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Published: August 22nd 2008
Price to pay for good footage
You can see me in the background video taping the festivitiesThis blog has been a long time coming as I got back from this trip over a month ago, but with all that happened on this trip I needed to write something to remember all the things that happened.
Before I start I just want to say that this festival called San Fermin, better known as the running of the bulls, was one of the greatest experiences of my life. It was complete sensory overload for 2 1/2 days. You see on most trips you go for a specific purpose whether to party, the culture, sightseeing, sports, or a small mixture of them, but San Fermin is everything to the max and to top it off some of the most beautiful girls in the world. It was really like being on a total high the whole time.
It all started with me flying across the big pond. Once I got into Paris I had a couple of flights to get me up to Bilbao where I would meet up with the rest of the crew. I made my flight to Madrid with no problem, but only had one-hour layover to catch my next flight. We got into Madrid a little late,
Escalator Merry Go Round
This is my buddy Alex doing what Alex does. Nothing you would ever expect. but I still had 25 min to catch my flight. I flew off the plain and sprinted, which seemed like a mile down this long terminal to my other gate. I got there with 15 min to spare and they said they already gave my ticket to someone else and I was out of luck. I was pissed and tried talk my way on to the plane, but all I got from them was a (who does this American think he is) look. Now missing this flight wouldn’t have been that bad except I had to meet my buddies at a certain time or I wouldn’t have a ride to San Sebastian. Well I got a hold of them by email, but still never met up and ended up wandering around the streets of San Sebastian looking for them. With no luck I called this girl I met on the bus to see if I could roll with them until I figured things out. Turned out they knew my buddies and met them on the beach that day. I finally found the boys and the trip officially began.
Had a great night going out in San Sebastian. There were tons
of there tiny bars about the size of mobile homes that we bounced in and out of all night as we got shut down trying to hit on Spanish girls. I was so mesmerized by their beauty I have no idea what kind of stuff was coming out of my drunken lips. Like normal I lost touch with the guys at some point in the night, as was right back to where I started. Not knowing where they were staying I was alone on the streets at 4 in the morning looking for a good spot to sleep. I finally found a bench that looked nice, so I cuddle up in my t-shirt and went to be. I think I was in the middle of a nice dream, when all the sudden I felt someone touching me. I woke up and some Spanish dude had his hand in my pocket where all my money and passport was. I startled him, and he acted like nothing was wrong and just walked away. I got off lucky on that one. At this point it was raining, I was extremely hung over and needed a warm place to sleep so I set out
Rochester Girl?
Met this girl in a supermarket in Spain and she was actually from Rochester, MN for a pay phone to try and get a hold of that girl again. Thank god she answered and happened to be with one of my buddies so they came and met me and I passed out on their floor for a few hours.
When we got up it was time to round up the boys and head for Pamplona. First we stopped in some of the Tapas bars and gorged ourselves on these tasty treats. They just have trays and trays of these appetizers they call tapas and you grab whatever you want and they charge you at the end. It’s really hard to resist because the food is incredible. After we regained our light buzz from the night before we decided we must leave before things get out of hand.
In total there was 6 of us in this small compact car, which made things kind of tight, but kind of interesting at the same time. We met these two Aussie girls in San Sabas and they needed a ride over to Pamplona too. I don’t think they had any idea what they were getting themselves into when they jumped in a car with us. Lets just say
it was an eventful trip, and they were ready to get as far away from us as possible when they got out, but they did have fun. I think….
We found a good parking spot in Pamplona really close to the festivities that we would call home for the next few days. We then took a tour or the run, did some pre game stretching and calisthenics, and purchased our attire for the festival. It was a pretty quiet night and we kept things under control for the most part getting back to our car by 1 or so and somehow fitting 4 of us in there for a miserable night of sleep.
Again I was awakening to someone yelling get that guy. I woke up on edge and saw Alex pointing at some guy sprinting down the street. Before I knew what happened I was chasing him down bare foot down the streets. After a couple hundred yards my feet were on fire and I had to stop. I was a little confused about the whole reason I was even chasing this guy until I got back to the car. Turns out we had our windows down and he
was reaching in trying to steal stuff as Alex woke up. I think this night was officially the worst night of sleep I have ever got.
We woke up early the next day, got all done up in our San Fermin get up and hit the town. First we went down to get some tickets for the Bull Fights that night and ended up waiting in line for two hours only to have all the gypsies get all the tickets before we got to the front. It was getting pretty close to the opening at noon so we stocked up with a couple bottles of sangria and champagne and headed for the main square where this all kicked off. I should of known better buying all this booze as I could barely carry the way it was, let a lone in a crown of thousands of people so tight that my feet were getting picked up off the ground. When we got to the main square it was complete chaos. The smell of sangria was overwhelming and within seconds I was covered head to toe in the stuff. Shortly after that my 4 bottles of booze was quickly diminished to
2 without even taking a sip yet. I don’t think I have ever been in the middle of a crowd this wild. For about a half hour we were all singing and drinking until the rockets went off which triggered the official start of San Fermin 2008, and based on the pre party is was already shaping up to be a rager.
