We’ve Arrived!

Equipped with only a small backpack filled with the essentials and no plan on where we were staying, we arrived in Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls at 6am, sleepless but excited. We step out imagining a quaint town but see a city. We wander down the streets with other festival people, not sure what to do for the next 6 hours until Open Ceremonies start. Somehow we find ourselves on the bull run route and scope out where we will start our run tomorrow morning. We find a café and plop with a pastry and a beer, ready for things to begin!

Opening Ceremonies

We head over to Castillo Plaza about 9am to grab a place for the Running of the Bulls Opening Ceremonies, making sure to get a few extra-large Sangrias on the way. The Opening Ceremonies consist of a speech from the Mayor and ringing of the bell in the middle of town.

By 10am the plaza is packed! People are throwing buckets of Sangria, water, fruits and anything else from their balconies at the people on the ground. A Running of the Bulls tradition. My white shirt is now pink. The energy is electric as the crowd grows and we seem to be right in the middle of it. People are up on shoulders, chanting, laughing, screaming at people on the balconies and around.

Soon we see a police officer walk past us with blood coming from his lip, more officers follow him pushing their way into the crowd, causing people to fall and get squashed. Things were getting rough and no one seemed to know what was happening. All of a sudden, the police turn around and retreat. As they left, a group of people of all ages, old and young, come through holding up flags and chanting and yelling. The same flags were hung from some of the balconies. I ask one of the ladies next to me, who was part of the group, which flag it was- the Basque flag. She said at last year’s Running of the Bulls they weren’t allowed to wave their flag so this year they decided to protest and force their way in. The Basque region sits on the border of France and Spain and has long sought independence from Spain, to no avail, and this was one of many regular protests to bring attention to the issue. We assumed the bloodied police officer was roughed up by one of the protesters and decided it was safer for the crowd if they just let them in. We decided to get out of there, I couldn’t really stand due to the crowd, and being 5 feet tall I’m perfect elbow to the face level.

As we made our way out through the sea of people, we realized we were right in the middle of it all. Right in the middle of all the party and chaos. We are at the fucking Running of the Bulls! Pushing through all the people with crunchy, sangria soaked hair and sangria tie-died clothes still smiling and laughing, ready for some more shenanigans.

Where to Sleep?

Focused only on the Running of the Bulls part, we eventually started to think about where we would sleep that night. We had planned on sleeping in the park where most people end up, but we were very ill-prepared and didn’t plan on it being as chilly as it was. It would be a very rough night at the park. We had picked up our Bull Fighting tickets earlier in the day from a company that was run by an American and decided to go back and ask him if he knew of a place. It was a shot in the dark but we figured why not ask. We must have been banking up some serious Karma points while in Peace Corps because we ended up getting a hostel, with a private room, right in the center for an incredibly reasonable price.

The Running of the Bulls

Scoping out Starting Point

At 5am we head to the course, walking through crowds of partying people, feet sticking to the ground from all the beer and pee.

The strategy during the Running of the Bulls is to find a place somewhere on the course to start running with the bulls; to run the whole course with them is impossible. The course is 900 yards and usually lasts about 2:30 minutes starting from when the bulls are released until they reach the bull ring, the end of the course. Our plan is to start about 100 yards from the tunnel where the bulls run into the bull ring, just passed Dead Man’s Corner.

We will start running when they get close, run with them as long as we can, and following them into the ring. If we run too soon and enter the ring too early, it shows that we were scared and started to run before the bulls even got to us, and as punishment the crowd in the bull ring throws stuff at you. We wanted to actually run with the bulls for a while. We also wanted to make sure the bulls run past us before we got into the tunnel because there are sometimes human pile ups and there is nowhere to escape if a bull goes for you in the tunnel. So we had a plan- but we had no idea what would actually happen.

Police Crowd Control – Where are We Going?

At about 7:30, the police start corralling us back, no one knew what was happening and the race was to start in 30 minutes. We were following the crowd, but we were about 200 yards from where we wanted to start. Then they started pushing all of us, hundreds of us, off the course, down an alleyway. We were getting nervous that they were kicking us out. There were a lot of English speakers but no one could tell us anything that would help, no one knew. We were all corralled out of the course, and then people just started running, we followed. Hoping it wasn’t the blind leading the blind, but we were NOT going to miss this! We sprinted, following everyone else. We ended up back at the beginning of the course and snuck through a barricade to make it into the crowd, pushing our way through, hoping this is where we were supposed to be.

We realize we are at the very beginning of the course. Looking back, it seems to be a good idea to try and confuse the runners and make them sprint before the actual Running of the bulls. This weeds out the many drunk people who try to run and the people who really have no business running in the first place. If you figured it out and could run fast enough to get back onto the course before they closed it off, then you are able enough to run. With the race to start in 10 minutes, we were hoping they wouldn’t release the bulls when we were packed like sardines at the start. The starting point can be the most dangerous place to be because most people who don’t know what they’re doing will start there; it’s the most crowded and the place you’re most likely to get trampled or gored. We talked to a few people we were squished next to, from England, Australia and they gave us props for representing the female kind. I saw maybe 5 other women running out of hundreds. In the next minute people start to move.

Gladiator Walk through the Bull Route

We head up to the spot where we had originally planned to start. It was amazing walking through the streets, people cheering for us from the balconies, chanting, screaming, pouring sangria on us. Like we were gladiators walking to the fight. We were clapping, chanting “Ole, ole, ole, ole” jumping up and down, screaming, filled with adrenaline and excitement. We get to our spot, trying to steer clear of the police. We had read that they will kick people off the course, most of those people being women. We weren’t getting booted! We saw 3 younger and smaller girls getting approached by a police officer so we walked the other way.

