...a carnival ride in San Sebastian almost fell on me.
So two of the four guys Iīm traveling with right now and I were eating our breakfast in a plaza this morning. We would have sat on a bench, but they were wet from the rain, so we set our bags down and leaned against a bench next to a carnival ride with an aluminum small looking type house thingy on the platform. We were going about our business commenting on how a semi w/a ride on the back was trying to squeeze through a really small space when all of a sudden Evan yells "Holy Shit" and Travis and I look up and see this aluminum thing slowly falling on top of us. Evan managed to move w/only his right arm getting hit pretty good and Travis got his foot caught under it. I dived out but the ladder next to it landed on top of the back of my legs.
All I could think about was what my obituary would say:
"Kim Geiter, 26 years old, survived the running of the bulls, but died a day later when a carnival ride fell on top of her in a freak accident in San Sebastian, Spain."
The guys working at the carnival didnīt even bother to come over and check on us for 15 minutes, despite the fact the thing fell b/c the semi snagged a cable connected to the ride. Some ladies eating nearby came over real quick, as well as a little old man, shorter than me. The ladies called the police and Evan went to a bar that he knew the owner at right there and the owner played our lawyer and made sure the guys didnīt take off before the police came. The little old guy was just animated and going on in Spanish, so I never understood a thing he said.
That said, it was one hell of a morning. The 5 of us got into San Sebastian last night from Pamplona. There was no lodging available so we split up 2/3 to find places to sleep in the rain. Three of us ended up in a lobby of an apartment building. The guy mopping the floor this morning just mopped around us. We got in 8 hours before a policman came and kicked us out at 9 am. Lord knows where we sleep tonight, we have one other guy coming in in a few hours.
In other news: I SURVIVED THE RUNNING OF THE BULLS! ThatÂīs right, after 2 days of watching I decided to run. It is by far the dumbest and craziest thing Iīve ever done. I was pretty nervous in the 2 hours leading up to it. I kept thinking about backing out, but then figured if I did I would always wonder why. About 2 minutes before they release the bulls, they let off a notice to start moving. I walked/ran a bit to ensure that I was around dead manīs corner before the bulls were released. In the process I met the nephew of the owner of the Lake Metonga Supper Club in Crandon. I hit a straitaway and hopped up in a crevice on the right w/2 girls and guy who started out by me. THe cannon sounded to let us know the first bulls were released. The second cannon let us know they were all released (they come in 2 sets usually). We waited for the bulls to come and jumped into the street just before they were running by and then I ran like hell to make sure that I got into the arena before the last bull.
I never saw the second set of bulls b/c I made it to the arena just before they did. Once in the arena, they release 6 younger bulls one at a time. The bulls have rubber on their horns so they donÂīt gore you. It took all of 2 minutes of the first bull released for me to jump the wall into the stands. I was along the edge when the bull came rushing toward us. He was about 6 inches away as I leaped over the wall. When they released the second bull I jumped back in. I worked up the courage to try to get into the inner circle of it all around the 4th bull, but everytime I came close, the bull would make a move and hundred people would come rushing toward me. A couple times I got pretty close, but I wouldnīt have tried to hit them or anything, Iīm not that crazy.
But yeah, I ran with the Bulls. If I can do that, I can do most anything. I stayed to the right to avoid the main path of the bulls, so I could play it safe.
I donīt know what it was, but as soon as I got into Pamplona I felt that it wasnīt enough to just watch, that I would have to run. I spent 8 hours over 2 days sitting on a 2" wide fence just to see the runs. My bottom is still killing me.
I wore the same clothes for 5 days. Took no showers. Slept about 5 hours the first night, and then maybe 3 hours total the next 4 days. Pamplona was absolutely crazy. Party 24/7, garbage everywhere, guys relieving themselves on any structure possible. It was a constant smell of urine, garbage, sangria and heat.
The shower I took at this really nice ladies house in San Sebastian is the best I ever had. She was in the internet cafe we went to when we first got here, she overhead us asking about lodging, so she offered up her place, but wanted too much for our budgets (4 of the 5 of us had been robbed) so she let us shower for free.
Ok, time to go, I think tomorrow Iīm going to try to get to France. Lyon, then Bourge-en-Bresse then maybe Paris before heading to Scotland.
Here is the link to a website to watch the run I did. I ran on the the 9th. Click on that tab and then click on the video: El tercer encierro comentado.
www.directa.tv
Missing everyone!
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Map of Spain