Most of the day was like a blur as it was non stop partying and dumping wine on everyone within sight. I had no idea how people were suppose to run with bulls the next day after partying like this, but I was about to find out. At one point during the day as we were walking through the main square and Alex though it a good idea to run as fast as he could through 50 of some gypsies balloons he was trying to sell. At first it was a little funny, until that wore off and I say the look on this guys face. He was pissed and demanding 35 euro for the balloons. Well there’s no way we were paying him that so the situation kept escalating fast as more and more balloon gypsies swarmed
in on us. It was almost as they had like an alarm button that triggered the need for help. The second I saw these guys start taking off their balloons I yelled to Alex. RUN…RUN…. As he took of 4 gypsies were on his tail right in the middle of thousands of people in the main square. At one point they caught him and hit him a few times, but eventually he got away safely. Meanwhile Dave and I were still surrounded and we acted stupid like we just met that guy and had nothing to do with it. Luckily we slipped away and the guy with us was making gun like signs to his head. Not good at all. So we were right back to partying, but just a little rattled every time I saw balloons in the crowd, but never had any more instance with these guys. We stayed out until around 3, and figured a couple hours of sleep may not be such a bad idea.
Morning came fast and we were all out of the car at 630 and on our way down. Waking up this morning felt a little different to me. I was really
excited, but at the same time extremely nervous about what was going to happen on the run. When we got down to the run we jumped the fence and joined a thousand other idiots that all had the same looks on their faces as me. Nobody would admit it but everyone was a little scared in here. There was very little screaming and partying like the day before as everyone knew that there lives would be at stake for just a few seconds within the next hour, but at stake nonetheless. Irish and I were first timers at this as Dave and Alex have done the run multiple times. I was trying to ask them the best way to do this and what I was in store for, but no one had the answers. The thing with this run is that there is no proper way to do it. There are to many variables you can’t control. The name of the game is have eyes in the back of your head and whatever you do DON’T FALL. Before you know it the butterflies were in my stomach and I just wanted it to start. The clock seemed to move slower
and slower the closer we got to 8. Then it was hear and BOOM the first rocket was off, which signaled that the doors were open, then BOOM rocket two, which meant there were running full speed. All of the sudden were all running trying to look forward and back at the same time. Then I could tell the crowd was parting a ways back and I turned up the speed a bit, but not enough as the next time I looked back they were right on me. There were tons of people like 10 deep to the right side and I really had nowhere to go but on the edge of them. I jumped into the crowd and got clear right as they went by. As soon as the last one passed I immediately tried to chase them down to get some good footage on my camera. As I was running I was literally jumping over the residue from the bulls, which were people laying on the streets. Finally I tripped over one of them and fell myself. Luckily there were no more bulls behind. I helped the guy up and finished my sprint into the arena, where phase
Perfect Shot
f you look closely you can see this bull jumping the whole crowd of people two of this craziness was about to begin.
Once in the Arena I found all the boys who were safe and sound and all had great stories about the experience. My heart was still racing so fast I everything just seemed like a blur at this point, but I had to regain my composure fast as I knew the fun was about to begin. All the sudden a smaller bull was released into the arena that was full of over 500 people. The thing would just circle around clocking anyone in its path. It is an interesting game that most try to play in here including myself. Get as close as you can, try to touch the bull but don’t get hit. To make it worse I had my video camera in my hand and wanted to get the best footage possible so I tried to be right in the mix. I had a lot of close calls, but never got smacked. Every few minutes they round up the bull and release a fresh one from the gates. When they actually let them out over 50 people will pile up and block the entry into the arena and actually force the bull to try and jump the obstacle. Sometimes the bull clears the group, but most of the time it doesn’t and believe me that is fun to watch. At one point Alex and Dave took the front row spot and the bull left Alex with a big hoof mark across his shoulder. He was pretty proud of that mark. By the end of this event I was exhausted both mentally and physically and we all headed back to the car for a little nap. When we got up it was right back to another day of partying. Late in the day Dave and I decided to check out the Bull Fight at the arena where they would actually kill the bulls we ran with in the morning. The stadium was full and it was fun to see how into this the Spaniards got. Bull fighting is actually the second most popular sport in Spain next to Futbol and the matador’s are like celebrities here. After the fight we met up with the rest of the crew partied for a few more hours, but this time I came back a little earlier to be as fresh as possible the next run, as I now knew the true consequences of a mistake. When we got back to the car this night I guess Alex had not had enough and he went right back to partying alone and actually met us on the way to the bull run the next morning never sleeping a wink. I was twice as nervous for the second run after seeing those bulls come within feet of me and jumping over people that were not moving. This shit was serious, but never the less I was very excited at the same time. To this day it was the best rush of my life and I wanted more no matter what the cost. The second run went pretty smooth and I actually ran for a while while touching one of the bulls, which I was pretty happy about. The only negative about this run was I forgot to push record on my camera for the second day in a row. When we got in the arena it was more of the same. Get as close as you can and don’t get hit. Well this worked for a while until I didn’t anticipate a sudden turn of the bull and all the sudden CRACK. I was on the ground rolling with my camera. Luckily these bulls are 1/3 the size of the big ones, but my but still hurt for a couple days after. When the final horn went off we had to rush out of Pamplona as Alex had a plane to catch. We got him to the airport in plenty of time and we were on our way to Madrid to drop off Irish and start phase two of this adventure. AFRICA….
I truly can’t say enough about this festival. Even if you’re not some crazy adrenaline junkie, there is something for everyone at San Fermin. Its so strange, but we were only there for two and a half days, but it truly felt like a week due to so much happening in such a short period of time.
I have two videos that I edited out from this whole festival. You can actually see everything I described and more first hand. Let me know what you think of the video. I spent a lot of time editing these with a new program.
Here are the links
Running of the Boys PART I
Running from the Bulls PART II
The videos on this site dont work so just cut and paste the link to www.youtube.com and ENJOY
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