We’re Not Going Anywhere Coppers

We hear the first firework, signifying that the bulls were released, the Running of the Bulls has begun, we knew it was a matter of minutes. We hear the second firework that tells us all the bulls and steer are out and running. At this point the police officers start yelling at us, “Run, go, run, run!” I take a few steps but think, “I don’t even see the bulls.” Most people around us take off- the scardy cats. One police officer tells us, “Girls, you need to run.” We look at him but stay put, waiting until we see evidence the bulls are getting close. You can see the balconies and all the flashes and yelling when the bulls are passing. We wait.

Here They Come…

At this point, there are about 20 people in our strip of the course, we are the ones who will actually be running beside the bulls, not just way ahead of them. The same officer who told us to run before looks at us, smiles and asks, “you girls ready?” I think they told us all to run to weed out the scared babies and clear the course a little for when the bulls actually come. We see the people cheering, the flashes from the balconies and know they are coming. “Oh Fuck! RUN!” we yell, hearing curses and screams.

I start slowly jogging, looking to the side to see when the bulls are coming up on me. I get an elbow to the nose and a few pushes. I’m pushing on the stranger in front of me. I look back to my right and here they come! Two bulls together coming up. AH! “Don’t come towards me! Go straight! Please!” They run right by me, huge, muscular animals with pointed horns that would do some serious damage. My mouth is agape, half smiling, half screaming, as I run with the bulls. Three of them pass me by the time I get to the tunnel. That leaves one bull and four steer that are still behind me. When there is a lone bull the chances of it getting confused and hurting someone increase. I was fully aware that there was a lone bull out there.

As soon as I run in the bull ring I hear the roars and cheers. I see Katelin and we are hopped up on adrenaline, retelling our story and saying we cannot believe we just did this. We just did the Running of the Bulls! We see another American we had met the day before and he is all smiles and high fives. Retelling his story and full of excitement. We see people running away from the entrance and see the 4^th bull enter. Soon after the four steer come in and everyone is jumping and screaming.

Into the Bull Ring

We find a place up on the wall in the bull ring and wait to see what’s next. Some of the runners hop the wall but we decided to stay. Soon they start releasing the steer into the ring, one by one. People are taunting, slapping and trying to ride them. When they got close to us people would squeeze up onto us, making a human protective barrier between us and the steer, if that does anything (?) It came so fucking close to me I almost had to climb the wall and get outta there.

People were getting trampled and soon we see to our left a guy bait the steer and slip. The steer charges the guy and lifts him up in to the air with his horns, tossing him like a doll. He gets up and is lost in the crowd. Later I read he got gored in the thigh and was seriously injured. But these animals are not out to kill, they are just scared and reacting to the environment. I don’t feel bad for the people, I feel worse for the animals and how scared they all are. Walking out we see people with ripped shirts, shorts, bloody elbows, eyes and noses with the bull ring dirt all over. I leave with some bruises and scratches but feeling great. By the time we leave the ring and meet up with Peter it’s only 9:00.

The Bull Fight

After a good meal and some drinks, we head back to the bull fighting ring. I didn’t know what to think about going to one of these, knowing that all it is is a slow death of a bull. But I am in Pamplona and want to experience all I can, so here we go.

We walk into the stadium, missing the first bull fight, and it is packed with people wearing white and red with sangria stains. The atmosphere was energetic with more chants and cheering. We find our seats and the guy behind us warns us we will be getting dirty here. We chose our seats in the loud side as opposed to the more mature, older people side knowing we weren’t getting out without something getting thrown at us. Good thing I only had one change of clothes and I wore them the whole time I was there. No need to dirty more than one outfit.

The bull fights start. In the ring there are 5 bull fighters (toreros) all dressed in sparkling, bright outfits equipped with a pinkish-red cape to lure the bull. A bull is released to a roar of the crowd with something already inserted in his neck. He goes towards a torero, charging at his cape as it gets swept away, he turns back around and charges again, running around the ring. The strategy is to tire the bull out for the kill. Then two horses dressed in a protective cover enter the ring with a man on each. Each man has a long stick with a small spear at the end.

The bull charges the horse and tries to gore it, the protective garb keeps the bull’s horns from stabbing the horse while the man on top stabs the bull repeatedly with the spear. Next, two guys come out on foot with shorter sticks with spears adorned with bright ribbons. They charge the bull, one by one, and stick the spears in the back of the neck. The bull tries to nip at the ribbons to get them out. Sometimes the spears fall out and the crowd boos.

Next comes the Matador. Some are better than others and when they are good I can begin to understand why bullfighting is considered an art. With the swaying cape and the posture and movements of the matador it can be seen as a thing of beauty, like dancing, trying to ignore the fact that at the end of the dance one partner is dead. The matador uses the cape to guide the bull to run circles around him, standing a foot in front of the bull, staring eye to eye. After doing a dance with the bull for a few minutes the matador gets his sword – long, thin, and silver. The Matador stands in front of the bull, looking the bull in the eyes, pointing the sword directly at the back of the neck. It reminded me of Babe Ruth pointing to left field where he was calling a homerun.

The Matador lunges at the bull and sticks the whole 2 foot sword into the nape of the neck. All you can see is the handle sticking out from the bull. The bull keeps trying to charge the Matador in a panic but soon succumbs to his injuries, falling to the ground. Two men come out with a small knife and with a few quick jabs puts him out of his lengthy misery. The dirt is stained red with the bull’s blood and the bull lays twitching. Three horses come out adorned in brightly colored clothes pulling a contraption of wood and straps. They run to the bull and he is attached behind the horses and dragged around the ring leaving a trail of blood and then out through the tunnel.

This night, there were 6 bullfights, all with the same process and same outcome. It was hard to watch and I had to cover my eyes a few times. I can say I will never do it again but do not regret going through the experience.