actually run but was unable to. There were so. Many. People. One of the French guys came with us, and we ended up at the arena where the running ends.

The actual running is dangerous. Everyone knows this. But it isn't just running from the bulls that's dangerous, it's also the people that are dangerous. R said that people don't realize that the Pamplonans train all year. The key is to run in a pack, not by yourself. There hasn't been a death since the 1970s, and most of them have been from being gored by bulls. The exception has been a case of a man who suffocated while trying to get in the doors of the arena. It gets really packed in the doors because they aren't very big and people must get in them before the bulls.

We found really great seats and waited for about an hour. My friends were dozing off and I had completely lost my voice. There was a band playing in the center of the ring while we waited.

Band!

 

 Finally, it started!We watched the actual running from a screen that was right across from us. People were cheering and shouting, and it was really cool to watch. They signal the race by a series of rockets, which we couldn't hear but we found out later. We didn't see anything unusual, it really just looked like people were running with bulls. And it seemed to go really slowly. In reality, it didn't take long before people began pouring into the arena, and the bulls soon followed. It must be an entirely different experience running as opposed to watching. We later found out there were several injuries, mostly just bruises and sprained bones, but one 73 year old man did get gored by a bull. He was from Pamplona, so it was unlikely that this was his first time running, or even getting gored. It happened at the very beginning of the race, which is why we didn't see it.

Watching the running

Releasing the bull into the ring.

Afterwards, when all the bulls had run through the arena, they locked the people in the arena and would push them back in if they tried to get out(or in if they hadn't run). Then, they released six other bulls one at a time and people tried to touch them or get them to charge. These bulls were not the ones that ran, they were actually younger bulls. These 6 bulls were supposed to be showcased for when they were older and would be entering the arena for a bullfight. The ones that had run would be killed later in the day at the bullfight. But the 6 that went in were young, with padded horns(so nobody really got all that hurt).

This part was my favorite part to watch. It was interesting to see how each bull was. Some were pretty docile and others were charging and jumping. One bull jumped clear over the people who were waiting at the gate for it, and then picked someone and charged. Another picked a guy up onto its horns and ran with him. Other people in the arena ended up taking him off to the side for a breather before he ran back out. One guy had a pink and yellow cape that he was waving around, but none of the bulls really went for it. I think he was a tourist. :)

It was particularly interesting to see how the bull got out of the arena. The bull handlers(men with long poles) would bring out an absolutely massive older bull. We never did figure out if it was a female or male, as this species has horns for both genders. But as soon as this bull was seen by the younger one, it immediately became docile and went to its side. We figured out it was most likely the head of the herd, and was quite old. Some people tried to get the older bull to engage, but it didn't. I don't know why they would have wanted it to. Even from as far as we were, we could see how huge it was. It looked like a giant compared to any of the others we had seen. One guy thought it was a good idea to continue to try and engage the younger bull(one of the more aggressive ones) after it had fallen in line with the older one. It was really obvious he was pulling the poor bulls tail, I could see him leaning back with the tail in his hands.

The bull handlers stepped in and began hitting him with the big poles they carried. When he let go and fell on the ground, they kept hitting him, and I think they might have kicked him as well. They dragged him over to the side of the ring and he was dragged out by the police. I didn't really feel all that bad for him.

After it was over, we went back to the flat and took a much needed sleep. It was a pretty crazy experience!