for anyone and everyone concerned, i have been to pamplona, and am now
sitting safely in an internet cafe back in barcelona. four people were gored today, thankfully, i was not one of them...
we began our little journey, the 4 of us (me, jim, vanessa, and david),
bright and early sunday morning. we had reserved a different car than we had originally planned, david had found a place where we could get a MERCEDES-BENZ for much cheaper than what we were paying through the first company. and we could pick it up closer. and it less expensive. a good deal all around. sooo, as i was saying, bright and early sunday morning, the 4 of us packed our gear, crammed (literally) it into the back of our PepeCar, (funny thing, it actually said pepecar.com on the side. ha) and fumbled our way out of barcelona and onto the road towards pamplona.
the drive passed rather uneventfully, except for stopping for the occasional photo oportunity, like a large building that said "LOS MENEGROS" on the side of it. we almost died laughing, as it was interpreted to be "lost my negros". so we turned around for a photo. stupid road trip stuff like that, but before we knew it, some 5 hours later, we had arrived in pamplona. something like 1pm.
aparently they don't charge for parking there, cause we found this great
parking lot, a 15 minute walk from the action, well lit and guarded all
night, for FREE. i was shocked. so we parked pepecar, and hiked into town to check out the festivities.
now coming into town, we had noticed a few people clad in full white clothing with red scarves and waste thingies, but the sea of red and white that we first encountered, was for me, unimaginable. EVERYONE was wearing full white, with red accessories. it was amazing. and our first encounter with a large group was about 500 people, all dressed, all dancing some traditional dance in unison. it was incredible.
carnival rides, and food as far as the eye can see. we walk around, get some food, and then walk around some more. the closer to the center we got, the dirtier people's white clothing was, and the fewer sober people we encountered. and it was 2 in the afternoon. people absolutely drenched,
covered in wine or whatever, packing every possible tiny street, and every
bar or restaurant in site. wow. and the stench emminating from the streets
was almost unbearable. everywhere smelled like this alcohol/urine/grossness mix. rather off putting really.
back to pepecar, to mix up some callimocho. a big thing around here, its half and half coca-cola and red wine. and knowing that prices in pamplona would probably be super-inflated, we had purchased quite a lot of 45 cent liters of wine here in barcelona. david mixed a full 5 liters of callimocho in a large 8 liter jug. twas hillarious.
from that point on, it really was us just walking around, soaking it all in. and really, that was the entire night. a handfull of incidents stick out in my memory, (many only because we talked about them the next day).
at one point, vanessa just wondered off, cause she had to pee. she just took off. try finding someone, who's wearing red and white, in a street with 10,000 people also wearing red and white. well, after about a half an hour of looking, we finally did. thank goodness. at that point i remember meeting some guys and drinking SIDRA with them, an apple drink that is poured into the glass from about a meter in the air. bizzare. and kinda gross. those guys were funny though, vanessa was very chatty and would ask me for translations every now and again.
many random conversations with people, one for the longest time with this guy from pamplona, talking about the run and such. free beer from his girlfriend or someone.
finally on some hill, met some canadian guys (jeeeeez, me and my attracting canadians like a magnet). i think we hung out with them for the rest of the night. nice enough guys.
bought chips, other randomness. pretty cloudy. by this time we're covered in wine and other grossities. david leaves to go to the bathroom... and never comes back. jim and i then haggle with about 100 different vendors over the price of a red scarf and a red waste thing, finally buy a pair for 7 euros.
back to pepecar after eating this egg-potato sandwich thing. vanessa was cold and wanted a sweater. set our alarm for 4:30, a whole whopping hour of sleep in pepecar. against everyone's desires, we actually wake up, and stumble up the hill to find a place to watch. yes watch. there would be no running. my whole body ached. and the pamplona guy had pointed out the best place to watch.
we end up sitting, for 3 hours, on this fence, holding our position. we had THE BEST spot, right on a corner. there were people behind us for 50 meters, they couldn't see ANYTHING. people were wedged into windows, every possible location. it was crazy. we however, could see EVERYTHING. the whole street was PACKED full of people who wanted to "run". i had imagined 200 guys right at the start of the route, but the whole route was packed solid.
when the warning shot fired, it thinned out however. the whole rest of the time is really a blur of adrenaline. its the craziest thing ever. we could see down the hill, and watching the faces of the people on the street, as the bulls charged up the hill, was worth a million bucks. it was freaky. and in 5 seconds it was completely over. people jumping through the fence to get out of the way, everyone's screaming. all for 5 whole seconds. its amazing.
and that my friends, is it. that is the running of the bulls in a million short paragraphs. we left from there, found david back at pepecar, and headed north towards france, where we dropped jim and vanessa off at a train station, as they were headed for paris.
that was difficult for me, seeing them go. things have been so great over the past 2 weeks or whatever, that i didn't want it to end. i knew it was coming, obviously, but its weird cause it didn't hit me until moments before we pulled away, leaving them there. i'm going to miss my friends. i literally have their entire trip (3 months) remaining, a figure that is freaky to me, and to them as well. we were like peas and carrots. it was the best.
david and i stopped in st. sebastian on our way back, and then made it back to pamplona. slept for just a little while, and then back to do it all over again. different crowd the second night, things weren't as crazy and packed, or so it seemed to us. i had to call it a night at like three, and left to go back to pepecar and sleep, hoping to meet up with david at 7 for the run. yup. didn't quite make that one. 1 hour of sleep in 2 days got the best of me, and i slept right through the second day of the running.
probably for the best though, we had planned on being out there this time, as the first day was rather tame, and knowing now how it works, i actually wanted to do it. come to find out, 4 people were pretty badly gored on day 2, so yeah, like i said, probably for the best.
well, my time's nearly up now, and i've got a night train to catch to madrid, where i'll be for the next few days. pamplona was fun, barcelona was fun, but i'm back on my own now, and deeper into españa i go...